Our readers will have already learnt that Oswestry, from an early period in the history of the nation, bore no undistinguished part. Fixed in the midst of an arena of fierce and convulsive conflicts for many ages; its early state of warlike defence, rendered so complete by the sagacious Edward I., and forming a powerful post on the Border Lands, the eyes of monarchs and their gallant nobles were frequently directed towards it for succour or defence. The Castle, in its primitive state, may have been a palace fit for regal splendour. The honour of erecting it is assigned, as we have previously mentioned, to Madog, descended from an illustrious Welsh Prince, the strenuous ally of Henry II., in his Welsh wars, and whose sire was the constant confederate of Randel the Third, and of his son, Hugh Cyveiliog, the fourth Earl of Chester. Madog was a man of high distinction in his day, and, being Prince of Powys, of which division Oswestry formed a part, there is presumptive evidence that the Castle was built by him, as the Welsh historians maintain, or very considerably enlarged or repaired. The English records fix its existence even before the Norman Conquest, and show that “Alan, a noble Norman,” received it immediately from William the Conqueror, on his accession. “This Alan,” adds Dugdale, the historian, “was the stock of the Fitz-Alans, Earls of Arundel; a potent race that flourished (with fewer checks than are usual with greatness) for near five hundred years.” It may be necessary to mention here, to aid the reader as to dates, that Madog died A.D. 1159, and that the Norman Invasion occurred in 1066. If Dugdale is to be relied upon, the Castle of Oswestry was built at a period anterior to the Conquest, but he makes no mention of Madog. He says, “There was a Castle at Oswaldster at the time of the Conquest;” and Pennant, a good authority, adds to this note of Dugdale, “I think it very probable.” The able Welsh tourist further remarks, “The artificial mount on which it was placed indicates it to have been earlier than the Norman era. The Britons and the Saxons gave their fortresses this species of elevation. The Normans built on the firm and natural soil or rock, but often made use of these mounts, which they found to have been the site of a Saxon castle. I believe this to have been the case with that in question. A Fitz-Alan repaired or re-built, and added to that which he met with here: a tower also (as is not unfrequent) might receive the name of Madog, complimentary either to the son of Meredydd (Madog’s father), or some other great man of the same title.” We have collected all the authorities we could find on this vexed question; but the actual date of the building of the Castle, and the veritable party to whom the honour of founding it is due, are still among the undiscovered facts of ages past.

Oswestry Castle

There is still, however, a notable event connected with Oswestry Castle that gives to its history surpassing interest, and ranks it among the more remarkable military relics of the nation. If the pains-taking researches of Chalmers, the historian of Scotland, are to be relied upon, one of the distinguished occupants of Oswestry Castle was the founder of the Stewart royal family. The real origin of that race of sovereigns had long perplexed genealogists; but the labours of Chalmers, who has minutely investigated all the written and printed records on the subject, have proved beyond further controversy that Walter, the son of Alan (the two first Norman possessors of Oswestry Castle), the son of Flaald, and the younger brother of William, the son of Alan, who was the progenitor of the famous house of Fitz-Alan, the Earl of Arundel, was the first of the Stewarts. Symon, and other Scotch historians, trace the Stewart family to a Thane of Lochabar. Lord Hailes disputed this and other opinions, treating them as fabulous, but it was reserved for Chalmers to establish and set at rest the long-contested question as to the origin of the Stewart race. Lord Hailes himself acknowledges that Walter, who flourished under David the First of Scotland, and Malcolm the Fourth, was indeed the first Stewart of Scotland; but he is unable to determine where, and what was the commencement of this family. The subject is important to every native of our land; but to the people of Oswestry it is of paramount interest, as it connects with the town, however remotely, the genealogy of our present beloved monarch, Queen Victoria.

