HOPE, or ESTYN, a parish and borough (small), in the Hope division of the hundred of MAELOR, county of FLINT, NORTH
WALES, on the road from Wrexham to Mold, 5 miles (N. N. W.) from the former, 6 (s. E.) from the latter, 124 (S. S. E) from
Flint, and 193 (N. W.) from London, containing 2747 inhabitants. This place has been distinguished in the Welsh border
history from a very early period. Its castle, situated about a mile from the village, has been generally known by the
appellation of Caergwrle, which anciently was also probably applied to the whole parish, and is supposed to be derived
from the ancient British words Caer gawr Ikon, 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 that of 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 until lately visible in the neighbourhood; from which it may be presumed to have formed, like Holt, an
outpost to the grand station of Deva. After the withdrawal of the Roman forces from Britain, it appears, from remains
still visible, to have been occupied as a post of defence by the native population, who, at some remote period, erected
here a mural fortress, 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 in the possession of 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 them 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, when Reginald de Grey, the other Justiciary, should come into the country,
that 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. invested in person the castle of Hope, 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 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 kings 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, who, after the deposition of that sovereign 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. Hope at present forms an insignificant village, agreeably situated on an eminence on the northern side of the
river Alyn, which intersects the parish, within the limits of which an abundance of limestone of good quality is found:
the Frith lime-works are conducted on a very extensive scale, and afford employment to a considerable number of workmen:
great quantities of lime are sent hence to Chester, a distance of twelve miles. By the charter of Edward the Black Prince,
it was provided, that the constable of the castle of Caergwrle, 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. Caergwrle, 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 Hope, or Estyn, and that of
Caergwrle, 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 one hundred and twenty. The late act for amending the
representation of the people has added the towns of St. Asaph, Holy-well, and Mold, to the abovementioned district of
boroughs, but has not altered the boundaries of this borough, nor the nature of the franchise, except by subjecting each
voter to the registry: the bailiffs of Flint are the returning officers. Fairs are held on Shrove-Tuesday, May 10th,
August 12th, and October 27th. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated in
the king's books at £6. 13. 4., endowed with sE, 200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of
the Bishop. The church, a small edifice dedicated to St. Cynvarch, contains some good monuments, among which is one to the
memory of Sir John Trevor, Knt., secretary to the Earl of Nottingham, the vanquisher of the " Invincible Armada." There
are some small benefactions to the parish for distribution among the poor, and for the apprenticing of poor children. 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 millstones. 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 ruin 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 enclosed by a single ditch and rampart. The ancient Roman outpost of Caer gawr Ikon 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 this 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 Learn xx. Other
traces of Roman occupation also formerly existed here: large beds of scoria have been discovered near Caer Estyn, supposed
to have been the refuse of Roman ironworks; and Roman roads might formerly be traced in several places, leading hence
towards Mold and Ha-warden, adjacent to the former of which was an arti-' ficial mount. In the township of Uchymynydd-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 this 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 fibulae 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 NINYS 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 this 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 which covers the calcareous strata of this parish are found numerous
antediluvian organic remains, called entrochi and astroites, some of which are of a peculiar species. The average annual
expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to £ 685. 6.