. Owen Glyndwr and the last struggle for Welsh independence, with a brief sketch of Welsh history;. er of fact in a lamentable condition asregards defenders. The garrison had declined to lessthan thirty men, and there are letters in Sir HenryElliss collection showing the desperate state to whichthis and other castles were reduced. It seems at thefirst sight incredible that such a handful of men couldhold so great a fortress against serious attacks. Thewalls and defences of Carnarvon Castle are to-daymuch what they were in the times of Glyndwr. Itis perhaps almost necessary to walk upon its gid
. Owen Glyndwr and the last struggle for Welsh independence, with a brief sketch of Welsh history;. er of fact in a lamentable condition asregards defenders. The garrison had declined to lessthan thirty men, and there are letters in Sir HenryElliss collection showing the desperate state to whichthis and other castles were reduced. It seems at thefirst sight incredible that such a handful of men couldhold so great a fortress against serious attacks. Thewalls and defences of Carnarvon Castle are to-daymuch what they were in the times of Glyndwr. Itis perhaps almost necessary to walk upon its giddyparapets, to climb its lofty towers, in order to graspthe hopelessly defiant front such a fortress musthave shown to those below it before the time of ef-fective artillery: the deep moat upon the town side,the waters of the harbour a hundred feet below thefrowning battlements upon the other, the huge gate-way from which the portcullis grinned and the up-raised drawbridge swung. Twenty-eight men onlywere inside when Owen with a force of his ownpeople and the French threw themselves against 1404] Owen and the French 219 The besiegers had engines, scowes, and scalingladders, but the handful of defenders were sufficient,for the time being at any rate, to hurry from pointto point, and frustrate all attempts to surmount thelofty walls, though these attempts, no doubt, weremade at many points simultaneously. The Con-stable John Bolde was away, but one Parry, hisdeputy, was in command. It was urgent that a mes-sage should be sent to Chester, acquainting Venables,the governor, of their desperate situation. Not aman, as may well be believed, could be spared, so awoman was despatched to take the news by word ofmouth, for few dared in those days to carry letters. Harlech was in an equally bad plight, its defendersbeing reduced to twenty-six, but it was as impreg-nable as Carnarvon, and much smaller. The garri-son had been so mistrustful of their governors fidel-ity that they had loc
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