tide to Raglan Caatle, including tany interesting particulars con- iected with its history. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF WILLIAM P. WREDEN Ljtn f Waugh's Popular Handbooks. PRICE SIXPENCE. GUIDE TO RAGLAN CASTLE. WITH ENGRAVINGS & GROUND PLAN. MONMOUTH : SLISHED BY R. WAUGH & SON, CHURCH STREET. nilllllTlIlIIIIHIIIIIHTTIUlIITTTlIMlIlIMIIIIHi: Sixteenth Thousand. GUIDE TO Including many interesting particulars connected with its History. QtDtcattt, bjj pumtSBiun, to f^er racr ti)t JBuctjess of t3autort. MONMOUTH : PUBLISHED BY R. WAUGH & SON, CHURCH ST. RAGLAN CASTLE. As some ]>oud column, though alone, RAGLAND * hath propp'd a tottering thronr ; Now is the stately column broke, The beacon-light is quenched in smoke : The trumpet's silver sound is still The warder silent on the hill 1 JMONGST the multiplied strongholds which in bygone days crowded the classic land of Gwent,t RAGLAN CASTLE stood boldly, pre- eminent for beauty and strength, at once comprehending within its extensive confines a regal palace and a mighty fortress. . In the midst of a fertile country, eight miles from Mon- mouth, on the Abergavenny road, this princely ruin stands, crowning a gentle eminence with a diadem of towers. For architectural beauty, rich draperied ivy, and brilliant greenness of sward by which it is surrounded, no castle in existence can excel it, and to tourists visiting this part of the country it forms a principal object of attraction. The celebrity of Raglan Castle as a stronghold and focus of loyalty during the eventful reign of Charles I., with the Ragland is derived from Rhaglaw, the Welsh word commonly usea for governor. Thus the governor's seat or castle, the governor's church, &c. The final d is now generally omitted. t When this county submitted to the Eoman Government, it was called Gwent. n * the Kingdom of Gwent. 559368 gallant resistance it offered to the Parliamentary forces it being the first castle that was fortified, and the last that held out for that ill-fated monarch render it, in a national point of view, an object of much interest. The injury it sustained when besieged by General Fairfax, and its subse- quent dismantlement by order of Cromwell, have contributed to make it, in its present enchanting garb, an object alike of xdmiration and regard. GRAND ENTRANCE. /he approach is made on the border of an ancient grove of oaks and elms, whose knotty limbs and umbrageous foliage altogether obscure the ruin, until at length, upon arriving at the gate of the lodge, and passing throughupon the grassy terrace within once the EASTERN COURT a magnificent and imposing spectacle bursts upon the eya. realizing the image of some brilliant scene in fairy-land some enchanter's castle in an eastern romance. Before us rise three PENTAGONAL TOWERS, surmounted by battlements, and bearing on their faces the deeply-indented scars of war. Of these the right exterior gently recedes from the foreground, leaving the innermost to present their martial aspect in the front. These are the most perfect parts of the ruin, and seem to have escaped the hands of the spoiler only to become victims at the altar of Time. Already is the sacrifice profusely decked with flowers ; lichens and moss, ferns and wallflowers, as if in mockery, bloom in each decaying crevice ; whilst, from their devoted heads, long pendant garlands of ivy gracefully fall. To the left, insulated by a deep moat, stand the gigantic remains of the ancient hexagonal TOWER OF GWENT, once the frowning citadel, but now an utter ruin. After the sur- render of the fortress to the Parliamentary forces, in defiance of the stipulation, those truce-breakers sapped the foundation of this truly magnificent part of the castle, and, springing a mine, blew up the noblest tower in Gwent. Let its ruins be for ever the monument of their shame ! We now proceed through the grand Gothic PORTAL, between the foremost pentagonal towers, into the second court of the castle ; and, in passing, remark the light and elegant character of its shafts and arches, and the grooves down which, in times of yore, the massive portcullises were wont to fall in the face of the besieging foe. THE SECOND, OR PAVED COURT, which once resounded with a martial clangour to the iron tread of men-at-arms, is now muffled by a gentle carpet of verdant sod ; while one sapling of ash has grown into a lofty and luxuriant tree, to contrast its light and wavy foliage with the dark-tinted parasite that clothes the walls around. All the buildings to the right of the court (particularly that which was once the CLOSET TOWER) suffered greatly during the last memorable siege; and here the Parliamentary forces effected a breach, which contributed no doubt to hasten the surrender of the castle. By proceeding to the extremity of the court on the right, to a seat beneath the shade of a widely-spreading ash, an effective view is gained of the southern side, which is eminently picturesque. Its boundary is there hung with the ROOM IN GATEWAY TOWER. richest tapestry a mantling vestment of evergreen, through which appears, in grand proportions, the majestic window of the hall of state. At the extremity of the court, and opposite to the portal, is an archway leading to the KITCHEN, which occupies the area of a pentagonal tower of narrow compass, but of great solidity and strength. In an adjoining office is an extensive fire-place, the arch of which is thirteen feet in the span, and is formed by two massive stones. Beneath the kitchen is a room, in perfect preservation, denominated the Wet Larder, which may be easily gained by a subterranean passage. Returning to the court, the next object of interest is the BARONIAL HALL. This stately apartment occupies the interval between the two inner courts. The chief indications of its bygone grandeur are found in its extensive propor- STONE EFFIGIES IN CHAPEL. tions, in the window to which allusion has already been made, and in the fireplace, measuring ten feet wide and eight feet high. The stone-sculptured arms of the mar- quisite of Worcester, upon the eastern wall, are nearly obliterated : these were probably defaced by the rebel soldiery to whom the castle was surrendered. This hall once possessed a beautiful geometrical roof, built with Irish oak, with a cupola in the centre, glazed with painted glass. 