Its antiquity extends so far back as the year 590, when, as the Welsh poet Llywarch Hên states, it was known by the name of the _White Town_ (Drev-Wen.) In the reign of Rhodri Mawr (Roderick the Great,) king of all Wales, A.D. 843, a British Chieftain (Ynyr ab Cadfarch) built the Castle, which was afterwards possessed by his son, Tudor Trevor, subsequently Earl of Hereford. Tudor Trevor’s mother was grand-daughter to Caradog Vreichvas, who fell in the memorable battle at Rhuddlan Marsh, A.D. 795. The descendants of Tudor continued in possession of the Castle for many generations, and several of the leading families in North Wales can trace their origin to him. At the conquest Whittington became the property of Pain Peverel, and afterwards of Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury. The Castle and lordship next passed into the hands of Hugh, and subsequently of Robert, both sons of Roger, the before-named Earl. On the defeat and forfeiture of Robert, by an Act of Henry I., the property was restored to the Peverels, in the person of Sir William Peverel, distinguished for his noble and valiant enterprises. He had two daughters; the youngest, named Mellet, of martial spirit, resolved to wed no one but the knight greatest in valour, and her father published this declaration, promising Whittington Castle as her dower. This announcement attracted the attention of many a gallant youth, and soon afterwards Peverel’s domain at the Peak, near Castleton, Derbyshire, was the scene of contention for the fair prize. Among the combatants were a son of the King of Scotland, the Baron Burgoyne, and a noble Lorrainer, Gwarine de Metz, (Sheriff of Shropshire, and chief Counsellor to the Earl of Shrewsbury,) the latter of whom appeared with a shield of silver, and a proud peacock on his crest! To him the spirited Mellet was sincere, he having been declared victor. The son of this chivalrous pair was “famed for deeds of arms,” and their posterity, for nine generations, assumed the christian name of Fulk, and the common name of Fitz-Gwarine. The Castle of Whittington was possessed by the family from the end of the reign of Henry I. till the reign of Henry VIII. Gwarine de Metz died in the reign of Henry I. at Alberbury, the Abbey of which place he had founded, and there he was interred, his wife, the famous Mellet Peverel, and her son, the first Fulk Fitz-Gwarine, being present on the affecting occasion.