Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower of King

George III

Charles Stephenson

First published in 2008 by Charles Stephenson

ISBN: 978-0-9560590-0-0

Copyright © Charles Stephenson 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

10 Sark Avenue, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. CH65 9LU

Contents

i Map ii Introduction 1 The Short Story 6 Pictures 10 The Longer Story

10 ‘The Mother of the Mountain Band’

11 The Golden Jubilee 16 Bread and Circuses 20 The Tower 27 ‘Blown over by the gale’ 30 Restoration 35 Bibliography

i

Map

An extract from an OS Map1 showing the allotments purchased by Lord Kenyon in 1811. The portion highlighted comprised an area of one acre statute measure (4,840 square yards, or 0.4 hectare ) that was excluded from the sale. A ‘carriage way’ of at least eight yards (7.3 metres) from Bwlch Penbarras was also excluded, thus public access to the Jubilee Tower was safeguarded (See pp. 20-21, 29-32).

1 National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298.

iiIntroduction

Having first come into the world at Ruthin, Denbighshire, my early years were spent living at Rhiwisg Farm, Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd. This is of course, even for a child, within reasonable walking distance of Moel Famau. As a youngster I can well recall accompanying my parents to the summit, though the magnificent views and curious ruins to be found there held slight interest for me then.

How times change, for upon revisiting the site in adult life I found myself not only marvelling at the vista, but also pondering as to the remains of the structure that had obviously once occupied the apex. It seemed to me to be rather curious that no widely available publication was to be found that might explain something of the matter. There is of course much information, but one has to be a fairly diligent researcher amongst various archives in order to acquire it. I duly applied the diligence, and having assembled the various pieces of information and learned what I could of Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower of King George III, I was left wondering how this might be shared with a wider audience. This was particularly so as the bicentennial of that Jubilee approaches.

The answer is this slim booklet, which contains as much as I have been able to learn on the matter. I have divided it into two parts; the short story, for those who just want a brief outline concerning how the tower came to be built and its subsequent fate; and a slightly longer piece for those who would like a more in-depth examination of the subject.

There are several variations in spelling of some of the names that will be found in this work. For example Moel Famau, which is currently considered correct, can be found rendered, in English texts, as Moel Famma, Moel Fammau, Moel Fama and Moel Vamma. For the sake of consistency I have utilised the modern usage throughout to the extent of altering the original spelling, where necessary, in quotations from older texts. The same can be said in respect of place names, such as the village of Cilcain, which can be found rendered as

iiiCilcen and Kilken. This, again, has been changed to the current spelling in the text. In all cases however, the original usage has been retained within the notes and bibliography.

I owe a great debt to the custodians of various archives and libraries, without whose immense assistance no work such as this could be undertaken. I would then like to record my thanks to those at the Denbighshire Record Office at Ruthin Gaol; the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden; Mold Museum and Gallery, Mold; the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; Cheshire Record Office, Chester; and the Salt Museum, Northwich (I am particularly grateful to the Curator at the latter institution, Matt Wheeler, for his time and assistance). It goes almost without saying that although they have been of the greatest help imaginable, any errors contained in this work are mine and mine alone. I can only hope that they are not too numerous.

Although I am the author of several works,1 I have decided to produce this booklet myself rather than have it undertaken by a publisher. Indeed, the relatively limited appeal of the subject matter would probably render it commercially unviable. My intention is to have a limited print-run and, primarily, to donate copies to the various archives and libraries whose help has proven so indispensable, as well as similar bodies. Others may then, if they wish, freely consult the work. I can only hope that they will find it of interest. Charles Stephenson, 2008. charles.d.stephenson@googlemail.com

1 Including The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945 (Oxford; Osprey, 2004), Zeppelins: German Airships 1900-40 (Oxford; Osprey, 2004), The Admiral’s Secret Weapon: Lord Dundonald and the Origins of Chemical Warfare (Woobridge; Boydell Press, 2006) and Servant to the King for His Fortifications: Paul Ive and the Practise of Fortification (Doncaster; DP&G, 2008).