Chalmers’ evidence on this subject is curious and interesting. He tells us that the great exploit of Walter, the son of Alan, was the founding of Paisley monastery, during the reign of Malcolm IV., by transplanting a colony of Cluniac monks from the monastery of Wenlock, in Shropshire. Such, then, he adds, was the connection of Walter the First Stewart with Wenlock, and with Isabel de Say, who married William, the brother of Walter. Alan, the son of Flaald, married the daughter of Gwarine, the famous Sheriff of Shropshire, soon after the Norman conquest; and of this marriage William was the eldest son of Alan, and the undoubted heir both of Alan and of Gwarine. Alan, the son of Flaald, a Norman, acquired the manor of Oswestry soon after the Conquest. Alan was undoubtedly a person of great consequence at the accession of Henry I. He was a frequent witness to the king’s charters, with other eminent personages of that court. Mr. Chalmers, in his further investigations, proves the fraternal connection of William, the son of Alan, by a transaction which had before been as new to history as it is singular in itself. It has already been shown that Oswestry was the original seat of Alan on the Welsh border. Clun was added to his family by the marriage of his son William, who built Clun Castle; and John Fitz-Alan, Lord of Clun and Oswestry, by marrying Isabel, the second sister of William de Albany, the third Earl of Arundel, who died in 1196, became Earl of Arundel, and changed his residence from Shropshire to Sussex. Now, Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, being with Edward III., during the year 1335, and claiming to be Stewart of Scotland by hereditary right, sold his title and claim to the king for 1000 marks, which purchase he cautiously had confirmed to him by Edward Baliol; but Richard Fitz-Alan had not any right to the Stewartship of Scotland. Walter, who was the first purchaser of this hereditary office, was the younger brother of William, the son of Alan, the progenitor of Richard Fitz-Alan, the claimant; and till all the descendants of the first purchaser had failed, the claim could not ascend to the common father of the two families. But Robert the Stewart, who was born of Margery Bruce, on the 28th March, 1315–16, and became King of Scots the 2nd February, 1370–1, under the entail of the crown, was then in possession of the hereditary office of Stewart, by lineal descent. Walter, the son of Alan, undoubtedly obtained from David I., and from Malcolm IV., great possessions, a high office, and extensive patronage, and it may be reasonably asked, by what influence he could acquire from two kings so much opulence, and such an office? David I. was a strenuous supporter of the claims of his niece, the Empress Maud, in her severe contest with Stephen. William, the brother of Walter, influenced by the Earl of Gloucester, the bastard son of Henry I., and other powerful partizans of his sister the Empress, seized Shrewsbury in September, 1139, and held it for her interest. He attended her, with King David, at the siege of Winchester, in 1441, where they were overpowered by the Londoners, and obliged to flee. Such then were the bonds of connection between David I. and the sons of Alan, who were also patronized by the Earl of Gloucester. It was probably on that occasion that Walter accompanied David into Scotland. William, the son of Alan, adhered steadily to the Empress, and was rewarded by Henry II. for his attachment. Thus Walter, the son of Alan, could not have had more powerful protectors, than the Earl of Gloucester with David I., and Henry II. with Malcolm the II. When Walter, by those influences, obtained grants of Renfrew with other lands, and founded the Monastery of Paisley for Cluniac Monks from Wenlock, he was followed by several persons from Shropshire, whom he enriched, and by whom he was supported. He married Eschina, of Moll, in Roxburghshire, by whom he had a son Alan, who succeeded him in his estates and office when he died, in 1177. Six descents carried this family, by lineal transmissions, to Robert the Stewart, whose office, as already stated, was purchased by Edward III., and who became King of Scots 1371: Walter, the son of Alan, was followed by his brother Simon. Thus does Mr. Chalmers treat the history of the Stewarts, whose blood, he says, runs in a thousand channels.

