HAWARDEN, a parish and market-town, comprising several hamlets, of which that of Saltney only separately maintains its own poor, in the hundred of MOLD, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 6 miles (E. by N.) from Mold, 611 (S. E.) from Flint, and 196 (N. w.) from London, and containing 5414 inhabitants. This place, which is of very remote antiquity, was by the Welsh called " Pennard Halawg," or more properly " Pen y Llwch," the headland above the lake, probably from the Saltney and other marshes, which now form an extensive flat between it and Chester, having been formerly covered by the sea; and by the people inhabiting that district, of which the principal part is comprehended within this parish, the town is still called Pennard. In the Norman Survey it occurs under the Saxon appellation " Haordine," of which its present name is only a very slight modification. It is supposed to have been originally occupied by the ancient Britons, as a barrier against the incursions of the Cornavii, a portion of whose territories were adjacent to this part of the principality; and to have served also as a place of defence against the invasion of the Romans. This opinion seems to derive confirmation from the appearance of several heights within the town and its vicinity; which exhibit strong indications of having been fortified in the ancient British manner. The open nature of the surrounding country rendered it an easy prey to the Mercian Saxons, during whose occupation of this place it formed the principal manor of the extensive hundred of Atiscros ; and at the time of the Norman Conquest it was in the possession of Edwin, a Saxon chieftain, who, for the protection of the territories which his predecessors had usurped in this portion of the principality, is said to have occasionally resided at this place, which served also as a frontier to his Mercian dominions. On the conquest of Britain by William I., Ha-warden was included in the extensive territories granted by the Conqueror to Hugh Lupus, and formed part of the county palatine of Chester. The castle was soon afterwards erected, and appears to have been in the possession of Roger Fitzvalerine, son of one of the numerous followers of the Conqueror, from whom it passed to the family of the Montaults, or de Montalto, barons of Mold, who held it as seneschals of the palatinate, and made it their principal residence. The peculiar situation of this place, on the only part of the marches through which access could be obtained by the English to the heart of North Wales, subsequently rendered it the scene of many of the most important events connected with the subjugation of the principality. In the year 1157, Henry II., having assembled a formidable army at Chester, advanced into Flintshire with a view to the conquest of Wales, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, in this parish. To repel this attack, Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, led his forces to Basingwerk near Holywell, where he took up his station within a few miles of the royal army. The boldness of Owain's movements inducing Henry to hope that he intended to risk a general engagement, in which be expected that the superior number and discipline of the English would ensure them success, the king despatched a chosen body of troops, under the command of his principal barons, to bring the Welsh to action, or to dislodge them from their post. This party, having to pass through the narrow defile of Coed Enloe, were suddenly attacked in that dangerous pass by Davydd and Cynan, sons of Owain, who with a strong body of forces had been placed in ambush to surprise them. The English, from the suddenness and impetuosity of the assault, and the difficulties of the ground on which they had to contend, were routed with great slaughter; and the few who escaped retired, in the utmost disorder, to the main body of the army. Henry, exasperated by this unexpected discomfiture, immediately arranged the whole of his forces, and pursued his march along the seacoast into the heart of the enemy's country; and Owain, breaking up his camp, retired with his forces to St. Asaph. On the extinction of the ancient Earls of Chester, the castle of this place, together with several other fortresses, was resumed by the crown; and in 1264 Llewelyn Prince of Wales held a conference at Hawarden with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in order to negotiate a treaty of peace. In the following year, the Earl of Leicester compelled Henry III., whom he held in captivity, to yield up this castle to the Welsh prince, by whom it appears to have been destroyed; for, among other articles of a proposed treaty of marriage between Llewelyn and Eleanor de Montfort, the Welsh prince undertook to restore to Robert de Montauk all his lands in Ha-warden, restraining him at the same time, by an additional clause, from erecting any castle, fortress, or strong hold for the ensuing thirty years. The castle appears, notwithstanding, to have been soon rebuilt, and, on the suppression of Leicester's rebellion, to have reverted to the crown; for, in the year 1280, notice of it occurs under the appellation " Castrum Regis." In the fifth year of the reign of Edward I., that monarch, intending to penetrate the principality by that part of its frontier which borders upon the river Dee, advanced with a large army from Cheshire, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, while his pioneers were employed in opening roads through a deep forest which occupied much of the country between the confines of Cheshire and the mountains of Snowdon. In this post they remained till Edward had erected the castle of Flint, and strengthened that of Rhuddlan, for the preservation of those parts of the principality which he had already subdued ; after which that monarch led his forces to Aberconway, where he compelled Llewelyn to conclude a treaty of peace on the most humiliating terms. The severity of these conditions excited a general feeling of disgust among the Welsh chieftains, who simultaneously united to throw off the yoke which Edward had imposed upon them, and took up arms to resist his authority. Davydd, the brother of Llewelyn, to whom he had but recently been reconciled, committed the first act of hostility, by surprising the castle of this place, which he attacked during a dark and stormy night on the evening of Palm-Sunday, 11282; having taken the fortress, he put