1

The Short Story

The Clwydian Range of hills cover an area of some 1600 hectares (or nearly 4000 acres in old money) stretching east-west from the Vale of Clwyd to the Dee Estuary, and north-south from around Prestatyn to close by Llandegla. This area has, since 1985, been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The tallest promontory in the range, at some 555 metres (1,820 feet), may be found to the north-east of Llanbedr DC and is named Moel Famau, which translates into English as ‘Mother’s Mountain’ or ‘Hill of the Mothers.’ It is said that Moel Famau used to be a volcano, and, rather incredibly, there exists an account, written at Holywell on the 2 February 1733, of it erupting on the night of 31 January that year.

This tale needs to be treated with extreme caution, and, annoyingly, the earliest images of Moel Famau, such as the 1796 painting entitled ‘Carreg Carn March Arthur’ by the local, Halkyn based, artist John Ingleby, only depict the mountain after the supposed volcanic event (Picture 1). Indeed, this painting, though obviously subject to a degree of artistic licence, shows the summit much as it appears today. We can then only speculate as to the extent, if any, that natural forces moulded the top of Moel Famau in 1733.

It is though entirely possible to be more specific about the man-made alterations that were visited upon the peak some 77 years later, for many of the relevant records still exist. One of the prime instigators behind the scheme for the erection of a monument to commemorate the 1810 Golden Jubilee of King George III, who had ascended the throne on 25 October 1760, seems to be the splendidly named Reverend Whitehall Whitehall Davies, who owned estates at Broughton Hall, Flintshire, and Llannerch, Denbighshire. Whitehall Davies was the rector of St Mary’s Church, Selattyn, Shropshire when he wrote, on 8 January 1810, to George Kenyon, 2nd Baron Kenyon of Gredington (from the family seat of Gredington Hall at Hamner, Flintshire), a fellow member of the Welsh landed gentry.

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Kenyon was apprised of the proposal to erect a monument atop Moel Famau, across the summit of which ran the Flintshire-Denbighshire border, and informed that the current design under consideration comprised a ‘pyramid arising from a triangular base.’ Kenyon visited the summit of Moel Famau on 6 July and, we may infer, approved of the idea of erecting a commemorative monument there, because some six days later the Flintshire ‘squirearchy', convened as the Justices of the Peace (magistrates) holding their Midsummer Quarterly Session, determined to proceed with the erection of the column. Kenyon made contact with the Heir to the Throne, Prince George the Prince of Wales, who was soon to become Prince Regent when George III’s recurrent ‘insanity’ reappeared, and on 3 August procured the sum of 100 guineas (£105) towards the cost.

The former pyramid design had by now been superseded, and a proposal by the architect Thomas Harrison was under consideration (Picture 2). Harrison had a sound reputation and had been responsible for a number of prestigious projects located mainly in northwest England.

With the date of the Jubilee fast approaching, the squirearchy of Flintshire and Denbighshire formed from amongst their number two committees. One was to organise and oversee the Jubilee celebrations whilst the second, which included Whitehall Davies and Kenyon, was tasked with receiving the ‘plans of the intended building and to adopt and carry into execution such as may be thought proper.’

Several thousand persons, according to accounts of the time, attended the ceremony that took place on the summit of Moel Famau on 25 October to commemorate the Jubilee. During the course of this commemoration the foundation stone of the tower was laid by Lord Kenyon, who made a speech before the crowd descended the mountain to Denbigh, Ruthin and Mold for free dinners of roasted oxen and celebrations, of ‘utmost hilarity and loyalty,’ complete with fireworks.

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Other than the ceremonial laying of the foundation-stone, no further work was attempted for several months, and the design was changed, reverting to an Egyptian motif (Picture 3). The Egyptian style was to become eminently fashionable, and Harrison’s design not only reflected this but also pioneered it, being the first such structure in the United Kingdom.

No further work was done in respect of the actual memorial however, and it was not until 27 August 1812 that the name of the contractor that was actually to build the structure can be traced. He was Thomas Penson of Wrexham, who practised as a mason, surveyor and architect, and was, in 1805, appointed Surveyor of Bridges and other Public Works in Flintshire, and, in 1808, County Surveyor of Denbighshire.

Though work on erecting the tower was probably completed by 1813, it has been argued that it was never finished. However, what exactly this means is unclear and there are several accounts of the structure in what seems to have been its final state. There is also a picture, probably painted before 1813, which shows the tower as being substantially similar to Harrison’s design (Picture 4).