This historical subject has attracted the attention of a talented resident of Oswestry, whose taste and research, united with genius and poetic imagination, have already conferred upon the town no trivial honour. That gentleman has favoured us with a notice of the Castle Hill, which bespeaks the enthusiasm of the writer, and adds to the interest which all lovers of history must feel on a topic so closely connected with the present amiable Sovereign of the kingdom. It is only due to Mr. Sabine to state (for to him we are indebted for aid in endeavouring to elucidate a dark and hitherto uncertain portion of Border History) that he has shed light even upon the pains-taking researches of Chalmers, and done much towards establishing a fact which, as we now consider it to be “proven,” cannot fail to confer upon Oswestry an historical importance of no common degree.

Mr. Sabine’s paper we have pleasure in quoting entire:—

“There is nothing,” he remarks, “in the appearance of this Hill very imposing or very remarkable. It is a somewhat abrupt mound, with some rude fragmentary remains of the castle, with which it was formerly surmounted. It has long been a moot question whether this mound is natural, or whether it has been raised by artificial means. Its appearance would seem to indicate that it is the work of man; but an examination of its geological composition, and a comparison of it with similar surrounding elevations, lead to the conclusion that it is the accumulated deposit of ages during a period in which the district has probably been the area of obstructed and pent-up waters, which, having been set at liberty, have left exposed the present undulated portions of the district, of which this mound forms one of the most prominent. Its present abrupt character—abrupt as compared with some of the more shelving banks—is easily and obviously accounted for by manifold encroachments, and by the military necessity for making the Castle as inaccessible as possible to hostile attacks. But if there is nothing in the appearance of the Castle Hill of Oswestry that is remarkable, this cannot be said of its history; for if there can be one fact topographically of greater interest than another in the history of a kingdom, it is that which is connected with the origin of its reigning monarch. To say nothing, then, of the numerous battle scenes of which Oswestry Castle has been the witness, and of which, it might say with Æneas, ‘Quorum pars magna fui,’ a note of Sir Walter Scott’s to the “Monastery” will be a sufficient warrant for saying that Oswestry, in point of historic interest, is second to no town in the united kingdom. ‘The acute pen of Lord Hailes (says the author of Waverley), which, like the spear of Ithuriel, conjured up so many shadows from Scottish history, had dismissed among the rest those of Banquo and Fleance, the rejection of which fables left the illustrious family of Stewart without an ancestor, beyond Walter, the Son of Alan. The researches of our late learned Antiquary detected in this Walter the descendant of Alan, the son of Flaald, who obtained from William the Conqueror The Castle of Oswestry, in Shropshire; and who was the father of an illustrious line of English nobles, by his first son, William, and by his second son, Walter, the progenitor of the royal family of Stewart.’ Few will be bold enough, even if so disposed, to question the authority of such an antiquarian as Sir Walter Scott, especially in matters relating to his own country. Assuming, then, that Alan Fitz-Flaald is the stirp of the Stewart House, a genealogical table may not be uninteresting to the readers of this work:—

Genealogical table [178]

“That Sir Walter Scott is as indubitable an authority in early English or Welsh History as in that of his own country may not be admitted by all. According to the Welsh records Oswestry belonged to Madog, Prince of Powys, who resided at Oswestry, and built the Castle there about the year 1140. His second wife, Maud Vernon, an English lady of noble birth, on the death of Madog, married William Fitz-Alan, Lord of Clun, who in right of his wife obtained the Town and Castle of Oswestry. This William was a descendant of Alan who (says the Welsh Historian) came over with William the Conqueror, and was the first of the Fitz-Alans that was Baron of Oswestry. Again, the English historians assign to Oswestry Castle a more ancient date than 1140. They inform us that it was in being before the Norman conquest; and that Alan, a noble Norman, had the Town and Castle bestowed upon him by the Conqueror, soon after his accession. But whether Walter the Steward was the grandson of Flaald, and of Welsh descent, or whether his father came over from Normandy with the Conqueror, it may be taken as a fact that Walter, the son of Alan, the younger brother of William Fitz-Alan, went from Oswestry Castle, of which his father was Governor, into the service of David I., King of Scotland, as that monarch’s Steward, and was the founder of the house of Stewart. The following extract from Chambers’ Journal is concurrent in testimony with the main features of the above, and is fraught with additional interest, as it shows how greatly Scotland was indebted to the old Town of Oswestry for its progress in civilization:—

