Hope, or Estyn - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
HOPE, or ESTYN, an extensive parish, in the union of Wrexham, Hope division of the hundred of Maelor, county of Flint, North Wales, 5� miles (N. N. W.) from Wrexham, 12� (S. S. E.) from Flint, and 193 (N. W.) from London; containing 2916 inhabitants. This place has been distinguished in the Welsh border history from a very early period. Caergwyrle Castle, in the parish, situated about a mile from the village, is supposed to have derived its name from the ancient British words Caer gawr lleng, signifying "the fortress of the gigantic legion;" in explanation of which etymology it is stated that the native Britons gave the distinguishing appellation of "gigantic" to the twentieth Roman legion, surnamed Victrix, whose principal station was Deva, now Chester. This conjecture has received material support from the circumstance of a Roman sudatory having been found here, and from vestiges of Roman roads and other works having been formerly visible in the neighbourhood; from which the place may be presumed to have been, like Holt, an outpost to the grand station of Deva. After the withdrawal of the Roman forces from Britain, it appears, from remains still existing, to have been occupied as a post of defence by the native population, who, at some remote period, erected a mural fortress here, which, in the reign of Henry II., formed part of the possessions of a chieftain named Grufydd Maelor. The first mention of Hope under its present name occurs in the Norman survey, where it is noticed as a small hamlet belonging to one Gislebert. It gave name to the extensive territory of Hopedale, for which Eustace de Cruer, in the reign of William Rufus, did homage to that monarch, and which appears subsequently to have formed part of the possessions of the Montaltos, stewards of Chester.
The castle, with its dependent territories, was bestowed by Edward I. on Davydd, the brother of Llewelyn ab Grufydd, Prince of North Wales; who, about the year 1280, was sued for the village of Hope, or Estyn, by William Venables, an Englishman, before the Justiciary of Chester, contrary to the custom of the Welsh, and to the spirit of the agreement under which he held it of the English king. The Justiciary cut down his woods in the neighbourhood of Hope, as well as those of Lleweny, another of his estates, and sold the timber, which was carried to Ireland. He was moreover threatened, that when Reginald de Grey, the other Justiciary, should come into the country, he should be deprived of his castle of Hope, and that his children should be secured as pledges of his fidelity to the English cause, which however, undoubtedly influenced by this harsh treatment, as well as by other cogent reasons, he shortly after abandoned for that of his brother and his country. In consequence of this defection, about the middle of June, 1282, Edward I. in person invested Hope Castle, which was surrendered to him by the dependents of Davydd, almost as soon as he appeared before it, and which he is said to have granted to his queen Eleanor, who rested in it for one night on her route to Carnarvon, where she was about to reside for the purpose of reconciling the newly subjugated Welsh to the government of their English conquerors, by giving birth, in the heart of their ancient dominions, to a prince destined to be their ruler. It is related in Yorke's "Royal Tribes," that while Edward and his consort were staying here, this castle, either by accident or design, was set on fire, and its interior entirely consumed. From the circumstance of its being in the possession of Eleanor, it obtained the name of Queen's Hope; and it has sometimes likewise been distinguished by the appellation of East Hope, in contradistinction to North Hope, or Northop: some derive the word Hope from the Welsh Hob, "a swelling," from the inequalities and rising hills about the fortress. In Edward's division of North Wales into counties after its entire subjugation, Hope was included in that of Flint, and annexed to the earldom of Chester; and the castle, together with the manor of Hope and Hopedale, has always been specified in the charters of the succeeding sovereigns of England, when they respectively created their eldest son, the heir apparent to the crown, Prince of Wales, at the same time investing him with the earldom of Chester.
In 1307 this castle and manor were granted to John de Cromwell, on condition that he should repair the former, which was then in a ruinous state; and in 1317, the same Cromwell, who kept possession of the castle till his death, was ordered to raise fifty foot-soldiers on his lands in Wales, to aid the king in his war against Scotland. In a survey of the ancient revenue of the earldom of Chester, made in the reign of Edward III., the profits of the manor of Hope and Hopedale are estimated at �63. Edward the Black Prince gave the inhabitants a charter of incorporation, dated at Chester, in 1351, which was confirmed by Richard II., who, in 1388, granted the territory of Hope and Hopedale to John de Holland, Earl of Huntingdon: this nobleman, after the deposition of King Richard by Bolingbroke, was beheaded by the populace at Pleshey, in the county of Essex. In 1401, Henry IV. granted the manor to Sir John Stanley, whose estates were inherited by his descendant, James, Lord Stanley, created Earl of Derby by Henry VII. On the arrangements made with regard to the Welsh border counties, in the reign of Henry VIII., Hope was annexed to the county of Denbigh; but shortly afterwards, probably through the influence of the Earl of Derby, who wished to have all his Welsh possessions in the same county, it was restored to the shire within the limits of which it had been originally included by Edward I.
