In 1772 an application was made to Parliament, and a gene rous aid was granted for the purpose of improving and securing this part of the road to Holyhead. A voluntary subscription, in which the city of Dublin bore a distinguished part, was also added; and under the judicious management of that able engi neer, Mr. Sylvester, what was deemed beyond the power of human art to remedy, was speedily effected; the road is widened a proper breadth for carriages to pass each other, by cutting the solid rock; while the side towards the sea is secured by a wall built upon a series of arches, meeting the irregularity of the precipice, with circular holes, at regular distances to take the great quantities of water descending from the mountains in rainy seasons. One obstacle, however, yet remains, that will probably for ever baffle the efforts of ingenuity: the sides of the mountain in some places rise nearly perpendicular the whole of the height; but, in others, they project over the present road, and many disjointed masses, of precarious tenure, threaten to crush the traveller to atoms. The strata having the earth washed away by torrents, and rended by severe frosts, fragments at intervals fall, and, for a time, render the road utterly impassable: lapses of this kind are not unfrequent, and men are almost constantly employed to separate these huge masses, by blasting with gunpowder, to facilitate their removal, numbers of such are often lying in the road of several tons weight each; it sometimes happens that the goats, skipping from crag to crag, to browse the alpine shrub, detach fragments, sufficiently large, from the space they pass through, to prove fatal to persons passing at the time; the traveller, therefore, cannot divest himself of all fear, nor absolutely feel himself perfectly secure from danger. The road could only have been repaired at this time, not entirely made, as some state, it being defended

Caswell, who was employed by Mr. Flamstead to measure its altitude, reported it 1545 feet above the beach at low water.

defended by a wall towards the sea, at a much earlier period. "We went over the famous precipice called Penman mawr, which fame has made abundance more frightful than it really is, indeed, very high, and if any one should fall from it, he would be dashed to pieces; yet, on the other hand, there is no danger of falling; and besides, there is now a wall built all the way on the edge of the precipice to secure them; those who have been at the hill or pass of Enterkin, in Scotland, know very well the danger there, is much greater."*

On the summit of a hill called Braich y Dinas rising out of Penmaen, are the ruins of a castle, the fortifications of which were capable of containing 20,000 men; the remains of walls are still standing, and a well that supplied the garrison, is constantly full of water, furnished principally by the condensed vapour of the mountain.

This was considered the strongest post possessed by the Welsh in the district of Snowdon: it was of great magnitude, and so strong by its natural position, that a hundred men might have defended themselves against an army; in that age it was deemed impregnable, and here it was, the remains of the Welsh army were posted, pending the negociation betwixt Edward and Llewelyn.

con

The ruin consists of remains of ancient massy walls, structed without mortar, including numerous circular buildings, probably vestiges of habitations; similar to those previously described at Tre'r Caeri. There cannot exist a doubt upon the mind of persons, who have attentively viewed the different fortified heights, still subsisting in Wales, but this was a military fortress, erected by the Britons to cover the passage of an army for the defence of Anglesea; notwithstanding what Governor Pownall has urged contrary to this generally received opinion. His conjectures of its having never been intended, as a defén-. sitive post is, from the testimony of history; rendered nugatory; and to those who have visited the spot, his opinion, that 2 H it

• See a Tour in Great Britain, printed by Strahan, 1725.

it was one of the consecrated places belonging to the Druids, will appear nothing better than antiquarian vagary.*

A Welsh poem, written by Sir Dafydd Owen, states, that in the reign of Henry the eighth, there resided in the vicinity an ascetic of peculiar character. If he possessed not an enviable situation, his property was desirable. For it seems the hermit was robbed, by a set of associated thieves; and the inventory of the goods purloined from this professed cell of privation, mortification, and penance, is a most humorous burlesque on the hypocrisy of the times.

CONWY.

THIS fine old fortified town is supposed by some to have been the Conovium of the Romans, but the site of that was evidently at a place still retaining the appellation of Caer Rhún, some miles distance. The authentic annals of the place commence no earlier than with the history of its CASTLE, erected here A. D. 1284, by the command of Edward the first: as a further security, in addition, to Caernarvon,, against the insurrective spirit of the Welsh.

Few of the events, connected with this fortress, have been recorded. Soon after its erection, the royal founder was besieged in it, and the garrison almost reduced by famine, to an unconditional surrender. They were at length extricated from their perilous situation, by the arrival of a fleet freighted with provisions, and reinforcements.

In the year 1399, Richard the second, previous to his return from Ireland, had commanded the troops, raised in his behalf against the usurper Bolingbroke, to make their rendezvous at Conwy. The friends of the monarch had mustered strong, under the command of the earl of Salisbury. But wearied by the

Archæologia, Vol. III. p. 303.

The title of the work is, " Cywydd yspeilwyr Meudwy'r Penmeaen

mawr."