‘During the troublous conflicts of Maud and Stephen, in their competition for the crown of England, Walter, the son of Alan, the son of Flaald, fled from the family seat at Oswestry, and settled in Scotland. David I. made him his Steward, and gave him lands to support the dignity of his office. By the charter we learn that these lands were those of “Passaleth (Paisley), Polloc, Talahee, Ketkert, le Drop, le Mutrene Egglesham, Louchwinnock, and Inverwick.” These estates in Renfrewshire (then a portion of Lanarkshire) were confirmed by Malcolm IV. in 1157, when he made the office of Steward hereditary, and granted, in addition, various other estates in the same quarter. Besides these possessions, Walter acquired the western half of Kyle, in Ayrshire, which hence was called Kyle Stewart. At this period the country was in a semi-barbarous state; but Walter the Stewart introduced new and civilized usages. He settled many of his military followers on his lands, and, founding the Abbey of Paisley, introduced a body of instructed men, who taught the ancient people domestic arts and foreign manners. By the marriage of one of these Stewarts with Margery Bruce, Robert the Stewart was born, and became, 1370–1, King of Scots.’

“The Hill which claims this unique and unquestionable honour, in defiance of all the various contradictory and exploded fables which would give it to Scotland (for no spot in England seeks to withhold it from Oswestry), has been rescued from the destruction with which it has long been threatened, both by the encroachments of time and thoughtless spoliation, having been purchased by several of the Inhabitants of Oswestry, and vested in James Thomas Jones, Esq., as their Trustee, and is now planted as an Arboretum. The panoramic view from this Hill is one of the most beautiful scenic gems in the neighbourhood; and when the shrubs which have been planted shall have overcome the obstacles to their luxuriant growth, arising from exposure to bleak winds, and a comparatively uncongenial soil, it will constitute an ornament to the Town of Oswestry, such as few localities can boast; and which, in addition to its historic interest, will render it a spot, of which the Inhabitants of the County of Salop, and of Oswestry especially, may rank among their most remarkable objects of attraction. While the Hill was being planted a small silver coin was found, which, on examination, proved to be of the reign of David I. of Scotland. This, though not a direct link in the chain of proof of the title of Oswestry Castle to the honour it claims, and defies Scotland to dispute, is a remarkable corroborative incident, most valuable, as circumstantial evidence, in support of the claim. A stone has been placed on the Hill, with the following inscription:—’A.D. MCXXXVIII., Walter, son of Alan, the progenitor of the Royal House of Stuart, left this, his ancestral castle, in the reign of Stephen, King of England, and of David I., King of Scots.’”