The parish is situated on the road from Wrexham to Mold, and also on that from Wrexham to King's Ferry. It is bounded on the north by the parish of Hawarden, on the south by Wrexham, on the east by the county of Chester, on the north-west by the parish of Mold, and on the west by the chapelry of Tryddin, in the parish of Mold. It comprises by computation 8500 acres, of which 4666 are arable, 2333 meadow and pasture, 367 woodland, and the remainder rough pasture and waste. The soil is exceedingly various, passing through several distinct kinds and admixtures, from stiff clayey earth to the lightest loam and sand; the chief agricultural produce is wheat and barley, and the lands are enriched with plantations of oak, ash, sycamore, and beech. In some parts the surface is low and flat, in others hilly and mountainous, and from the latter portions fine and extensive views may be obtained of the circumjacent country; the home views are particularly pleasing, being marked by many beautiful woody dingles, enlivened by the windings of the river Alyn and some other interesting streams. Bry;n-Yorkyn, a lofty eminence, is situated to the west of the castle; besides which, there are the hills of Caer-Estyn and Caergwyrle Castle. The principal gentleman's seat is Pl�s-T�g, the ancient mansion of the Trevors, built in 1610 by Sir John Trevor, a second son of the branch of Tr�valyn, in the parish of Gresford. The parish contains the villages or hamlets of Hope, Caergwyrle, Cevnybedd, and Penymynydd: Hope is an insignificant village, agreeably situated on a gentle rise on the northern side of the river Alyn. An abundance of limestone of good quality is found in the parish: the Frith lime-works are conducted on an extensive scale, affording employment to between thirty and forty workmen; and great quantities of lime are sent hence to Chester, a distance of twelve miles. Coal-works also have been opened, at which a few men are engaged. The Chester and Shrewsbury railway passes in the vicinity of the parish; and in 1847 an act was obtained for making a railway from Mold to the Chester and Holyhead line in the parish of Hawarden, with a branch of four miles to the Frith lime-works.
By the charter of Edward the Black Prince, it was provided, that the constable of the castle of Caergwyrle, or Hope, for the time being, should be mayor of the borough; but, to qualify him for this office, it was necessary that he should solemnly swear, on the Holy Evangelists, that he would preserve inviolate the privileges of the burgesses, as specified in the said charter; and that he would annually, on Michaelmas-day, choose from among their number two bailiffs. By the 27th of Henry VIII. Caergwyrle, or Hope, was constituted a contributory borough, to share with Flint, Caerwys, Overton, and Rhuddlan, in the return of a member to serve in parliament. The limits of the borough comprise the whole of the township of Estyn, and that of Caergwyrle, with part of that of Rhanbervedd, being two miles and a half in extent from east to west, and one and a half from north to south; and the right of voting is vested in all the inhabitants paying scot and lot, who have resided for one year within the borough, of whom the present number is about 120. The Act of 1832, for "Amending the Representation of the People," added the towns of St. Asaph, Holywell, and Mold, to the above-mentioned district of boroughs, but did not alter the boundaries of this borough, nor the nature of the franchise here, except by subjecting each voter to the registry. Fairs are held on Shrove-Tuesday, May 10th, August 12th, and October 27th.
