2$ A t6UR ft<3t7ND NORTH WALES. 



grounds, but ill accord with the wild and 

 mattered ruins around them. 



The time 6f the foundation of this caftle 

 is not known. It appears to have been 

 poiTeffed, foon after the Norman conqueft, 

 by Roger Fitzvalerine, foil of one of the 

 noble adventurers who followed the for- 

 tunes of William the Conqueror.* It was 

 held by the fenefchalfhip to the Earls of 

 Chefter, and was afterwards the feat of the 

 barons of Mont Alt or De Monte Alto, 

 who were ftewards of the Palatinate of 

 Chefter.f 



On the extinction of the antient earls, 

 this and other fortrefles belonging to them 

 were refumed by the crown. J In 1265 a 

 peace between Wales and Chefhire was 

 eftablimed here in a conference between 



* Collins's Peerage, I. 48. 

 i Cough's Camb. II. 588. 

 Pennant's Tour, I. 94. 



Simon 