8 through which streamed upon the banquet a flood of light, tinctured with prismatic hues. THE BUTTERY (thirty-two feet by eighteen) occupied the building at the lower end of the hall, and a Pantry of equal dimensions was thereunto attached. Passing through the opposite door of the hall, we enter upon the site of a range of apartments which were devoted to the use of the principal officer^ of the garrison; but these were razed by the artillery of the besiegers, and their floors confounded with the area of the Fountain Court. Posterior to these apartments was the CHAPEL, a lengthy narrow structure of which few vestiges remain. Amidst the ivy that slightly clothes the only wall still erect, two carved stone effigies may be distinguished, together with some frag- ments of arches springing from grotesquely sculptured heads. THE COURT OF THE WHITE HORSE FOUNTAIN next claims our notice. Not a vestige of the pedestal and statue which gave name to this court is left. It constituted a marble fountain, from which a perennial stream of limpid water continually flowed in fantastic forms. But these are gone ; and the artists and their work alike are buried beneath the sod.* Alas ! how busy has the hand of desolation been with the beautiful edifices that crowd around this court ! The walls of the state apartments are beaten down, and thus permit us to behold, through the mullioned windows of the outer side, the unintercepted light of heaven. Amongst the objects of peculiar interest in this court are * The late warden, in 1858, discovered one well of the castle which had been lost for more than a century, and removed the debris from another in the keep ; both wells are thirty-six feet deep, but at a totally different level. Visitors can now refresh themselves with the purest water, drawn from the source which formerly supplied the garrison. L THE GRAND PORTAL and flight of steps leading to the state apartments ; ascending by which you arrive at 2. THE SOUTH-WEST TOWER, in which were contained the suite of rooms occupied by that ill-fated monarch Charles I., when he became the guest of the noble marquis after the battle of Naseby, A.D. 1645. His majesty seemed to take much delight in an apartment indicated by a light ROYAL APARTMENTS. and elegant stone window which opens upon a western view, which indeed comprehended everything necessary to con- stitute a perfect landscape, in lofty hills, verdant valleys, sylvan groves, artificial lakes, and silvery streams. The great state apartments, even now in their desolation, tell of the elegance and splendour which surrounded the lords of Raglan Castle in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. IO 3. Descending to the court, our attention is attracted to a series of cellars extending under the whole of the edifice. These are not the least remarkable portions of this truly interesting ruin. 4. The buildings at the north-eastern part of the court were utterly destroyed by the cannon of the besiegers, being in a direct line of their principal approach. Their foundations and some other remains are still existent ; but little is left indicative of their former beauty or strength. WINDOW OF DRAWING ROOM. Here was " the citadel joined to the castle by a sumptuous arched bridge," to which, of course, there must have been attached a portal, correspondent in size and elegance. But these are gone, and now the visitor looks over a dismantled wall, across a green and stagnant moat, into the interior of the ruined citadel the tower of G went. 5. On the western side of the court there is a small tower crownin-g an archway and portal ; passing through this, II we are conducted by a bridge to the GRAND TERRACE, a beautiful platform carpeted with velvet grass, and extending two hundred and sixty feet in length, and seventy-seven in breadth. This was a spot once crowned with arbours and fountains, and overlooking extensive fish-ponds bounded by STAIRCASE IN TOWER OF GWENT. plantations, through avenues of which was caught a picturesque view of the village and church beyond, which formed the chosen retreat of that royal martyr on whose account all the treasures of nature and art which congre- gated here were ruthlessly devastated and despoiled. B 2 6. The last object of interest which claims an especial visit is THE TOWER OF GWENT, to which access may be obtained by a rustic bridge across the moat, on the exterior of the grand eastern portal. This is unquestionably the ite of the first Norman tower that frowned upon TWYN-Y- CYROS, before that elegant and less martial structure was raised whose ruins now fill us with admiration and regret. This was the most strongly fortified part of the castle, and was as remarkable for its massive proportions as the more ornate interior was for delicacy of design and artistic execu- tion. It stood separate from the main building on the south side, and was of later date than the greater portion of it ; the form was that of a hexagon, each of the six sides measuring 32 feet ; the walls were ten feet thick and five stories high, built of solid square stones of the red sand- stone strata of the country, the colour of which is said to have occasioned the name by which this enormous structure was known Twr Melyn Gwent "The Yellow Tower of Gwent." So powerfully constructed was the citadel that the artillery of the Parliamentary army, which only carried shot of twenty pounds, failed to do much damage except to its elegantly finished battlements. These being of less thickness and solidity, were demolished. Time has since largely supplemented the work of Fairfax's siege. Round the citadel was a terrace, the walls of which were orna- mented with statues of the Roman Emperors. By a geometrical staircase \be summit of the tower may be gained, which commands a bird's-eye view of the rest of the ruin, and amost extensive and gratifying prospect around. The space of ground