The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-25 00:00:00

mains but the outer walls and the round tower, it sti

presents an imposing appearance, for which, in a great
degree, it is indebted to the completeness of its ex-
terior and the good repair in which it is kept by
its noble owner,. the Duke of Beaufort. It is per-
fectly roofless, the large halls and court yards being
converted into green slopes, in which on festive
circumstanceMr
occasions
n fetes
observedare thhealtd, considering
itdheer townspeople.ng
the
that the Roman road passed the river in this neigh-
bourhood, he thought that in all probability the Castle
of Chepstow was erected on the site of a Roman fort ;
and if, on their inspection in the morning of what was
generally termed the chapel, though there is no reason
to suppose it ever was one, they narrowly observed the
walla, they would find a row of Roman bricks. It was
not likely that these bricks would be found in such a po-
sition in a Norman castle, and he could not help Utilis-
ing that it was an ancient Roman wall which had been
preserved, and in all probability the only part left of a
Roman fort there. Old traditions were often very ab-
surd, but, being subjected to rigid examination, it was
generally found that they contained some grains of truth
in them on which an immense superstructure of fable
was raised ; and it was a very remarkable fact that
there used to be a generally received tradition among
the common people of this neighbourhood that Chep-
stow Castle was built by Julius Cwsar, which perhaps
sounded ridicuious enough, but when they found that
it was constructed on the Julian way, the manner in
which the error had crept in was palpable ; they
had evidently mistaken one thing for another. He
then per ceeded to refer to the history of the Norman
castle erected since the Conquest. It was built by Wil-
liam Fitzesborne--Earl William as he was called—who
was in great favour with the Conqueror, who gave him
a large portion of the conquered land in this neighbour.
hood, and appointed him governor of the Marches. He
was always considered a great roan, having many ships-
of-war. In hot, he had the command of the whole
country in this district, and he was mentioned in
"Doomsday Book" as the possessor or builder of the
Castle of Striguil. the Norman appellation of Chepstow.
The castle, after the death of the Earl William, who was
killed in Flanders, descended to Roger, but he, being
attainted of treason and condemned, it came into the
family of Gilbert Strongbow. And here he might re-
mark that it was a very common error to suppose that
the name of Strongbow was confined to one person ; on
the contrary, it was a family name, and therefore the
story of its being given to Richard on account of the
length of his arms and his great skill in archery was
a mere fable. He then traced it throulh the posses.
sion of the Lord Marshal of England, William, who
espoused the daughter of Strongbow, and, on the divi-
sion of his immense property among his daughters,
the male issue having failed, it fell to the share of Maud,
who, marrying Hugh Bigod, Earl of. Norfolk, con-
veyed the Castle of Striguil into that family. He died
in 1269, and is supposed to have built all the habitable
part of Chepstow Castle, and, although he did not re-
collect where that fact was recorded, it would pro-
bably be confirmed on reference to the architecture of
the castle. On that point, however, he would leave
persons who could speak more positively about the
erections of different epochs to enlighten them. He
thought that the Priory of Newchurch, situated three
or four miles from this place, must have been the one
indicated in the old chronicles as not being far from the
Castle of Striguil, or Striguy. The town walls enclosed
an area of 92 acres, which showed the importance of the
ancient place, it being the largest area within walls in
the county of Monmouth, Caerleon, the next in size,
being only 50 acres, Caerwent not so much, and New-
port only about ten. He did not find any tradition or
document that led to the inference that the meadows
within the walls, and now known as the meads, had ever
been built open, and it certainly seemed strange that
they should have enclosed so large a piece of open
ground, but there was a bridge at Dort-walk, and
another one lower down, some remains of approaches
to which, before the construction of the railroad, were
visible. Mr. Wakeman then gave some interesting de-
tails of the small priory of St. Kingmark, in the neigh-
bourhood, near which there were some small remains of
walls, but not of sufficient magnitude or importance to
demand a vi,it from the association.
The CHAIRMAN then expressed the thanks of the meet-
ing to Mr. Wakeman for the interesting paper he had
read, and the proceedings were adjourned.

"Tait SAMSON. —The namesake and son of the hero
of Bums' poem was on the moors on Saturday last, for
the 55th season. The patriarchal s ortsioan, we be-
lieve, proved himself as good a shot as of yore Mr.
Samson, who is a seedsinan in Kilmarnock, is probably
the oldest man on the Scottish moors in 1854.—Glasgow
Chronicle.