POWIS . . 

 . . CASTLE, 



MONTGOMERY, 



-- 



EARL OF POWIS. 



A\vh;it periid men fust built on that rocky eminence 

 where POWIS Castle stands n man now can say. 

 In tlii* Kittle ground of a hundred fights bet 

 Britons under Caractacus and conquerors from 

 I' me, Mwixt English and Welsh, and Welsh and 

 Danes, tHfcre was net-d for a place where the chieftain might 



'lire. And th<e who visit Powis Castle, climbing the 



ent, are forcibly reminded hew strong a position this 



i- when they reach the crest and survev the outlook. Here 



W.IN .1 stron-holJ. one woirid say, where the foeman must 



!i eie he sm te the wa'l. 

 The deep ravine on the ' 

 south side where now the 

 lovely garden delights us. 

 and where, as one writer 



s. Flora and Ce: 

 alternately contend pre- 

 sented live Micce--ive as t end- 

 ing rcky plateaux to confront 

 the ass.iil.int. On every side 

 there w ere steep escarpments, 

 and on the north two darkly 

 yaw inn- completed 



the defence. Here, as an 

 eagle from his eyrie, could 

 the chief survey the land 

 around, and now you may 

 stand on the height and look, 

 delighted, over the sylvan 

 \alev where the Severn 

 is way, <>r turn to 

 wliere the heights of Breiddin 

 lift their distant blue, or te.ist 

 - with the rare 

 prospect of the glorious park 

 where the hoary oaks of 

 \vnerahle a^e . ruld many a 



nv tale unfold. Which- 

 ever way you look yo.i 

 cannot but delight in the 

 landscape. 



Sui\ eying, then, trv2 



liticent prospect that is 

 spread out before us from the 

 topn.ost terrace, we think of 

 the stormv history of Pov. 

 land, and of the " Castell Cocli 

 yn Mli through the 



centuries' history. One 

 chr nicler relates that the 



ghi Id emerged from 



obcutity in the year 1 1 10, 



wtun Cad\vgan .ip Bleddynap 



Cynvvn. weary of the per- 



! his kinsmen, 



in to erect a cast It m t 

 tin- first, we nriy be sun 

 on the hill, but was slain by 

 his nephew MaJ-.^ ere he 

 had roofed his hall. But 

 Um t!ie time of BrcKhwal 



1'niue of P< \' 

 -it 660 w as defeated b>- 



the Savons, there lias been too much history in Pow yslanj to 

 be included in tlu-st- pages. ) h. s W as a kingdom in itsell. 

 chan-ing its NuinJanes many a time, th nigli it w.is merged 

 with l)uietawr and (iwyn-dd under Hhodnma.' the 



\e.ir X.H; but its priiues ,.mir to hold it in ../>//< Irom the 

 Hnglish Crown in the thirteenth century, having surrendered 

 tlu- independeiue to which the Princes ..I \..-th and South 

 Wales so do^-edly clung. Powys Wenwynwyn. one div.snm 

 of Powysland, at length i.une to Sir John de Cherh-ton, or 

 Cliarlton, who was regarded for many services to the l:n-lish 



THE ANCIbNT EN I RANGE. 



