Gladstone alone
survives. Sir Stephen, the last Baronet, died unmarried in 1874,
surviving his brother the Rector only two years; and the Lordship of the
Manor, together, by a family arrangement, with the estates, then devolved
upon the present owner.
{Catherine Gladstone. Photographed by G. Watmough Webster, Chester:
p12.jpg}
The Old Castle.
The Ruins of Hawarden Castle occupy a lofty eminence, guarded on the S.
by a steep ravine, and on the other sides by artificial banks and
ditches, partly favoured by the formation of the ground. The space so
occupied measures about 150 yards in diameter. Upon the summit stands
the Keep, towering some 50 feet above the main ward, and some 200 feet
above the bottom of the ravine.
"The place presents," says Mr. G. T. Clark, "in a remarkable degree the
features of a well-known class of earthworks found both in England and in
Normandy. This kind of fortification by mound, bank and ditch was in use
in the ninth, tenth, and even in the eleventh centuries, before masonry
was general. {13} The mound was crowned with a strong circular house of
timber, such as in the Bayeaux tapestry the soldiers are attempting to
set on fire. The Court below and the banks beyond the ditches were
fenced with palisades and defences of that character."
It was usual after the Conquest to replace these old fortifications with
the thick and massive masonry characteristic of Norman Architecture.
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