Un o honynt, a ddygai _Curig_ Lwyd, dan gwr ei glôg; Gwas arall, a ddug Seiriol, A naw o gaws yn ei gol. A certain Friar, to increase his store Beneath his cloak, grey Curig’s Image bore; And, to protect good folks from nightly harm, Another sells St. Seiriol as a charm. It may reasonably be supposed that St. Curig resided for some time in this sequestered spot, as we find many persons of eminence, in the fifth and sixth Centuries, to have fled from the borders of Scotland, and other parts of Great Britain, to the Mountains of Wales, to avoid the Saxon sword. Any person who may be desirous of visiting the old British Castle of Dolydd Helen, may take a guide from Capel Curig, and cross over near the foot of that high mountain, Moel Siabod, often conspicuous from most distant places. This fortress is situated on a high rock, precipitous on one side and insulated; it consists of two square Towers, one forty feet by twenty-five, the other thirty-one by twenty; each had formerly three floors. This was founded by one of our Welsh Princes, but we are ignorant of its origin.—Iorwerth Drwyn dwn (or with the broken nose) made this place his residence, and here is said to have been born his son _Llewelyn the Great_, who began his reign in the time of Richard the first. Meredydd ap Ievan, before mentioned, and who was brought up at Crug, near Carnarvon, and who was an ancestor of the Wynne’s of Gwydir, in the reign of Henry VII. purchased the Lease of this Castle, and the Inclosures belonging to it, from the Executors of Sir Ralph Berkenet, it having been excepted among the places granted by Richard III. and resumed by his successor. Before that time, Howel ap Evan ap Rhys Gethin, a noted outlaw, resided here. As soon as it came into the possession of Meredydd, he removed from his habitation in Eifionydd, (a hundred in the County) to this Castle, giving this excellent reason: “I had rather fight with outlaws and thieves, than with my own blood and kindred. If I live in my own house in Eifionydd, I must either kill my own kinsmen, or be killed by them.” The feuds among the principal gentlemen in Evionedd occasioned perpetual murders, and Nant-Conwy was filled with banditti. This gentleman soon reformed the Country; he established colonies of the most tall and able men he could procure, till at last they amounted to seven score tall bowmen, every one arrayed in a jacket or armolet coat, a good steel cap, a short sword and dagger, together with his bow and arrows; many of them also had horses, and chasing slaves, which were ready to answer the cry on all occasions. He founded the strong house of Pen nan’maen, a mile distant from the Castle. He removed the Church, which before lay in a thicket, to a more open place, by way of security; for he never dared to quit his house, without leaving in it a strong guard, and another of twenty tall Archers to attend him, whenever he went