Sharp County record., 1880-10-07
A DAY AMONG THE WELSH CAS-
TIES.

believe Of all stories written for
boys none interest them more than
those of old castles; and American boys
long for the privilege granted to their
English cousins of roaming over ivy
covered ruins, climbing lofty towers,
and endangering their necks in all man.
ner of dangerous places. And so my
strong sympathy with this trait IN boys
leads me to tell the story of my eXplOr-
ings in two old castles, whose names
ought to be familiar to all schOOl-boyS.
But must first give you little early
English and Welsh history, that you
may know why these castles were built.
When England became settled
kingdom, with a number of divisions
whose Princes were under the English
King, and whose people paid dues to
him, Wales was one Of these divisions,
and at times the Welsh were very
troublesome, refusing to pay dues, or
submit to the will of the King. Castles
were built and given to English mobiles,
to whom was allowed all the land they
could seize from the Welsh, and the
people were oppressed in various ways,
till Llewellyn became Prince of North
Wales. When Henry Ill, boy only
nine years old, was crowned, Llewellyn
acknowledged him as King, and for
fifty-six years rendered obedience to
him as superior sovereign; but when
Edward l. became King, Llewellyn at
last threw off the yoke, and resisted
sturdily. He was finally forced to sub
NIT; but falling in an encounter with
an English knight, his brother David,
claiming to be legal sovereign of North
Wales, summoned council Of
Welsh chieftains at Denbigh, a
. little town in the north of
Wales. They determined to commence
hostilities against the English, but were
not successful. David was imprisoned,
and this was the end Of Welsh indie
pendence.
Wales was united to England, and
Edward l. determined to secure the
submission and willing obedience of its
people. 1t is said he promised them a
Prince who could not speak a word of
English. Now, he had a baby-boy who
was afterward Edward H.. he present.
ed him as the promised Prince, and,
ever since, the oldest son Of the En-
glish King is called the Prince Of Wales.
This little Prince lived in CarnarvOn,
the largest of the one hundred and
fOrtv-three castles in North Wales, and
it is of the beautiful ruin of this castle
that l will first tell you.
1t is on a high hill in the western part
of Wales; climbing the hill you come
upon huge mass of gray stone. with
immense towers; on two sides surround
ed by river, while a moat or ditch
protects the other two. Originally
there were thirteen towers; five have
fallen, and the stones have been carried
away by the inhabitants of the town to
build their quaint little houses.
The castle has only narrow openings
for windows on the outside; these are
not more than four inches wide, but the
walls are ten feet thick, and these Win
dows are five or six feet wide on the
inside, the sides slanting close together
through the thickness of the wall as
they get near the outside, thus forming
a kind of room in each window.
In those days, battles were fought
and castles defended principally with
cross-bows and arrows, and these win
dow-niches furnished standing room for
six or eight men, who in turn dis
charged their arrows at the enemy.
1t was very easy for them, close to
the narrow openings, to aim carefully
at the enemy, but almost impossible for
the outsiders to send their arrows where
they would take effect.
The towers are full of crooked pas
sages and narrow stone staircases, with
rooms Of all sizes and shapes. Enter
ing the door at the end of the path
and passing up the worn and broken
stone steps, almost lost my way in
dark galleries, where the chattering of
the birds which have appropriated the
deep windows for their nests, and the
sound Of my own footsteps re echoed
till | had hardly courage to complete the
ascent. At last it grew lighter, and [
found myself in the open space between
the two smaller towers.
In the center of the main tower, in
the good old times, there were five
rooms, one above another The floors
have fallen, and, looking over the inner
wall, l could see only the holes where
foor-beams had rested, and heap of
ruins at the bottom. Around these cen
tral halls, which must have been lighted
by artificial means, were smaller rooms,
and staircases only wide enough for one
person to pass. At the end of each
staircase is a door, so that, granting the
enemy succeeded in forcing passage to
the court--a large oblong square in the
center of the castle-a single soldier
could defend such a narrow staircase
and yet be safe himself.
Il snnnnse hnTs would elia3b te te the Ae tsf5 ssff7
of the small tower where the flagstaff
stands. | did not care to, so | went
| down and began a search for Prince
Edwards room. The old histories say
he was born in the tower, but there
are always people who like to spoil
good story, and these say he was three
years old when brought here. like
the old story, SO asked guide to
show me where the Prince was born.
Entering the same door, we climbed
the steps till we reached the
room in the second story, light
ed by the narrow window to the