Constructed of rough stone in the local style, it seems that the structure deteriorated quite rapidly, and by 1846 attempts to raise funds to repair it were underway. The damage at that time was apparently severe, and the repairs probably involved a substantial remodelling of the upper portion (Picture 5). A visitors room and a shed for horses were also constructed at the same time, and the access track was improved.

Despite the repair work, it seems that the structure continued to deteriorate, and eventually suffered a catastrophic failure between one and two o’clock on the afternoon of 28 October 1862 when about two thirds of the obelisk, about 36.5 metres of the upper portion, fell to the ground. That nobody was injured during the collapse seems fortunate, as there were several persons in the vicinity, the day being calm. Indeed, according to newspaper reports, a couple had only just vacated the passage that ran through the base of the structure when the tower collapsed (Pictures 6-8).

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Not everyone was dismayed by this event, the poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins inspected the summit with the ruins of the tower. He related the visit in a letter to his mother dated 2 March 1876:

[. . .] a party of us set out for Moel Famau, the highest of the hills bounding the valley [. . .]. There stands on it what remains of the Jubilee Tower erected in honour of George III’s 50th year of royalty, an ugly and trumpery construction, makebelieve-massive, but so frail that it was blown over by the gale that wrecked the Royal Charter, and it cumbers the hilltop and interrupts the view.

There were to be several attempts to resurrect the structure

over the next century or so, particularly upon the lead up to Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. However, it was not until 1970 that a more or less private ad-hoc group, formed from amongst the ranks of the Denbigh and Flint Branch of the Country Landowners Association, began to solicit funds and assistance to tidy up the site and secure the remains from further deterioration. Thanks to a number of corporate and personal contributors, some ‘200 tons of sand, aggregate, cement and water’ were carried up to the summit, where ‘hundreds of tons of fallen masonry’ were moved and access ramps created at each corner. The remaining original walls were repointed and strengthened where necessary and four stainless steel plane tables, supplying visitor information, were installed.

This undoubtedly long overdue exercise resulted in the appearance of the structure that crowns Moel Famau to this day. Indeed, though he would no doubt have characterised the original structure as ‘a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’ the renovations undertaken in 1970 deservedly won the Prince of Wales Countryside Award for that year.

Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower of King George III, or at least the restored remnant of the latter, now form the centrepiece of Moel Famau Country Park, an area of some 800 hectares (1800 Acres) within the Clwydian Range. This area constitutes an outstanding example of what can be achieved in terms of making the countryside accessible to all. A visit to any part of it is more than

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worthwhile, and especially to the summit of Moel Famau on a fine day. Indeed, few would now agree with Hopkins that the ruins ‘cumber the hilltop and interrupt the view.’ On the contrary, they are now an integral part of it, whilst the view is, without doubt, truly a wonder to behold.

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2. A painting by ThomasHarrison, believed to showone of the two originaldesigns for the Jubilee Towerthat he produced. ( Original atThe Salt Museum, Northwich1977.3419.5).

1. A detail from the 1796painting entitled ‘CarregCarn March Arthur’ by theHalkyn based, artist JohnIngleby. It depicts MoelFamau from just south ofLoggerheads some 60 yearsafter the supposed volcanicevent.

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3. Harrison’s ‘Egyptian’design for the JubileeTower, as submitted to thePrince Regent on 4 March1811. There are three,almost identical, renditionsof this design; at theCheshire Record Office(ZCR 73/52); The SaltMuseum, Northwich(1984-3633) and at theRoyal Archives, Windsor.

4. The Jubilee Column at

Moel Fammau by MosesGriffith. Probably paintedin 1813, this version showsthe completed tower asbeing substantially similarto Harrison’s design. Theoriginal watercolour is atthe National Library ofWales, Aberystwyth.

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5. The Jubilee Tower asit appeared in EdwardParry’s Royal Visits andProgresses to Wales [. ..], p. 416, published in1851. Other than someremodelling to the topsof the corner towers thebase remains essentiallythe same. The upperstructure has beenextensively refashionedhowever. This, probably,took place during repairscarried out in 1846.

6. The base of the tower sometime after the collapse of the upperportion on 28 October 1862. At least two of the corner towers aremore or less still intact, probably dating this picture to the latenineteenth century. The large number of people atop them indicatesthat they were a popular destination. It was fear for the safety ofsuch visitors that impelled Alegernon Potts to ask, in 1904, forwarning signs to be erected. (Author’s collection).