within the castle walls measured four acres, two roods, and one perch. In the centre of the scene stands the village of Raglan ; and conspicuous in the distance is Llandenny Church. The meadows in the parish of Llan- denny formed the dairy farm of the castle. The Mardee, (Welsh) signifies the dairy. Mr. Heath, writing in 1823, says "About 56 years ago, the moat round the tower was cleared out by the late Mr. D. Evans, of the castle farm, till which time the whole of that part which had been undermined and thrown down remained in the same state in which it fell. The small stones were sold by the load to mend the public roads ; the large ones were preserved for repairing the buildings on the Duke's estates ; and the rubbish hauled over the land for manure. Under all, at the bottom of the ditch, were found several cannon balls, from six to eighteen pounds weight, many of them broken ; likewise the timber that had been used as props, very little injured, except where it had been burnt through. The plug, made of oak, that belonged to the sluice to let the water out of the moat, and the trunk of the sluice, both sound, were found under the arch that led to the great terrace, which arch was a private one, being walled up at both sides or ends, and could not be seen from without." GROUND PLAN OF THE CASTLS. 15 1. GRAND PORTAL, with grooves for two portcullises. 2. The portal towers, occupied by the inferior officers of the castle. 3. Rooms occupied by the garrison. 4. Closet tower. 5. Officers' apartments, partly destroyed by the cannon of the besiegers. 6. PITCHED OR PAVED COURT. (120 feet by 58.) 7. Breach effected by Fairfax immediately before the surrender. 8. Kitchen tower. 9. Passage from the kitchen to the buttery, banqueting hall, &c. 10 Entrance to the hall of state. 11. HALL OF STATE. (65 feet by 38.) 12. Magnificent window of the hall of state. 13. Hall. (49 feet by 21.) 14. Chapel. 15. State apartment of Charles I. 16. FOUNTAIN COURT. 17. Staircase. 18. Gallery. (126 feet in length.) 19. Grand staircase leading to the state apartments. 20. Apartments belonging to the higher officers of the household. 21. Elegant portal leading over the bridge to the 22. GRAND TERRACE. 23. Officers' apartments destroyed by cannon. 24. The site of a " sumptuous arched bridge," connect- ing the citadel with the body of the castle. 25. Moat. 26. THE TOWER OF GWENT. 27. Terraces behind the castle. The following table will assist the visitor to discover the locality of the various hills visible from the Tower of Gwent: Ranging from east to south appear, as in the order set down 1. The Kymin, a conical hill immediately over Monmouth, crowned with its white round tower. 2. Troy Park and Craig-y-Dorth, the site of a battle between Henry IV. and Owen Glendower ; and the Trellick range of hills, particularly Beacon Hill, so called from being used as such in the days of Napoleon, when an invasion of the French was expected. 3. Llanishen Hill, with the Church of St. Dionysius ; and continuous with it the 4. Devauden and " Newchurch hills (opposite the elms)." 5. The Royal forest of Wentwood and Pen-y-Cae-Mawr. 6. Kemeys Firs, near to Caerleon, which elevation commands thirteen counties, viz. : Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, Wilts, Somerset, Devon, Brecon, Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Cardigan, and Radnor ; together with the Bristol Channel to some distance beyond the Holmes. In the south-ivest 7. The heights of Caerleon and Pen Twyn Barlwm. 8. Gaer Vawr, on which is the largest encampment in the county, ad the site of a British town. 9. Dial Carig. 10. Craig-y- Garcyd, two miles north-west of Usk, the site of a Roman Camp. Westward are seen 11. Abersychan, and the hills near Pontypool. 12. The Blorenge Hill, seventeen hundred and twenty feet high. 13. The aperture shows a glimpse of the Breconshire Hills at Crick - howell to Bwlch (or Builth), within eight miles of the capital of the county. 14. The conical peak of the Sugar- Loaf, or Pen-y-Foel, near Aher gavenny, which crowns the summits of four hills, and rises eighteen hundred and fifty-two feet above the bed of the Gavenny, which flows near its base. 15. The Hatteril Hills, or Black Mountains, crowned with Roman encampments; near which is Oldcastle, once the residence of Lord Cobham, who was burnt for heresy in the times of the Lollards. Thf Monnow springs from these hills. The dark vale of Ewias is at its feet, with its desolate ruin Llanthony Abbey. 16. The Skyrrid Vawr, fourteen hundred and ninety-eight feet high, seen in a vast fissure, caused perhaps by some volcanic convulsion. North-westward are seen 17. Campstone Hill, and 1 8. The Graig, at the foot of which lie the picturesque remains of Grosmont Castle. And lastly, in the north 19. Garway. 20. Broad Oak, the Skinch, Cwm, and White Hills. Around the citadel was a court, defended by a wall, with battlements and bastions ; all of which were encircled by the MOAT. Between the Tower of Gwent and the body of the castle, close by where the bridge stood, an artificial water work was fixed in the bed of the moat, which cast up a stream as high as the tower. THE earliest style perceivable in the ruins of Raglan, is not anterior to the reign of Henry V., and the latest is correspondent with the architecture of the Carolian age ; while there are many parts of the castle which indicate their erection during the intermediate time. However ( as Mr. Barber rightly states in his graphic eulogium upon this castle), " though a disunion of style be visible to the anti- quary, no discordance of effect arises in any one instance." " Raglan Castle, in many respects, stands foremost among the ancient remains of Britain, as Heidelberg Castle stands among the castles of the Neckar and the Rhine. It is not of the extent of Caerphilly or Carnarvon, nor of the antiquity of Harlech, Rhuddlan, or Chepstow ; but it is of an age sufficient to make it venerable, and so decked with manifold beauty of design and execution, as to awaken a sense of boundless admiration, mixed with unavoidable regret that a human work so grand and