the garrison to the sword, and wounded and took prisoner Roger de Clifford, justiciary of Chester, whom he carried off to Snowdon. This act of violence was the signal for a general insurrection of the Welsh, which terminated in the defeat and death of Llewelyn, and in the entire subjugation of Wales to the English crown. The castle remained in the possession of the family of Montauk, till the first year of the reign of Edward III., when Robert, the last baron, dying without heirs, it was assigned to Isabel the queen mother, on whose subsequent disgrace it reverted to the crown. Edward III., in 1337, granted the stewardship of Chester, with the castle of Hawarden, to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, in whose family it continued till the death of his grandnephew, John Earl of Salisbury, who was beheaded at Cirencester in the year 1400, after an unsuccessful insurrection in favour of his deposed sovereign, Richard II., when it again reverted to the crown. Henry IV. bestowed the castle on his second son, Thomas Duke of Clarence, after. whose death at the battle of Baugy, in 1420, it passed to Henry V., by whom it was granted to his son, afterwards Henry VI., who in 1443 conferred it on Sir Thomas Stanley, comptroller of his household; but resuming the grant in 1450, that monarch bestowed it on his son Edward Prince of Wales. The castle afterwards passed to the Nevilles, Earls of Salisbury, and from them to Lord Stanley, whose son and heir, Thomas, afterwards Earl of Derby, married Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry VII. This monarch spent some time at the castle on a visit to his mother, for the purpose of amusing himself with the diversion of the chase; but his principal object was to reconcile the earl after the ungrateful execution of his brother, Sir William Stanley. After the death of Margaret, the castle descended to Thomas Earl of Derby, grandson of the late earl, and remained in that family till the execution of James, the seventh earl, who was beheaded at Bolton in 1651, after which it was placed in sequestration by the parliament. Soon after the commencement of the parliamentary war, the castle was betrayed by the governor into the possession of the parliament, who retained it in their hands till 1643; when it was attacked by a party of royalists under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Marrow, to whom after a fortnight's siege, the garrison, beginning to want provisions, surrendered, on condition of being allowed to march out with half arms, and to have a convoy to Wem, or Nantwich. The castle remained in the possession of the royalists till after the surrender of Chester to Sir William Brereton, in 1645, when it was besieged by Major-General Mytton; the garrison sustained the assault for several weeks, till the governor, having received orders from the king, surrendered it upon honourable terms: it was, towards the close of the same year, together with four other castles in this part of the principality, dismantled by a vote of the parliament. After the death of James, seventh earl of Derby, the castle was purchased from the agents of the sequestration by Serjeant Glynne, who, on the Restoration, compounded with the eighth earl of Derby, from whom he obtained a grant of this property, which has descended to his heirs, and is now in the possession of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Bart. The town is situated within a mile and a half of the south bank of the river Dee, on the turnpike road from Chester to Holyhead, and consists principally of one street, nearly a mile in length; the houses are in general well built, and the town, though not paved, is amply supplied with water. Considerable improvements have been made in the neighbourhood, by the commissioners of the turnpike roads, who have recently expended 4 1000 in diminishing the ascent of the hill at the lower end of the town. The parish abounds with coal in various parts, the strata of which lie under freestone and shale of a saponaceous quality, with occasional beds of ironstone and gravel; the upper seam of coal, which is called the Hollin coal, is from six to seven feet in depth; the second, which is called the Brassy coal, is about three feet in thickness; the third, which is called the rough coal, is also about three feet thick; and the fourth and lowest seam, which is called the main coal, is ten feet in thickness: this last, which is of very superior quality, is in great request for the Dublin market. Collieries, which are worked on an extensive scale, have been established in various parts of the parish; and there are also several large brick and tile works, in the former of which fire-bricks of various sizes are made, besides numerous potteries for the manufacture of the coarser kinds of earthenware. An extensive iron-foundry is still carried on in the town, and attached to it is a mill for boring cannon, which was formerly cast here. A laboratory for the making of Glauber salts, sal ammoniac, and ivory black, has been established in the township of Saltney since the year 1781, and is conducted on an extensive scale. The river Dee, or Chester channel, passes within a mile and a half of the town; and there are two rail-roads for the conveyance of the produce of the various collieries and potteries to the river. Several schooners and flats are employed in the transport of coal, bricks, and other articles produced here; and two smacks are engaged in a fishery off the Isle of Man, which is conducted by inhabitants of the parish. In 1734, Messrs. Kinderley and Co. obtained an act of parliament for improving the navigation of the river Dee, under the provisions of which a canal from Chester to the estuary of that river, passing through Saltney marsh in this parish, was completed in 1737: the company, incorporated under the name of the " Company of proprietors of the undertaking for recovering and preserving the navigation of the river Dee," in prosecution of their work, appropriated to their own use eight hundred acres of the marsh on the north side of the canal, in consideration of which they are bound by the act to pay to the lord of the manor of Hawarden, and other trustees, £200 per annum, to be applied to any use that five of them may direct; they are also charged with the maintenance of two ferries across the new channel of the Dee. A considerable acquisition was also made to the parish in the enclosure of more than three thousand acres of land on the north side of the Dee, by the same company, between the years 1754 and 1790 ; this district, now called Sealand, forms a township in the parish. In 1778, an act of parliament was obtained for enclosing Saltney marsh, under the provisions of which about two thousand acres were erected into a township, called Saltney, which now maintains its own poor: several hundred acres of the marsh are still unenclosed and open to the sea. The market is on Saturday; and fairs, principally for cattle, are annually held on April 28th and October 22nd. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold petty sessions monthly; and courts leet and baron are held in May and at Michaelmas by the lord of the manor, at which respectively constables are appointed, and debts under forty shillings are recoverable. A house of correction has been erected on the site of an ancient cross, of which there were formerly two in the town. The living is a rectory, in the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of the incumbent, rated in the king's books at £66. 6. 5i., and in the patronage of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Bart. The rector holds his ecclesiastical court on the Tuesday preceding Holy Thursday. The church, dedicated to Stpeiniol, is an ancient and spacious structure, with a square embattled tower, and was thoroughly repaired in 1764, towards defraying the expense of which the Hawarden trustees appropriated 4700 from the annual payments of the river Dee company; the chancel was almost entirely rebuilt in 1817, at an expense of le 1400, jointly defrayed by the Hon. and Rev. George Neville Grenville, the present rector, Charles Dundas, Esq., and the inhabitants. In the hamlet of Buckley a new church was erected in 1822, by grant of the parliamentary commissioners, who gave the sum of £4000 for that purpose: it is a neat edifice in the later style of English architecture, with a tower surmounted by a spire, and contains seven hundred and forty sittings, of which four hundred and eighteen are free: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector. In the township of Broughton is also a chapel of ease to the mother church. There are places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. A grammar school was founded here, in 1606, by Mr.-George Ladsham, who bequeathed £300 for its erection and endowment. The school-room was built in 1608, at the west corner of the churchyard, and was rebuilt and enlarged, and a house erected for the master, in 1814, by the feoffees, from small savings accumulated at compound interest, and by subscription among the inhabitants; and a piece of ground was given to it by Sir Stephen R. Glynne. The salary of the master, including the interest of a donation of £50, is now £20 per annum. Three National schools in different parts of the parish, for the gratuitous instruction of poor children of both sexes, are supported principally by the rector and by Sir Stephen and Lady Glynne. Two schools on the National system were erected at Buckley in 1819, and a dwelling-house for the master, at an expense of £1200, defrayed by subscription. A Sunday school is supported in connexion with the established church. There were numerous charitable donations and bequests for the poor of the parish, but the greater part has been lost by bad seenrities: the remainder is distributed among the poor, according to the intention of the benefactors. The ruins of the ancient castle of Hawarden occupy an artificial eminence at the eastern extremity of the town, within the park of Sir Stephen R. Glynne; the wide and deep trenches by which it was defended now form picturesque ravines filled with trees of luxuriant growth, above which the ruins are seen with romantic effect: a considerable improvement has been made in the appearance of these remains, by the removal of the accumulated ruins of the walls, by which the foundation was concealed. It appears to have been originally of a pentagonal form, with a strong gateway entrance on the western side, and a barbican on another of its sides: the principal portion now remaining is the keep, a circular tower situated in one of the angles of the enclosed' area, and nearly entire; the other remains are chiefly fragments of the walls and various buildings, some of which appear to have been subterraneous chambers, appropriated as dungeons for the confinement of prisoners. About a quarter of a mile from the turnpike road leading from Chester to Holyhead, within this parish, are the picturesque ruins of Enloe castle; supposed to have been an outpost dependent on the castle of Mold: from their situation in a retired and thickly wooded dingle, they cannot easily be found without the assistance of a guide: they occupy a site defended on one side by a deep ravine, and on the other by a wide fosse, and consist chiefly of the remains of a large oblong tower, rounded at one extremity, about fourteen yards in length and twelve in breadth: there are also some outworks, the principal of which encloses a quadrangular area, at one angle of which are the remains of a circular tower. These ruins are finely mantled with ivy, and have a very picturesque appearance. To the west of the church are the remains of an ancient British encampment, called Truman's Hill, and near Broad-lane House are vestiges of another, called Connah's Hill. Hawarden Castle, the seat of Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Batt, is a stately and handsome castellated mansion, situated within an extensive park, comprising much diversified scenery, and comprehending the site and remains of the ancient castle: the grounds are tastefully laid out and ornamented with extensive and thriving plantations. Sir John Glynne, the ancestor of the present proprietor, was a man of distinguished talents, and during the parliamentary war was made steward of Westminster, which city he represented in the two parliaments of 1640, and recorder of London; he was afterwards appointed by Cromwell one of his council, and made chamberlain of Chester. On the Restoration he was favourably received by Charles II., who bestowed on him the honour of knighthood, and created his eldest son a baronet: he retired from public business, and in 1666 died in London, and was interred in St. Margaret's church, Westminster. Hawarden gives the title of viscount to the family of Maude. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £ 1535. 6.