The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at �6. 13. 4., and endowed with �200 private benefaction, and �200 royal bounty; present net income, �214, with a glebe-house; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph. The tithes of the parish, which comprehends six townships, are distributed in unequal portions (according to an appropriation of certain townships to the several parties for the purpose), to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, the rector, and the poor of St. John's Hospital in Chester. The church, a small edifice, dedicated to St. Cynvarch, and rebuilt about the year 1812, consists of two aisles separated by well-proportioned pillars, and measures sixty feet in length, and forty in breadth; it has its eastern windows in the later English style, and contains about 460 sittings. In the interior are some good marble tablets, and an old monument to the memory of Sir John Trevor, Knt., secretary to the Earl of Nottingham, the vanquisher of the "invincible armada," and comptroller of the navy in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.: the church has also a monument to another of the Trevors, representing a man in a gown and ruff, and a lady with a kerchief over her neck. There are places of worship for Calvinistic Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Independents. Two Church schools are supported, chiefly by subscription; one of them, at Hope, for boys and girls, taught separately by a master and mistress; the other, at Llanvynydd, also for boys and girls, taught together by a master. Of nine Sunday schools in the parish, one is in connexion with the Established Church. Various small rent-charges, producing altogether �5. 12. 8. per annum, are applied in the distribution of bread among the poor, who also derive benefit from a farm of eleven acres called Meynell in Heartsheath, parish of Mold, purchased for �103, the amount of several consolidated charities, in 1750, and paying �10 per annum, of which �8 are distributed among them. A bequest by Sir John Trevor in 1672, amounting to �6 per annum, has been lost.
The present remains of the castle form a picturesque ruin, situated on the summit of a rocky hill of great elevation, isolated from the surrounding high grounds, and composed almost entirely of breccia, which was formerly quarried for mill-stones. On one side this rock is precipitous, and on every other is inaccessible, except only on the north, where its summit is gained by the remains of a circuitous path. The ruins consists of a decayed circular tower, with a few fragments of walls and circumjacent earthworks. From these it does not appear to have been an extensive fortress; but the strength of its situation was well adapted for the defence of the passage from the Marches up the vale of the Alyn, which is here contracted into a romantic dingle, and anciently formed the only pass through the neighbouring hills. By whom it was dismantled, or when it fell into decay, is unknown; but it was in a dilapidated state as early as the reign of Henry VIII. On the opposite elevation, across the vale, is an ancient British post, commonly called Caer Estyn, consisting of a wide area inclosed by a single ditch and rampart. The ancient Roman outpost of "Caer gawr lleng" is supposed to have occupied the site on which the castle was subsequently erected. In 1606, a Roman hypocaust, or sudatory, was discovered in digging near the fortress; it was five ells long, four broad, and half an ell high, and was hewn out of the solid rock. The floor was of brick set in mortar; the roof, supported by hollow brick pillars, consisted of polished tiles, which in several places were perforated, and over which were laid brick tubes: some of the tiles were inscribed legio xx. Other traces of Roman occupation also formerly existed in the parish. Large beds of scoria have been discovered near Caer Estyn, shewing, probably, that Roman iron-works were carried on here; and two Roman roads might formerly be traced in several places leading hence towards Mold and Hawarden respectively, adjacent to one of which was an artificial mount.
In the township of Uwchymynydd-Isa, in a little valley on the southern side of Bryn-Yorkyn mountain, are some remains of Offa's Dyke, near the spot where this ancient line of demarcation enters the county of Flint from Denbighshire. In levelling the Dyke, in 1828, twenty-two Roman coins of copper were discovered, among which were some of the Emperors Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Julius, Agricola, and Maximilian: here were also found a silver coin of Agrippa, several fibul� highly ornamented, rings of gold, silver, and copper, pins of ivory and silver, beads of glass and amber, part of a lamp with the word ninvs impressed on it, a votive altar with a mutilated inscription, and several urns containing calcined bones and ashes; all of which are in the possession of the proprietor of the land. Wat's Dyke also traverses the parish, in its course along the eastern bank of the Alyn, passing by the church of Hope, and by Rhyddin, below Caer Estyn, beyond which it soon enters Denbighshire.
On the banks of the Alyn at Rhyddin are some fine springs, the waters of which are strongly impregnated with muriate of soda, and were formerly in high repute for their efficacy in the cure of cutaneous and other diseases, greatly resembling in quality those of the fountain at Borrowdale, near Keswick, in Cumberland. In dry weather, pigeons flock to them to pick up the crystallized particles; but their medicinal virtues have been greatly deteriorated by an admixture of other waters, or impoverished by drainage. In the loose earth that covers the calcareous strata of the parish are found numerous antediluvian organic remains, called entrochi and astroites, some of which are of a peculiar species. |
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