mighty should be lying ingloriously in the dust." It is to the Norman invasion that Monmouthshire owes its castles, for the great barons were not employed by the State, as had been the case with the Saxons, to conquer the territory, but were invited to enter upon adventures at thjir i8 own cost, and for their own gain. The lands they subdued became their own ; they were created lords-baron over them, and castles speedily bristled up all over the territory, to maintain the authority so acquired. A castle was founded at Raglan by one of the Clares in the thirteenth century, from which period its history for more than two hundred years is obscure. It successively belonged to the Berkeleys and the Herberts; and in 1491, on the death of the Earl of Huntingdon, better known as the Earl of Pembroke, the castle and manor passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Sir Charles Somerset, a very distinguished soldier and statesman of royal lineage in the reign of Henry VII., who, in right of his wife, the heiress of the house of Herbert, bore the title of Baron Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower.* This eminent person died in 1526, and the castle progressively rose in dignity, especially during the time of Henry, fifth Earl and first Marquis of Worcester, who was born in 1562. He married Anne, daughter and sole heiress of John, Lord Russell, son and heir-apparent to the Earl of Bedford. The records of the Civil War present few events so touching of their kind as the struggle made here by this gallant and good old man in favour of the King. When created a marquis in 1642, he raised an army of 1,500 foot and 500 horse, which he placed under the command of his son, the celebrated author of the Century of Inventions, said to have been the discoverer of the steam-engine. He maintained the cause of the King bravely, and advanced large sums for that object. The last visit made to the castle by the ill-fated monarch was in July, 1645, immediately after the decisive * Among the illustrious families of Great Britain, that of the house of Raglan is scarcely second to any. Originally derived from royal Jood, and through a long succession of ages famous in the field, in the shurch, and in the senate, the Somerset family has always commanded the respect and admiration of the country. battle of Naseby. Oppressed with losses and cares, the crowned head sought a momentary rest in the then peaceful retreat of Raglan a refuge which was soon to be torn from him by the iron hand of war. It was during this visit that the remarkable conference between the King and his noble host took place which is related at large in a scarce tract by Dr. Bailey.* " The time when," to use the Doctor's words, " the dominical letter was to dispute with the golden number," was fixed atn p.m. The King's attendants were either retired to rest or beguiledto the wine cellars ; and the aged Marquis waitedin thedark for the approach of the King so dangerous an enterprise was it considered for the Protestant monarch to visit his Roman Catholic protector and friend. The Marquis upbraided the King for his desertion of the Roman Catholics and threats at their total extirpation, and attributed theill-success of his cause to the anger of God on this account. The conference continued with efforts to win the monarch to the papal cause but, of course, with equal ill-success and ended with a grant ot three hundred pounds by the generous Marquis to the 1 King, to defray the diminished expenses of his little court. " Whereupon," writes the doctor, " the Marquis called me to help him so that he might kneel ; and, being upon hi8 knees, he desired to kiss his Majesty's hand ;" adding, " Sire, I have not a thought in my heart that tends not to the service of my God and you." " Hereupon he fell a weeping, *"Dr. Thomas Bailey, author of the Certamen Rtligiosum, chaplain to the Earl of Worcester, was sub-dean of Wells, and son of Dr. Lewis Bailey, once Bishop of Bangor, whose acquaintance with his lordship originated in the following circumstance. Meeting accidentally with the Earl at the beginning of the war, he acquainted him with the near approach of some Parliament forces, by which notice he escaped the present danger, and had so great an affection to the doctor for it, that he took him with him to Raglan Castle, his chief place of residence, where he continued till the King's coming thither, and remained with his lordship till the hour of his death." Heath. 2O bidding me to light his Majesty to his chamber. Thus they both parted ; and, as I was lighting the King to his chamber, his Majesty told me that ' he did not think to have found the old man so ready at it, and that he was a long time in putting on his armour, yet it was hardly proof.' " We can form some idea of the deplorable situation of the unfortunate King at this eventful time, from the following anecdote, given in the biography of the Swift family : "The Rev. Thomas Swift, Vicar of Goodrich, Herefordshire, possessed an estate in that parish, worth about ^100 a year. This little property he mortgaged for 300 Broad Pieces ; * and having them quilted into his waistcoat, he set out for Ragland Castle, whither the King had retired after the battle of Naseby. The governor, who well knew him, asked what was his errand. 'I am come,' said Swift, 'to give his Majesty my coat ; ' at the same time pulling it off, and presenting it. The governor told him pleasantly that his coat was worth little. 'Why then,' said Swift, ' take my waistcoat.' This was soon found to be a useful garment by its weight ; and it is remarked by my Lord Clarendon that the King received no supply more seasonable or acceptable than these 300 Broad Pieces during the whole war, his distresses being very great, and his resources cut off." Raglan was the last castle throughout this broad realm which defied the power of Cromwell. The final treaty for its surrender was entered into at Mr. Oates's house, Cefntilla,f on the i5th of August, 1646, the general's commissioners being Colonel Birch, Quartermaster Herbert, General Grasvenor, Lieut. -Colonel Ashfield, and Major Tuliday. Fairfax's lieutenant, when he summoned the garrison to surrender, wrote thus : " His excellency, Sir Thomas Fairfax, having now finished his work over the kingdom, except this castle, has been pleased to spare his forces for this work." The Marquis then eighty-five years of age * Broad Pieces were gold coins of the reign of James I., and current for 255. t Headquarters of Sir Thos. Fairfax, in the parish of Llandenny. This estate was presented to the late Lord Raglan, in recognition of his military services, on the I3th of March, 1836. 