Hawarden

History

The 1848 Topographical Dictionary of Wales led by Samuel Lewis (publisher) states Hawarden is of remote antiquity and was called "Pennard Halawg," or more properly "Pen-y-Llwch", the headland above the lake. The hill forts such as the huge remains next to the medieval Hawarden Castle and Trueman's Hill motte were it records locally believed to date to the time of fortifications against incursions of the Cornavii tribe and the Romans.

The Normans recorded the Saxons called the place Haordine where, east of today's village, was the principal manor of the Saxon Hundred of Atiscros. William the Conqueror granted the lands and manor to Hugh Lupus as it formed part of the County Palatine of Chester whereupon Hawarden Castle was built that later proved key to Welsh history, at that time lived in by Roger Fitzvalerine, then the Montaults, or de Montaltos, barons of Mold, who held it as seneschal.

1157, Henry II., having assembled a formidable army at Chester, advanced into Flintshire with a view to the conquest of Wales, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, in the parish. To repel this attack, Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, marched his forces to Basingwerk near Holywell, where he took up his station within a few miles of the royal army. The boldness of Owain's movements inducing Henry to hope that the natives intended to risk a general engagement, in which he expected that the superior number and discipline of the English would ensure success, the king despatched a chosen body of troops, under the command of his principal barons, to bring the Welsh to action, or to dislodge them from their post. This party, having to pass through the narrow defile of Coed-Eulo, in the parish of Hawarden, were suddenly attacked in that dangerous pass by Davydd and Cynan, sons of Owain, who, with a strong body of forces, had been placed in ambush to surprise them. The English, from the suddenness and impetuosity of the assault, and the difficulties of the ground on which they had to contend, were routed with great slaughter, and the few who escaped the carnage retired, in the utmost disorder, to the main body of the army. Henry, exasperated by this unexpected discomfiture, immediately collected the whole of his forces, and pursued his march along the sea-coast into the heart of the enemy's country; and Owain, breaking up his camp, retired with his forces to St. Asaph.

Efforts to subdue north Welsh territory into a degree of fiefdom followed intermittently, with no great success. In the castle Llewellyn of Wales who was in possession negotiated peace with Simon de Montford in 1264 who led a brief rebellion against Henry III of England and agreed to betroth to Llewllyn his daughter in exchange for restoring the de facto Welsh castle to Robert de Montault. The rebellion failed. Accordingly, by 1280 the castle became a crown asset, listed as a Castrum Regis. Later, due to Edward's successful campaign (imposing exacting terms on the Welsh, building Flint Castle and strengthening others) in 1282 Llewellyn's brother Davydd slew the garrison to wrench the castle back and took Roger de Clifford to remote Snowdon. This second recapture of the castle triggered Edward's slaying of Llewellyn and annexation of Wales. The castle was a prized possession onward, see Hawarden Castle.

The village of Saltney (focussed next to Chester, but in Wales) was part of the parish.

19th Century

Prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) born in Liverpool, later lived in Hawarden Castle, the home of his wife's family, the Glynne baronets as in the Glorious Revolution, Serjeant Glynne acquired it. In 1847 water was brought into the place at an expense of upwards of £1000 to be recouped by the River Dee Company. In the nineteenth century the economy of the large parish (today's community is about 1/3 of the size) involved the markets, many useful seams of coal, the making of tiles, bricks and drainage pipes and chemical, particular Glauber salts and ivory black making.

In 1886 the curate of Hawarden, the Rev. Harry Drew, married Mary Gladstone, the second daughter of the Prime Minister, at St. Margarets Church, Westminster - a society wedding attended by the Prince of Wales.

Gladstone bequeathed his library, now known as Gladstone's Library (having been renamed from St Deiniol's Library in 2010), to the town.

Michael Owen

The professional footballer Michael Owen (b. 1979) who, although born a few miles away in Chester and thus eligible to play for England, was raised in Hawarden and, in his later career, lived 4 miles (6.4 km) west at Northop until his transfer to Real Madrid in the summer of 2004. He moved back to the area after transferring to Newcastle United and subsequently Manchester United, often commuting by helicopter. Owen famously bought a small street of houses for his extended family in the larger village of Ewloe. He also owned a house in the area and grew up on Cromwell Close nearby.

Education and Economy

Rector Drew Junior School is the junior school of the village. Hawarden High School is a high school which dates back to 1606 and was attended not only by Michael Owen, but also Gary Speed, the former manager of the Wales national football team.

Queensferry consists predominantly of industrial, commercial and storage businesses by the River Dee and is situated to immediately northeast of the community - the village is residential. HSBC, moneysupermarket.com and Unilever have significant premises at St David's Park by the main A55 in Ewloe.

Hawarden Airport sometimes Hawarden (Chester) Airport, which with adjoining Hawarden Industrial Park is in nearby Broughton.

Visitor attractions

There are three pubs in Hawarden; The Fox and Grapes, The Blue Bell and The Glynne Arms with The Crown And Liver a near fourth. There is a restaurant and a cafe and dining at the pubs and at Gladstones Library's 'Food For Thought'.

Transport

Close towns include Connah's Quay 3 miles, Mold 6 miles, Flint 7 miles and Wrexham 11 miles.

Hawarden railway station is on the Borderlands Line with services direct to Birkenhead and Liverpool to the north and to Wrexham to the south.

There are three interchanges with local roads onto the major A55 road linking North Wales to Chester and the major A494 road linking Dolgellau via Mold to the Wirral where it divides into the roads towards Liverpool and Manchester (the M53 and M56 motorways) - the village has a choice of three routes towards Chester city centre.

Famous Residents