THE JOURNAL

OF THE

British Archaeological Association.

MARCH 1898.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS,

BY THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MOSTYN.

(Read at the Conway Congress, August 19th, 1897.)

N the first place, allow me to say that it gives me great pleasure to take the Chair, and in the name of the people of Conway and the neighbourhood to offer a hearty welcome to the members of the British Archæological Association and their friends. I feel that it is no light duty to be President of an Archæological Meeting such as this, and in the presence of those who are experts in the various branches of the science and study of the past. To the qualifications they possess I have no pretensions, and therefore I crave your indulgence.

I venture to say, however, that the Association has been particularly fortunate in choosing Conway as their meeting-place this year. Conway has previously rarely had the honour of receiving so many learned guests, and yet there are few places that present such a variety of interests to the antiquary.

In the old Castle and the town walls we have perhaps the most perfect specimen of Saracenic military archi

tecture to be found anywhere, at any rate in Great Britain. It is true that Chester and York have preserved their city walls, but in both places they have been more or less modernised, whereas here you see the mural defences of the town almost in the same condition in which they were left by the military engineers of King Edward I.

I shall leave, however, the description of Conway Castle, the town walls, the ancient church which formed part of the Cistercian abbey founded by Llewelyn the Great; of that fine specimen of Elizabethan architecture, Plâs Mawr, now, I am glad to say, the home of the Royal Cambrian Academy; and the many other ancient mediæval houses in the town, to be each and all particularly described by those who are far more able to do so than I am. At Cefn are to be seen the caves which have

furnished evidence of pre-historic man. Almost in every

direction you will find evidence of ancient British fortifications and of tumuli. To those interested in inscribed stones, crosses, and other remains of that character, there are a variety of specimens to be found in the neighbouring country.

Close by, at Cae'rhûn, was a considerable Roman settlement, identified as being the Roman station of Conovium. I have at Mostyn a cake of copper, said to have been smelted here from the ore of the Snowdon Mountains. It bears in Roman characters the words "Socio Romae", and across it obliquely in lesser letters, "Natsol". Pennant says that it might have been bought up by a merchant resident in Britain, and consigned Socio Romae" to his partner in Rome.

Again, at Carnarvon will be found the remains of another ancient Roman station, viz., that of "Segontium".

At St. Asaph, Llanrwst, and Clynnog, as well as in the old church at Conway, ecclesiologists will find food for reflection. At Gwydir, as well as Plas Mawr, and various other places which will be visited, will be found good specimens of medieval domestic architecture; and in our old castle here, and in the castles of Carnarvon and Beaumaris, we have three

of the finest fortresses that were built by King Edward I.

Finally, I would mention the earlier Norman castles in the neighbourhood, such as that you will see at Rhuddlan.

Rhuddlan, however, was greatly altered by King Edward prior to the time of his bringing his Queen and Court there in 1282. Many of you will remember the interesting details given in the Roll of Payments for expenses of the Court on this occasion, now preserved in the Public Record Office, and which is printed in vol. xiv of the Archæologia.

At Deganwy, however, we have the foundations of the first Norman castle, and if you will pardon me, I shall be glad to give you a short sketch of its architectural features, which have been traced out by Mr. E. W. Cox, of Liverpool, who has kindly prepared the plan, which I now have much pleasure in presenting to you.

Deganwy is my own property, having been brought to my family, together with the Gloddaeth estate, about the time of King Richard II, by my ancestress Margaret, the descendant of Iorwerth ap Madoc, who possessed it before the time of King Edward I, probably after its seizure by Prince Llewelyn ap Griffith, to which I shall presently refer. I hope at some future time to excavate the foundations, and to carefully preserve its remains.

Now, first, as to the history of Deganwy. It was probably a British town before the Roman invasion, and of course would be in a great measure built of wood. The Welsh plan of warfare was to decide the contest with their enemies in the open field, and they paid little or no attention to the science of fortification. Early in the sixth century a Welsh chieftain, Maelgwyn Gwynedd, who was styled "King of Deganwy", built a strong castle here. He succeeded his father, "Caswallon", in the sovereignty of Gwynedd in 517, and on the death of the celebrated King Arthur, in 546 (?), was elected King of the Britons.

Deganwy continued to be the residence of the Kings of North Wales until the year 810, when it was destroyed by lightning, and it is said that the first town of Conway

was built out of its ruins. At any rate, the Welsh did not erect a fortress there after the destruction of that city.

The ruins now remaining are those of the Norman castle, which was originally built by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, at the end of the eleventh century. This Norman Palatinate Earl is said to have placed his kinsman, Robert, his Cheshire Palatinate Baron of Rhuddlan, as Constable of the castle. Ordericus mentions a legend that Griffith, King of Wales, on the 3rd July, 1088, landed with three ships under the Orme's Head, and pillaged the country; that Robert saw him shipping the men and cattle that he had seized, and attended only by one soldier ran towards the ships, "but his enemy perceiving him so slenderly guarded, returned back upon him with their darts or arrows, and mortally wounded him; yet, whilst he stood, and had his buckler, none durst approach so near as to encounter him with a sword, but as soon as he fell the enemy rushed upon him, and cut off his head, which they hanged on the mast of the ship in triumph." His body was afterwards recovered, and was buried in that monastery of St. Werburgh which now forms the Cathedral at Chester.

About a century after this, Deganwy Castle appears to have been demolished by Llewelyn the Great, for in 1210, we find it was almost entirely rebuilt by Randle Blundeville, Earl of Chester. Upon this, Llewelyn seems to have laid waste the surrounding neighbourhood, and King John came to Deganwy Castle with a large army, intending to annihilate him. The Welsh, however, cut them off from all sources of supply, and John was glad to beat a hasty retreat to England. A few months afterwards, however, anxious to wipe out his ignominious retreat, he entered Wales a second time; a reconciliation then took place through the instrumentality of the Princess Joan, the daughter of King John, and wife of Prince Llewelyn.

Soon after, however, in consequence of the inhuman treatment of the Welsh by King John, Llewelyn seized all the King's castles between the Dee and Conway, and among the number that of Deganwy.