21 in reply, stoutly said, that he " made choice (if it soe pleased God) to dye nobly than to live with infamy." The siege lasted from the 3rd of June until the igth of August, during which period a number of characteristic notes passed between Fairfax and the Marquis, who evidently feared, and justly, that the Parliament would not keep faith. The main works of the besiegers were pushed forward to within sixty yards of the fortress ; and the place where their chief battery was planted may still be seen in the " Leaguer Field," on the east side. Sir Thos. Fairfax's camp occupied a ridge of land in the park, about half a mile or rather more to the eastward of the castle ; it is still called " The Leaguer Fields." At the back of the camp, within a few hundred yards, were very extensive fish-ponds, occupying twenty acres of land,\ richly stocked with all kinds of fish. A capitulation was effected on honourable terms. The garrison marched out to the sound of music, but with heaviness at their heart, comprising the Marquis of Worcester, a veteran in years of sorrow, tottering upon the brink of the grave ; Lord Charles, the Marquis's sixth son, who died a canon at Cambray; the Countess of Glamorgan; the Lady of Lord Herbert ; Sir Philip and Lady Jones, of Tre-Owen ;* Doctor Bailey, the Earl's chaplain ; Commissary Gwillym,f four colonels, eighty-two captains, sixteen lieutenants, six cornets, four ensigns, four quartermasters, and fifty-two esquires and gentlemen. Though so hardly pressed in a castle not calculated for much defence, the noble owner defended it for a considerable * This was the seat of the Jones family, descendants of the Herberts ; and, though converted into a farmhouse, still exhibits traces of its ancient splendour and magnificence. It is distant about three miles from Monmouth, on an eminence to the right of the old road leading to Abergavenny, and is well worth inspection. t Said to have been a relative of the Gwillyms of Whitchurch, then living at Old Court. length of time, and to the last extremity, till there was no provender for the horses, and the powder was reduced to the last barrel ! Fairfax entered the castle, took a cursory survey, had a conference with the Marquis, and was afterwards entertained by the committee at Chepstow. The Marquis, on his arrival at London, was committed to the custody of the Black Rod,* notwithstanding the terms of his capitulation ; which indignity, together with the collapse of feeling subse- quent upon the excitement of his latest days, caused him to linger for a few months ; and soon before his death, in December, 1646, when informed that Parliament would permit him to be buried in the family vault in Windsor Chapel, he cried out with great sprightliness of manner, " Why, God bless us all ! why, then, I shall have a better castle when I am dead than they took from me when I was alive !" In the Beaufort Chapel, Windsor, is the following inscrip- tion to his memory: "This chapel (belonging to his ancestors) wherein lie burieu r/ot only the bodies of those whose tombs are erected, but likewise that of Henry, late Marquis of Worcester, his grandfather, so eminent for the great supplies of men and money afforded to his sovereign, King Charles the Martyr, whose cause he espoused, and for keeping his castle of Kagland with a strong garrison at his own expense, until it became the last but one in England and Wales that held out against the rebels, and then not yielding it until after a long siege, to the Lord Fairfax, * His lordship's observations on this last public evr-*;c of his life is given in the Apothegms, as follows: "Whilst he wa mder the custody of the Black Rod, he said to a friend, ' Lord bless us ! what a fearful thing was this Black Rod, when I heard of it first ! It did so run in my mind, that it made ail affliction out of mine own imaginations ; but, when I spoke with the man, I found him a very civil gentleman, but I saw no Black Rod. So, if we would not let these troubles and appre- hensions of ours be made worse by our own apprehensions, no Rods would be Black ' I " 23 generalissimo of the Parliamentary forces ; in revenge of which obstinacy, as they termed it, it was demolished, and all his woods and parks (which weie vast) cut down and destroyed, and his estate sold by order of the then rebellious Parliament, to the great damage of himself and his posterity." The castle was literally " spoiled " after the siege ; the farmers in the vicinity emulated the Parliamentary destroyers, and no efforts seem to have been made to prevent this demolition until the accession of the sixth Duke of Beaufort, since which it has been carefully preserved.