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TOWER, NEAR MOLD, FLINTSHIRE.

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ABOUT a mile and a half from Mold, and on the right hand side of the road from thence to Nerquis, stands a venerable, yet desolate looking mansion, partly of ancient, partly of modern date, amidst the remains of "tall ancestral groves,' and proud even in its decay. It consists of a tall machicolated and embattled tower, adjoining to what seems to be a mansion house of the time of Queen Anne. The alliance between the two buildings is incongruous; the outer works and defences of the fortified portion are gone, and there is not even the trim garden nor the stable yard of the less warlike dwelling; an ordinary pasture field is in front, with a fish pond and a solitary sun dial to tell of former brilliant hours; while behind are the piggeries, the cowsheds, and the other unpleasant adjuncts of a small farm. Still the edifice is not much dilapidated; the masonry of the tower is good and sharp as ever; the rampant monsters at the corners, that voided from their throats the waters of the roof, grin at the visitor as grimly as ever they did of old; and if neglect and ruin be visible any where, they have come from the hand of man. It is a pity that a proud old place like this should be abandoned to its fate; for is there not more wellfounded grandeur associated with walls within which one's ancestors were born, for which they fought and bled, or in which they died, than with the most ample and elegant halls, that date, as it were, only from yesterday?

The principal tower of this edifice, from which it seems to have derived its name, is on the western side of the mansion, forming an oblong building of forty-five feet on the western and eastern sides, twenty-seven feet on the northern and southern, and about forty feet in height to the top of the battlement. It was formerly divided into three stories, but these have been altered into two, apparently at the beginning of the eighteenth century; and thus the architectural features of the building have been greatly changed. On the top was once a stone roof, reposing on massive timber beams, sufficiently level to allow of the working of engines of war upon it, and ample enough in area to accommodate a score or more of archers. A circular turret staircase leads to the roof at the south-eastern angle, and has three doors within,

corresponding to the different stories of the original building. At the south-western corner of this tower is a lower oblong building, commonly called the dungeon. It consisted of two stories, with a dungeon or cellar beneath; and communicated with the ground-floor room of the larger tower by a small arched doorway. There are some remains of an ornamented timber ceiling in this smaller building; and a water channel, with a ring in the subterraneous portion, induces the belief that it was intended as a place of confinement, or at least of concealment. It is lighted only by long narrow loop holes from without, and preserves its original stone roof. Under the larger building is a cellar, with a plain segmental vault, which was approached by a doorway leading from the mansion. On the eastern wall of the main tower are to be seen traces of junction with the old roof of the house, which was no doubt burned down, as we shall afterwards mention, in the fifteenth century; and we conjecture that this tower was intended as a place of security in case of any sudden attack, rather than as a place of permanent abode. From the forms of the archways, which are flattened and four-centered, from the mouldings of the battlements, and from the workmanship of the immense gargouilles, which are still perfect at each corner of the machicolated battlement, we infer that the building is of the fifteenth century, and probably dates from the earlier portion of it. We are not aware of any documentary evidence as to its precise date. The old roof of the tower had been altered in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, and raised so as to allow of a place of concealment being made amongst the timbers, which may have served to shelter proscribed Roman Catholics, or other persons obnoxious to the government of the day. The style of the two large apartments, which occupy the whole extent of the building, is French, and is rather curious from the respect that has been shewn, in making them, to the style of the middle ages; for instead of forming square-headed Italian windows, an attempt, and not a bad one, at mediæval windows has been made. The mouldings have been imitated from the battlements; and certain ornamental portions of the older windows have been used up, so as to produce an effect which, at first, puzzles the antiquary. Were it not for the style of the rooms within, we should assign these windows to the temporary revival in the time of Charles I.

Over the northern window of the upper apartment is a shield, the bearings of which we are not able to assign correctly to any family. They are, quarterly, first and fourth, three fleurs de lys, two and one; second and third, three lions passant regardant; supporters, on the dexter side, a mermaid, on the sinister side what appears (being much mutilated) to be a griffin. A small head, crowned, terminates the dripstone on the eastern side of this window, and a female head, with the horned head-dress in fashion during the fifteenth century, ends that on the western. These ornaments formed part of the older decorations of the original building.

In the lower apartment of the tower, which is panelled with oak all round to three-fifths of its height, there is a shield over the chimney piece with the following bearings: quarterly, first, on a bend dexter, a lion passant; second, on a chevron three trefoils, between three goats' heads erased, two and one; third, a griffin rampant; fourth, a lion passant regardant. Crest, on a squire's helm, on a wreath an eagle displayed. Motto, Heb Dduw heb ddim, ("without God, without anything.") These bearings are connected with those of the Wynnes, formerly possessors of the domain. On a corbel outside this room is a griffin.