The more recent history of the Castle may be given in a few words. In the sixth of Henry II., Guy le Strange, Sheriff of Shropshire, accounted in the exchequer for salaries paid out of the king’s revenues to the wardens in the Castle of Blancminster (Oswestry), the inheritance of William Fitz-Alan, then lately deceased. In the fifteenth of John, the nephew (John) of the Earl of Pembroke, guardian of the Marches of Wales, was made Governor of Blancminster. In Henry III., John Fitz-Alan, as heir to Hugh de Albany, Earl of Arundel, had upon the death of that Earl, assigned for his purpatry, the Castle of Arundel, and upon paying £1000 fine was admitted to the possession of Oswestry Castle. In the twenty-fourth of Henry III., on the death of John Fitz-Alan, John le Strange had a grant of the custody of the lands of John, his son (then a minor), with an allowance of 300 marks per annum, for guarding Blancminster and other places. In the first of Edward I., John de Oxinden had the custody of the Castle of Blancminster, upon the death of John, Earl of Arundel. In the third of Edward I., Bogo de Knovil was Sheriff of the county, and Keeper of the Castle of Blancminster. In the eighth of Edward I., Isabel, mother of Richard, Earl of Arundel, had the custody of the Castle of Blancminster, and also of the hundred of Oswaldster during the minority of her son; but two years afterwards her brother, Edmund de Mortimer, supplanted her, and got the grant to himself. In the eighteenth of Edward I., Adam de Montgomery died Governor of the Castle. In the twenty-seventh of Edward I., Peter Meuvesine de Berwicke, juxta Akinton, died in the same office. In the twenty-seventh of Edward II., after the attainder of Edmund, Earl of Arundel, Roger Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, had a grant of the Castle. In the twenty-first of Richard II., Richard, Earl of Arundel, being attainted or executed, the king seized upon his lands and manors, and granted them to William Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire. In the seventh of Henry IV., Thomas, son of the attainted Earl, after he was restored in blood, freed the burgesses from many impositions of the Constable of the Castle. Amongst the names of subsequent Governors of the Castle we find those of John Trevor, Vaughan, Jeffrey Kyffyn; and in the twenty-fifth of James I., Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, his wife, Lord Walden, Sir Arnold Herbert, and William Herbert, “grant to the Lady Craven, Sir William Whitmore, George Whitmore, and their heirs, the lordship, manor, and Castle of Oswestry.” The state of the Castle in the Civil Wars has already been described.

In a record of the Inquisition, 21 Richard II., 1398, preserved in the Tower of London, there is a curious inventory of articles contained in Oswestry Castle on the attainder of Richard, Earl of Arundel, taken by order of the King. The Jurors consisted of inhabitants of the town and district. The record states, that “the Castle, Vill, and Lordship of Oswaldestre, in the Marches of Wales, is worth yearly, with its customs and appurtenances, besides the fees of all the officers there, and besides all reprizes made there, one year with another, £252, 16s. 2d.” * * * * “That the said Earl was seized as of fee of one messuage in the Vill of Oswaldestre, by his deed enfeoffed one John ap Wyllym, to have to him and his heirs for ever, worth yearly beyond reprizes, 6s. 8d. Also, that the said Earl was seized as of fee of the advowson of the free Chapel of St. Nicholas, within the Castle of Oswaldestre, worth 46s. 8d. Also, that the said Earl of Arundel had within the Castle of Oswaldestre, on the 18th day of July last past, and afterwards, the following goods and chattels, that is to say,—in the Wardrobe there, 5 yew bows, 4 elm bows, 20 sheaves of arrows, 6 cross-bows, lances, with 6 heads, 1 gun, 1 barrel of gunpowder, 200 quirells, 3 pol-axes, 2 sparthes, 3 broken jacks, 3 pair of gauntlets, 3 pallets, 1 banderich for a cross-bow, 1 table, 1 pair of stakes, 3 pair of fetters, 6 pair of iron handcuffs, with iron bolts, 1 coler, with 2 iron shakylls, 1 file, 1 hammer. In the Great Chamber, 1 cupboard, 2 tables, 4 forms. In the Middle Chamber, 3 chests, 2 forms, 1 table. In the High Chamber, 1 hand-mill, panel of a certain trefreget. In the Constable’s Hall, 3 tables, four tressels, 3 forms, 1 bason, with a laver, 1 small chest. In the Butlery, 1 chest, broken at the top, 1 bucket, with an iron chain, 1 barrel for weapons, 31 keys of different locks. In the Chapel, 1 vessel for the holy water, 1 missal, 1 gilt chalice, 2 linen towels, with a frontal, 2 surplices, 2 chessibles, with accompaniments, 1 hand-mill for grinding corn. In the Kitchen, 1 stone mortar, with a pile of wood. In the Larder, 2 broken oxheads, with 6 bushels of salt; which said artillery, arms, goods and chattels, are put into the custody of Madog Lloid, the Deputy of Robert Legh, Chivaler Constable of the Castle aforesaid, for the defence of the same.” After enumerating several other articles, the Inquisition record adds, “and in a certain house in the Vill of Oswaldestre (the said Earl possessed) 601 fleeces of wool, weighing 2 sacks, and ?th of a sack, at per sack 100s.; 50 gallons of honey, at 7s. a gallon. Also the said Earl had on the 18th day of July aforesaid, and afterwards, in the said Castle, 1 white stallion, price £10; 1 race-horse, called Young Sorrell, price £13 6s. 8d. And in the Park of Oswaldestre Superior, 16 horse colts, 13 of which are 3 years old, and 3 of them 2 years old: price in the whole, £66 13s. 4d.” The record further adds, that the said “Earl had after the 18th of July, £720 in money, and that one Thomas Harlyng, late Receiver-General of the said Earl, took and carried away the same, whereof he is answerable to the King.” A great number of articles, with monies, cattle, &c., are stated to have been taken away by various persons named, who are made answerable to the King for the same.—This document is curious, inasmuch as it throws some light upon the military weapons in use at the period, on the plain and scanty domestic articles in the Castle, and on the low value of farming stock, &c. The record presents no account of the Earl’s apartments, or those of his servants, or of the furniture there used. Probably all the valuable property which he possessed in the fortress was carried away and disposed of before the Earl was attainted. The entire record furnishes evidence of nothing polished or luxurious; on the contrary, it is a catalogue of mere rudeness, discomfort, and barbarity; giving no marks whatever of vice-regal grandeur or princely state.