* Twenty-three stone staircases were taken away during the interval; and the great hall, the chapel, and other grand features of the splendid building, grievously injured. Enough, however, is left to convey a vivid idea of its olden grandeur, and much of the r^asonry is as fresh as when first exposed to the elements. The uiotto of the time-worn arms as you enter speaks eloquently of the past Miitare vel timere sperno " I scorn to change or fear." When the King first entered the gates of Raglan, the Marquis delivered the keys to his Majesty, according to the ordinary custom. The King restoring them to the Marquis, the latter said, " I beseech your Majesty to keep them, if you please, for they are in a good hand ; but I am afraid that ere it be long I shall be forced to deliver them into the hands of those who will spoil the compliment." The King was entertained at Raglan in princely style, and interesting accounts of the method of living, as well as * The writer previously quoted remarks : " It is a satisfaction, as the spectator wanders among the ruins, to observe the care bestowed by the noble owner upon the preservation from further decay of this storied place. The Duke of Beaufort deserves the thanks of all men of anti- quarians especially for the manner in which not only the ruins of Raglan, but the many relics of antiquity on his estates are kept." In justice it must be added that his Grace's praiseworthy efforts are ably seconded at Raglan by the courteous custodian of the castle, and the general appearance of the ruins is the best evidence of his entire success in this respect. of the royal visits, are preserved. Indeed, such was the sacrifice the Marquis made to the royal cause, that his Majesty became apprehensive that the stores of the garrison would be consumed by his suite, and offered him power to exact from the surrounding country such provisions as were required for the replenishment of the supplies ; to which suggestion the Marquis magnanimously replied, " I humbly thank your Majesty, but my castle would not long stand if it leaned upon the country. I had rather be brought to a morsel of bread myself than that any morsels should be wrung from the poor to entertain your Majesty " The late Mr. Heath, writing in 1823, mentions that he had in his possession a very curious document " The Resolutions of the principal persons in the Town and Manor of Monmouth, for supplying the Earl of Worcester with grain during the siege of Ragland Castle." By this it appeared that in one week 298 bushels of different sorts. of corn and malt were sent to the storehouse at Monmouth, to be from thence delivered at Raglan, and in such quantities as may be deemed necessary. The document was entitled "MANOR DE MONOTH, IN MEMBRIS. " Wee, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being tenants within the said Man. or Ldpp., do hereby subscribe and engage to give unto the Right Honble. Henry Somerset t, Earle of Worcester, Ld. of this Manor, with its Members, such quantitys of Come, as each tenant shall subscribe hereby to give, in testimony of our duty and respect unto him." The first subscriber was Henry Milbourne, of Wonastow, for twenty bushels of wheat,* and twenty bushels of oats. The following is stated to have been the means by which the garrison, when besieged, obtained considerable supplies from the country : In the still hour of night, a fire was made on an adjoining eminence, which was a signal that piovisions were collected for the use of the castle ; when a * Wheat was then selling at Monmouth at 35. 6d. per bushel, and oats at is. id. per bushel. 25 party was sent to the spot, who returned loaded with the bounty of their friends. After the battle of Naseby, the King repaired to Raglan Castle, as before stated, where he was always sure of meeting with a gracious reception, independent of the pecuniary aid he was further accommodated with, as will be seen by the following, extracted from the Apothegms of the Earl of Worcester: " When the King had made his repair to Raglan Castle, a seat ot the Marquis of Worcester's, between Monmouth and Abergavenny, after the battle of Naseby, taking occasion to thank the Marquis for some monies lent to His Majesty ; the Marquis returned His Majesty this answer : 'Sire, I had your word for the money, but I never thought I should be so soon repayed ; for now you have given me thanks, I have all I looked for." " On the i5th September following, the King took his leave of the castle, and on his departure observed " that it was to ease his lordship of a great burden." Distracted as he then was, from not knowing where to go, his Majesty and attendants wandered about this and the adjoining counties, accepting protection from every family of respecta- bility who had fortune and inclination to adminster to his . distress. Sir William Morgan, Tredegar; Sir Philip Morgan, Ruperra; Mr. Gunter, Abergavenny; Mr. Moore, Crick ; Mr. Pritty, Newport ; and Mr. Prichard, Lancayo, are families particularly mentioned. Raglan was a central point from whence the King set out and again returned to, as best accorded with his situation. Many " cruel days," to use his majesty's own words, marching from early in the morning till late at night, and without food, were passed before he bade his last farewell to the land of Gwent. LIST OF THE HOUSEHOLD AND METHOD OF LIVING AT RAGLAND CASTLE, IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST; From " An Account how the Earl of Worcester lived at Ragland Castle before the Civil Wars," printed in the Northumberland Household Book. AT eleven o'clock in the forenoon the castle gates were shut, and the tables laid ; two in the dining-room, three in the hall, one 1n Mrs. Watson's apartment, where the chap- lains ate (Sir Toby Matthews being the first), and two in the housekeeper's room, for the ladies' women. The Earl entered the dining-room, attended by his gentlemen. As soon as he was seated, Sir Ralph Black- stone, steward of the house, retired. The comptroller,Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, as did the sewer, Mr. Blackburne ; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, Mr. Scudamore, and many gentlemen's sons, with estates from two to seven hundred pounds a year, who were bred up in the castle ; my lady's gentleman usher, Mr. Harcourt ; my lord's gentlemen of the chamber, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Fox. At the first table sat the noble family, and such of the nobility as came there. At the second table, in the dining-room, sat knights and honourable gentlemen, attended by footmen. Inthe hall, at the first table, sat Sir Ralph Blackstone, steward ; the comptroller, Mr. Holland ; the secretary ; the master of the horse, Mr. Dolowar ; the master of the fish- ponds, Mr. Andrews ; my lord Herbert's preceptor, Mr. Adams ; with such gentlemen as came there, under the 2 7 degree of a knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with wine. At the second table in the hall (served from my lord's table and with other hot meats), sat the sewer, with the gentlemen waiters and pages, to the number of twenty- four. At the third table, in the hall, sat the clerk of the kitchen, with the yeomen officers of the house, two grooms of the chamber, &c. Other officers of the household were, chief auditor, Mr. Smith ; clerk of the accounts, George Whithorn ; purveyor of the castle, Mr. Salisbury ; ushers of the hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Cooke ; closet-keeper ; gentleman of the chapel, Mr. Davies ; keeper of the records ; master of the ward- robe ; master of the armoury ; master groomS of the stable for the war horses, twelve; master of the hounds; master falconer ; porter and his man ; two butchers ; two keepers of the home park ; two keepers of the red deer park ; footmen,- grooms, and other menial servants, to the number of 150. Some of the footmen were brewers and bakers. Out officers : Steward of Ragland, William Jones, Esq. ; the governor of Chepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, Bart. ; housekeeper of Worcester-house, in London, James Redman, Esq. ; thirteen, bailiffs ; two counsel for the bailiffs to have recourse to ; solicitor, Mr. John Smith. In the reign of Henry V. the castle was in the possession of Sir William ap Thomas, the son of Thomas ap Gwillim ap Jenkin of Llansantfraed,* and Maud, the daughter of * His wife, Gladys, was daughter to Sir David Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan, who died at Agincourt by the side of Henry V. Several cenotaphs and monuments of this distinguished family are to be found in Abergavenny Church, particularly one of Sir Richard Herbert, of Coldbrook House, at the foot of the little Skyrrid, who was renowned as an intrepid soldier, and beheaded with his brother, Sir William Herbert, at Banbury. 28 Sir John Morley. William, the eldest son of Sir William, was created Lord of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower, by Edward IV., who commanded him to assume the surname of Herbert, in honour of his ancestor, Herbert Fitz Henry, Chamberlain to Henry I. To this nobleman was entrusted the care of the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., whose prison was Raglan Castle for a considerable period. In the year 1469, Lord Herbert was created Earl of Pembroke, which title was the price of his attachment to the blood-stained rose of York. He accordingly raised a corps of Welshmen, and marched against the Lancastrians, under the Earl of Warwick, but, being taken prisoner in the battle of Dane's Moor, was beheaded at Banbury, July ayth, 1469. William, his eldest son, inherited his title and estates, but, dying in 1491, without male issue, the castle of Raglan, together with other estates, devolved, with the hand of Elizabeth, his daughter, to Sir Charles Somerset, the ancestor of the present Duke of Beaufort. Sir Charles Somerset, son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who suffered decapitation in 1463 for his adherence to the house of Lancaster, was chamberlain to Henry VII. and his successor, Henry VIII. He was created Earl of Worcester, February 2nd, 1514, and (in right of his wife) Lord Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower; and, dying at an advanced age in the year 1526, was buried in the Royal Chapel of Windsor. Henry Somerset, second Earl of Worcester, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Anthony Brown, and, dying, A.D.I 5 49, was buried in Chepstow Church. William Somerset, third Earl of Worcester, Knight of the Garter, married Christiana, daughter of Edward, Lord North, and, dying A.D. 1589, was buried at Raglan. Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester, Knight of the Garter, married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon. He enjoyed in a most distinguished degree 29 the favour of his royal mistress, Queen Elizabeth, and her successor, James I. Sandford describes him as " a great favourer of learning and good literature." He died in the seventy-ninth year of his age, at Worcester House, in the Strand, and was buried in Raglan Castle, March 3oth, 1628. Henry Somerset, his son, the fifth earl, acceded to the title in 1628 ; and in 1642, he was created Marquis of Worcester. He married Anne, daughter and sole heiress of John, Lord Russell, son and heir apparent to the Earl of Bedford. Edward, sixth Earl and second Marquis of Worcester, was born in Raglan Castle. After joining the King in Ox- ford in the month of January, 1644, being himself of the Church of Rome, he had the honour to receive his first commission to treat with the Irish Roman Catholics, while, at the same time, he was commended to the king by the Earl of Ormond as one of undoubted loyalty. In 1654, the Earl was attached to the suite of Charles II., who then resided at the court of France; and the following year he was despatched secretly to England, for the purpose of obtaining private intelligence and supplies of money. He was, however, discovered and committed close prisoner to the tower, where he remained in captivity several years. On the King's happy restoration, the Marquis of Worces- ter was one of the foremost in the general congratulation. But gratitude formed no part of the monarch's character ; and one of the earliest acts of his reign was " an invidious attempt to set aside the just claims of his earliest and most faithful servant and friend." " In 1660, the House of Lords appointed a committee to consider the validity of a patent granted to the Marquis of Worcester, in prejudice of the peers ; upon the first intimation of which his lordship sent a messenger to the committee then sitting, stating his willingness to surrender it ; and it was shortly afterwards presented to the House by his son, Lord Herbert." 