been passed in peaceful prayer and study. Imagination fills up the picture: we see the procession of whiterobed priests, and the hundred and fifty disciples with the mitred abbot at their head, following the departed saints to their long home. And it is yet something more than a vision of the past, for the truths which they taught live on, and from the Cathedral which replaced their monastery still ascend the sounds of prayer and praise, which all down the long ages have hallowed that wild western promontory since the far-off day when they first arose from Ty Gwyn, or the Holy House of Rosnat.

HAVERFORDWEST.

BY THE REV. JAMES PHILLIPS.

HAVERFORD, on the western Cleddau, was from the twelfth century the chief town of Anglia Transwalliana, as it is still the county town of Pembrokeshire. The site was no doubt previously occupied by a Celtic village. Higher up, the river ceases to be navigable; below, it ceases to be fordable. Such a site must have

attracted settlers from the earliest times.

A Welsh tradition gives as its original name Caer Alun, and, though with but little probability, associates with its foundation the pretender Maximus, the murderer of Gratian, and the unsuccessful rival of the great Theodosius. The present name has been a sore puzzle to local antiquarians. Haverford East has yet to be discovered, and the simplest explanation of the "West" is that it was added in the fourteenth century, possibly earlier, by some blundering official who confounded the Scandinavian Haverford with the Saxon Hereford.

The earliest form of the name in old documents and in the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis is Haverfordia. Probably both parts of the word are Scandinavian— the former having its counterpart in the Norman Havre, the latter being fiord, as in Waterford, Wexford and Milford.

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Whatever may have been the fortunes of the earlier settlement, Scandinavian, Celtic, or pre-Celtic, the history of Haverford begins with the twelfth century, in the first or second decade of which the castle was built by Gilbert de Clare. The town which grew up under the shelter of the castle was largely occupied by the Flemish emigrants.

A few stray facts gleaned from the writings of

Giraldus and from the Welsh Chronicles are all that we know of the town for the next couple of centuries. The famous Archdeacon, whose local patriotism was as strong as his ambition, was attached to the rising town, and dwells with complacency on the interest felt by the inhabitants in his cause and himself. Here Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus preached the Crusade in 1187 with great success. The Archdeacon's eloquence was remarkably effective on that part of the audience who had not understood a word of the sermon. To crown all, a blind woman was restored to sight by pressing on her eyes some of the earth on which the archbishop had stood.

The Flemings of Haverford and Roose were especial favourites of Giraldus, who admired their Teutonic virtues and sympathized with their hostility to the Welsh.

But far more popular in Pembrokeshire than the Crusades was the conquest of Ireland, which, eighteen years before, had been commenced by Gilbert de Clare's grandson, Richard Strongbow. The parish of Prendergast, on the east bank of the Cleddau, which sixty years ago was incorporated with the borough, perpetuates the name of one of the most famous of the adventurers. If, as is supposed, the name indicates a Flemish origin, Maurice de Prendergast was closely related to his neighbours of Roose, many of whom accompanied or followed the brilliant knight. Before the end of the century there were many Pembrokeshire names on the roll of Dublin Freemen, and among them were some "de Haverfordia". Henry II visited Haverford on his return from Ireland in 1173. On the evening of the day in which, standing on the "talkingstone" of St. David's, he defied Merlin and his prophecies, the restless King after supper rode on to Haverford Castle, and spent the night there.

The town, like Tenby, received its incorporation from Richard Strongbow's son-in-law, William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke. Haverford is thus younger as a

corporate town than Pembroke, which was granted a charter by Henry I. The great earl's eldest son William, who was earl from 1219 to 1231, gave three charters to Haverford, and his third son Gilbert (earl from 1234 to 1241) conferred additional privileges on the burgesses.

In the troublous years of Henry III's minority, Pembrokeshire suffered from Welsh invasion. In 1217, Llewelyn ap Jorwerth appeared in arms before the town, and the attack was only averted by the intervention of Bishop Jorwerth and "many of the religious and clergy". Llewelyn consented to retire on promise of a heavy ransom, for which were given "twenty hostages from Rhos and Pembroke of the noblest".

One

In August 1220, the Welsh prince returned. day he took and destroyed Narberth Castle, the next he destroyed Wiston Castle, and the third day he stormed Haverford and burned it to the Castle Gate. The next two days were spent in harrying Roose, then Llewellyn withdrew, having granted a nine-months' truce to the humiliated Flemings.

In the autumn of 1276 the "Gate Keepers of Haverford" arrested and handed over to the King two distinguished travellers. Eleanor, the daughter of Simon de Montfort, had returned from France under the escort of one of her brothers, to marry Prince Llewellyn, to whom she had been betrothed during her father's brief regency. After two years' captivity, King Edward's wrath was appeased, and his fair cousin was married to her brave, ill-fated lover.

In 1284 "the town of Haverford recovered, before the Justices of the Lord the King, sitting at Haverford as a tribunal, the liberties of which William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, had long despoiled the town."

This decision appears to indicate the time when the lordship of Haverford was severed from the earldom, though the earls did not relinquish this and other disputed rights without a hard struggle. The lordship

was subsequently held either by a prince of the blood or by some great noble; sometimes by the Sovereign himself. Among the holders were Queen Isabel (Richard II's child-wife), Duke Humphrey of Gloucester (Shakespeare's Duke Humphrey), Suffolk (Margaret of Anjou's favourite), Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, Edward, Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward V), Richard III, Henry, Duke of York (Henry VIII). When, on his brother's death, Henry became heir to the throne, the lordship of Haverford was merged in the Crown by Act of Parliament.

The office of Governor or Castellan is occasionally mentioned, but no succession of governors can be traced. Perhaps it was only an occasional office. Among the governors whose names are preserved were the Earl of Arundel, who defended the castle against the French in 1407, Sir John Perrott, and, under Charles I, Sir John Stepney.

CHARTERS,1

The last earl who granted a charter to Haverford was Gilbert Marshall; all subsequent grants were made by the Crown. Charters were given by Edward II, Edward III, Richard II (2), Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV. Just before the death of Edward IV, a charter was granted in the name of the Prince of Wales, which "very greatly exceeded all previous grants; also conferred additional privileges, and first constituted Haverfordwest a town and county of itself."

Richard III, "under the Seal of the Chancery of Pembroke", confirmed the charter of his predecessor and victims. Henry VIII granted a charter in 1533. Under this reign the town obtained a confirmation and extension of its privileges as a separate county, including the right of holding a separate assize. Its

1 See Notes on the Charters prefixed by Mr. T. L. James to a Corporation Rent-roll, printed in 1876.