The masonry of the tower shows few signs of decay, and none but what might be easily repaired. Several of the stones in the turret staircase and on the western wall bear the mason's mark, a rude W. The gargouilles of the tower no longer serve to carry off the water, from the roof having been altered; but they are in excellent preservation, and of truly monstrous design. The loop holes of the battlement are beautifully formed equal-armed crosses, with circular ends.

The modern house, on the eastern side of the tower, presents no features worthy of remark; but it might be formed into a commodious residence. In a field on the western side of the tower is a circular pigeon house, perhaps of the seventeenth century; and tradition (only an idle one) says that a subterraneous passage leads to it from the dungeon. Our view shows the southern side of the tower-its circular staircase, curiously flattened at top to admit of a square roof-the dungeon- and part of the mansion house, with the pigeon house appearing through the trees.

During the war of the Roses this place was inhabited by Reinallt ap Gruffydd ap Bleddyn, a descendant of Bleddyn ab Cynvyn, founder of the third royal tribe of Wales. He and his people were always at variance with the citizens of Chester. In 1465 a considerable number of the latter came to Mold fair; a fray ensued between the two parties, and a dreadful slaughter was made on both sides. Reinallt, however, obtained the victory, took prisoner Robert Bryne, linen draper, and ex-mayor of Chester, whom he led to his tower, and, according to Pennant, hung on a staple in his great hall. An attempt was subsequently made to seize Reinallt; and two hundred powerful men sallied from Chester for that purpose. He retired thereupon into a neighbouring wood,' permitted some of his enemies to enter the house, then rushing from his hiding place, fastened the door, and setting fire to the place, burnt them without mercy; he then attacked the rest, and pursued them to the sea side, where those who escaped the sword perished in the Channel. Reinallt received his pardon from Thomas, Lord Stanley, lord of the council of Wales, which was afterwards confirmed under the great seal by Edward IV. - Pennant, vol. i. p. 339.

There is an inconsistency, however, in Pennant's account, or rather in the traditions which he adopted, that requires pointing out. Pennant, usually so acute, believed that a staple in the ceiling of the lower or ground floor room was the actual staple that had the honour of supporting the weight of the ex-mayoralty of Chester; whereas the room itself is of a date long posterior to that event, and the staple is nothing more than a rather slight ring for a chandelier; there is nothing old about it. It will be seen too, by an anecdote given below, that the mayor perished by the sword, not by hanging; and we are inclined to infer from it that the citizens set the house on fire, after carousing in it; that the owner then fell upon them, slaughtered many, and drove the rest down to the coast, l'épée dans les reins, wreaking vengeance on them all the way. We very much doubt the probability of a man destroying his own house when it would have been as easy to compass his revenge in another manner. The following is the anecdote referred to; it occurs in several old books.

1 One of the names of Tower in former times was Bryncoed ("the woody bank;") and the township, in which it is situated, still goes by that name.

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Four cousins having met at an inn began to boast to each other of their various exploits. The first was Davydd ap Siancyn ap Davydd Crâch, of Nant Conwy, who began:"This is the dagger with which I slew the red Judge, on the bench at Denbigh." The second, Davydd ap Ieuan ap Einion, who had been keeper of Harlech castle, said, “This is the sword, and this the ashen spear, with which I slew the sheriff at Llandrillo." The third, Reinallt ap Gruffydd ap Bleddyn of Tower, said, "This is the sword with which I slew the mayor of Chester, when he came to burn my house." Then they enquired of the fourth, Gruffydd Vychan ap Ieuan ap Einion, a quiet and peaceable man, "What daring deed had he ever performed?" when he replied "This is the sword with which, had I drawn it in dishonour, I should have accomplished as much as the best of you ever did."

Lewis Glyn Cothi, a Welsh bard, having married a citizen's widow without leave from the magistrates, was deprived of all his household furniture, and compelled to quit Chester: upon which he addressed an ode to Reinallt, with a view to obtain his assistance for the purpose of revenging the insult. The poem is still extant, and it abounds with the most invective language possible against the entire inhabitants of Chester. "He summons," says Pennant, "the ministry of angels and devils to his assistance; and pours a profusion of curses on Caerlleon and its people. He wishes water to drown, fire to burn, and air to infect, the hated place; and that grass might grow in every part, except the sacred edifices, of this habitation of the seven deadly sins.”—Vol. i. p. 400.

We subjoin a literal translation of some of the first stanzas, in which compliment is paid to the bravery of the hero of Tower.

"Reinallt ab Gruffydd ab Bleddyn

Possesses a sword, which is sharp upon the skin;

For fear of it, whilst it attacks at once a hundred men,
The puny city and its inhabitants tremble.

Chester and its inhabitants trembled for fear of Reinallt,
As far as the extreme edge of Velallt (Beeston);
They trembled whilst they fled towards Wenallt,
Trembled all over, their skin and hair.

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