3 " In 1663 appeared the first edition of the noble author's Century of Inventions ; and in the same year a bill was brought in for granting to him and his heirs the whole of the profits arising from the use of an engine in the last article of the Century." This work contained the germ of the present steam-engine an instrument which, together with the press, has done more to change the social aspect of the world than any other agent in the hands of man. D. Desaguliers says that Savary, the reputed inventor of the steam engine, obtained his notions from the work just mentioned, and, in order to conceal the original, pur- chased all the Marquis's books he could obtain, which he burnt. On this account the work is very scarce. The Marquis likewise published, in a small quarto volume of two-and-twenty pages, " An exact and true Definition of the most stupendous Water-commanding Engine, invented by the Right Hon. Edward Somerset, Lord Marquis of Worcester, and by his lordship himself presented to His most excellent Majesty Charles II., our most gracious Sovereign." The only copy of the Marquis's " Definition " of his engine known to be extant is preserved in the British Museum, It is printed on a single sheet, without date, and appears to have been written for the purpose of procuring subscriptions in aid of a water company, which the Marquis. with the assistance of a few sanguine friends, was then endeavouring to establish for the purpose of making a fair trial of his experiments. His lordship survived the publication of this work but two years, dying in retirement near London, upon the 3rd of April, 1667. His remains were conveyed with funeral solemnity to the cemetery of the Beaufort family in Raglan Church, where he was interred on Friday, igth April, near the body of his grandfather, Edward, fourth Earl of Worcester. The lady of the second Marquis of Worcester was Elizabeth, daughter of William, Lord Dormer; she died two years before the Marquis, and was buried in Raglan Church. Henry Somerset, son and heir of the above, became third Marquis 1667, and was created first duke of Beaufort by Charles II. A.D. 1682. His lady was Mary, widow of Lord Beauchamp, daughter of Arthur, Lord Capel, and mother of the Duke of Somerset. Charles, fourth Marquis of Worcester, married Rebecca, daughter of Sir Jos. Child, of Wanstead, Essex, but died before his father. Henry succeeded his father as fifth Marquis of Worcester, and at the death of his grandfather, became second Duke of Beaufort. He married three times: his first wife was Lady Mary Sackville ; second, Lady Rachael Noel ; and third, Lady Mary Osborne, daughter of the Duke of Leeds. ' Henry, eldest son of the last duke, became third Duke of Beaufort. He married Frances Scudamore, but died without issue. The dukedom fell to his brother, Charles Noel, who married Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of the Viscountess Dowager Hereford. His grace died October 28th, 1756, and was succeeded by his son. Henry, fifth Duke of Beaufort, married Elizabeth, daughter of Admiral Boscawen, April 2nd, 1766, and was succeeded by his son. Henry Charles, sixth Duke of Beaufort, was born Decem- ber 24th, 1766 ; married Charlotte Sophia, daughter of Granville, first Marquis of Stafford, by whom he had issue two sons and eight daughters. Henry, seventh Duke of Beaufort, was born 1792; married in 1814, Georgiana Frederica, daughter of the Hon. Frederick Fitzroy, son of the second Lord Southampton. Henry Charles, eighth Duke of Beaufort, K.G., P.C., the present possessor of the ducal coronet, was born February 32 ist, 1824; married, July 3rd, 1845, Lady Georgiana Char- lotte Curzon, eldest daughter of Richard, first Earl Howe, P.C., G.C.H., by whom he has issue five sons* and one daughter, Lady Blanche Elizabeth Adelaide, now Mar- chioness of Waterford. * Lord Henry Fitzroy Francis, youngest son, died July 26th, 1881. POSTSCRIPT. 1. At the dismantling of the castle, a valuable library was destroyed by che psalm-singing soldiery of the republican army, which contained the archives of the territory of Gwent, and a most rare and interesting work by Geraint Bardd Glas y Cadair, an illustrious Welshman, who flourished about the close of the ninth century. He was the first who composed a Welsh grammar, a work that was revised by Einien and Edeyrn, which form and arrangement is now extant ; but the original book, in the hand- writing of Geraint, was in the castle at its capitulation. 2. The domains and outworks of the castle were exceedingly exten sive, and the traces of bastions, hornworks, terraces, trenches, and ramparts, are still visible. The meadows around Llandenny were appro- priated to the dairy ; an extensive park stretched beside the castle, and a red-deer park beyond Llantillio-Cresseney. All the timber of these ancient parks was cut down and sold by the committee of sequestration, much of which was purchased to rebuild some houses on old Bristol Bridge, which had just before been burnt. The lead of the castle was sold for 6,000. 3. Nicholson remarks, " The loss of this family in the house and woods has been modestly computed at 100,000, besides at least as great a sum lent to his Majesty, and the maintaining the garrison of Raglan, and the raising and maintaining at his own expense two several armies which were commanded by his son Edward, Earl of Glamorgan ; and the sequestration from 1646, and afterwards the sale of that whole estate by the Rump parliament, which amounted, as appears by that year's audit, to ^20,000 per annum, and was not restored till the restoration of King Charles II. in 1660, when Edward, Marquis of Worcester, had the possession delivered to him of that part of the estate which he had not sold during that necessitous time." NOTE. THEIR Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales and suite, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort and a distinguished party, visited Raglan Castle on the ipth of October, 1881, on their return from opening the new Prince of Wales Dock at Swansea on the previous day. R. WAUGH & SON, Church Street, Monmouth. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. ,,. 1 1 2 197g Form L9-10m-3,'48(A7920) 444 Sold either on the THREE YEARS' SYSTEM, or at CO-OPERATIVE PRICES for CASH. INSTRUMENTS TUNED BY THE YEAR OR OTHERWISE. II II TTTTTITITTTTTIIIIIIITITTTTTT Till [ OF CALIFORNIA R12W35 Guide to Raglan castle N * ''''' 'l m