DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61904#0115
CONWAY AND ITS CASTLE. IO3
much that they made all the fea-fliore refound with them. Thus
the Duke entered the city of Chefter, to whom the common
people paid great reverence, praifing our lord, and fhouting after
their king, as if in mockery.”
At the time of the Welfh infurreddon headed by the famous
Owen Glyndwr, John de Maffey was conftable of Conway
Caftle, which it muft be fuppofed was confidered pretty ftrong
in itfelf, as fifteen men-at-arms and fix archers only formed its
garrifon, 391-. 2.d. per day being allowed for the maintenance of
the fortrefs. During the civil wars of York and Lancafter,
Conway was the fcene of much warfare and bloodfhed, the
powerful families of the Welfh in the neighbourhood taking
oppofite fides, and fuffering accordingly. Hence Rhys, the
fon of Griffydd Goch, when furveying the caftle from the
oppofite fide of the river, was fhot with an arrow difcharged
from the caftle-wall by Llewellyn of Nannau, in return for
which a few nights afterwards, Robin ap Griffydd Goch
o’r Graianllyn, and his brother, with their followers, croffed the
river, took the caftle by efcalade, and beheaded the captain.
The whole country round was overrun by the adherents
of thefe two factions, and utterly laid wafte by the Earl of
Pembroke. In 1466, Thomas ap Robin of Cochwillan was
beheaded near the caftle, by the Earl’s orders, on account of
his ftaunch adherence to the Lancaftrian party ; and his wife,
it is faid, carried away his head in her apron.
During the wars of the Commonwealth, Conway Caftle was
held as a military ftation of fome importance, and was for fome
time under the command of Archbifhop Williams, who was a
native of the town. According to his epitaph in Llandegai
Church, near Penrhyn Caftle,—he being defcended on his
father’s fide from the Williams of Cochwillan, and on his
mother’s from the Griffiths of Penrhyn—“ his great parts and
much that they made all the fea-fliore refound with them. Thus
the Duke entered the city of Chefter, to whom the common
people paid great reverence, praifing our lord, and fhouting after
their king, as if in mockery.”
At the time of the Welfh infurreddon headed by the famous
Owen Glyndwr, John de Maffey was conftable of Conway
Caftle, which it muft be fuppofed was confidered pretty ftrong
in itfelf, as fifteen men-at-arms and fix archers only formed its
garrifon, 391-. 2.d. per day being allowed for the maintenance of
the fortrefs. During the civil wars of York and Lancafter,
Conway was the fcene of much warfare and bloodfhed, the
powerful families of the Welfh in the neighbourhood taking
oppofite fides, and fuffering accordingly. Hence Rhys, the
fon of Griffydd Goch, when furveying the caftle from the
oppofite fide of the river, was fhot with an arrow difcharged
from the caftle-wall by Llewellyn of Nannau, in return for
which a few nights afterwards, Robin ap Griffydd Goch
o’r Graianllyn, and his brother, with their followers, croffed the
river, took the caftle by efcalade, and beheaded the captain.
The whole country round was overrun by the adherents
of thefe two factions, and utterly laid wafte by the Earl of
Pembroke. In 1466, Thomas ap Robin of Cochwillan was
beheaded near the caftle, by the Earl’s orders, on account of
his ftaunch adherence to the Lancaftrian party ; and his wife,
it is faid, carried away his head in her apron.
During the wars of the Commonwealth, Conway Caftle was
held as a military ftation of fome importance, and was for fome
time under the command of Archbifhop Williams, who was a
native of the town. According to his epitaph in Llandegai
Church, near Penrhyn Caftle,—he being defcended on his
father’s fide from the Williams of Cochwillan, and on his
mother’s from the Griffiths of Penrhyn—“ his great parts and