As an additional fact it is proper to mention, that the Bailey-Head was the original ballium, or quadrangle of the Castle; that the mount in the Castle-field, known by the name of the Cripple-bank, or gathe, was also the site of the ancient Barbican, or outer gate, at which the poor and diseased received relief. Of the free chapel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, infra Castrum de Oswaldestre, the advowson of which belonged to the Arundel family, there is not a trace left to mark its situation.

The sketch of Oswestry Castle which forms one of our illustrations shows that, in its pristine state, it was a formidable structure, of great strength and stateliness. The architecture seems to be of the Saxon order.

THE WALLS.

The ancient Walls of the town were the work of Edward I., and no doubt were well and firmly built; but scarcely a vestige of them remains. Their circumvallation is, however, correctly marked in most of the old books, and old inhabitants of the present day point out various sites on which portions of the walls stood. Edward was generally successful in giving strength and endurance to his military buildings. Caernarvon, Conway, and Rhuddlan Castles, all designed and erected under his superintendence, are noble fortresses in the present age, notwithstanding the dilapidations they have suffered from military attack and “Time’s effacing fingers.” The Walls of Oswestry must have suffered much injury during the period of the Commonwealth; and perhaps private encroachments since that time have been the principal cause of their entire disappearance.

There are still remaining several ancient timber houses, to mark the architecture of bye-gone times. Among these are, the Three Tuns public-house, in Bailey-Street, and an antique edifice forming the angle of Bailey-Street and Cross-Street, in front of which is the figure of a spread eagle, raised on the plaster, and supposed to have been the residence of the Lloyds, of Trenewydd, who bore the eagle in their coat of arms. The Three Tuns was a popular house in former days, and was the resort of most of the drapers who visited the fairs and markets of the borough. Among the other old timber buildings are Miss Holbrooke’s, in Salop-Road, the most attractive of any in the town, from the neatness in which it is kept, the Coach and Dogs, and the Fighting Cocks public-houses. These relics of past days may not be allowed to remain much longer, now that improvement in the town is likely to become so rapid in its strides.

The railway extension, from Oswestry to Welshpool and Newtown, will effect important changes in most parts of the borough; and as the antique relics to which we have been alluding are comparatively useless in a social point of view, their sites may soon be covered with buildings better adapted to the comforts and requirements of the present day.