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7. Taken from a different perspective, the ruins of the tower appear

to have deteriorated in this view as compared to the previouspicture. (Author’s collection).

8. The ruined base following the collapse of the cornertowers. This was, if memory serves, much how it appeared in the1960s before steps were taken to stabilise what remained. (Author’scollection).

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The Longer Story ‘The Mother of the Mountain Band.’1

The Clwydian Range of hills cover an area of some 1600 hectares (or nearly 4000 acres in old money) stretching east-west from the Vale of Clwyd to the Dee Estuary, and north-south from around Prestatyn to close by Llandegla. This area has, since 1985, been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is a proposition that few could argue with.2 Indeed, the Clwydians form a magnificent landscape, as was noted by the polymath Captain Richard Burton, en-route from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the Cunarder ‘S. S. Canada’ on 21 April 1860. As the vessel traversed the Mersey estuary he gazed upon ‘[. . .] the sun streaked Welsh mountains, a distant reproduction of the Spanish Sierra Nevada, bounding the horizon on the left.’3

The tallest promontory in the range, at some 555 metres (1,820 feet), may be found to the north-east of Llanbedr DC and is named Moel Famau, which translates into English as ‘Mother’s Mountain’ or ‘Hill of the Mothers.’ It is said that Moel Famau used to be a volcano, and, rather incredibly, there exists an account, written at Holywell on the 2 February 1733, of it erupting on the night of 31 January that year. The account begins by recalling the exceptionally heavy snowfall that had occurred, before moving on to the eruption:

The night before last, Moel Famau, a very high mountain in this neighbourhood, was heard to utter, as it were, deep groans; the adjacent hills trembled from their roots. The noise, at eleven o’clock, was like the sound of a distant thunder, from the rolling of huge

1 ‘Old Möel Fama sits in state, The Mother of the mountain band, In conscious majesty elate, The cherished beacon of the land.’ Sarah Lawrence, ‘An Adieu to Upton Bank’ in Poems (Kinder; London, 1847) p. 78. Verse 4. 2 http://www.clwydianrangeaonb.org.uk/text01.asp?PageId=2 3 Quoted in Mary S Lovell, A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton (London; Abacus, 1999) p. 345.

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stones down a craggy precipice. At twelve, there was aloud clap, and the vertex [summit] of the hill threw up, in the same instant, vast bodies of combustible matter; liquid fire rolled along the heaps of ruins; at the close of all, nature seemed to make a grand effort, and rent one side of the mountain, which was solid stone, into a hiatus [fissure], whose breadth seemed to be about 200 yards; the summit of the hill tumbled into the vast opening, and the top appears level, which before was quite perpendicular. All is now hushed; but in the places where the fire melted the snow, the earth throws out the verdure of May. At Ruthin, as two persons were foolishly endeavouring to make their escape from the danger, they were buried in a [snow] drift; several made their escape from St. Asaph into the sea, and fell victims to their timidity.4

This tale needs to be treated with extreme caution, and, annoyingly, the earliest images of Moel Famau, such as the 1796 painting entitled ‘Carreg Carn March Arthur’5 by the local, Halkyn based, artist John Ingleby, only depict the mountain after the supposed volcanic event.6 Indeed, this painting, though obviously subject to a degree of artistic licence, shows the summit much as it appears today (Picture 1). We can then only speculate as to the extent, if any, that natural forces moulded the top of Moel Famau in 1733. The Golden Jubilee It is though entirely possible to be more specific about the man-made alterations that were visited upon the peak some 77 years later, for many of the relevant records still exist. One of the prime instigators behind the scheme for the erection of a monument to commemorate the 1810 Golden Jubilee of King George III, who had ascended the throne on 25 October 1760, seems to be the splendidly named Reverend Whitehall Whitehall Davies, who owned estates at

4 The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1773, Fifth Edition (London; Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall Mall, 1793) p. 76. 5 http://www.walesontheweb.org/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon 6 John Ingleby (1749-1808) was a topographical artist who specialised in producing small watercolour views. See: Paul Joyner, Artists in Wales C.1740-c.1851: A Handlist of Artists Living and Working in Wales from C.1740 Up to C.1851 (Aberystwyth; National Library of Wales, 1997).

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Broughton Hall, Flintshire, and Llannerch, Denbighshire.7 Whitehall Davies was the rector of St Mary’s Church, Selattyn, Shropshire8 when he wrote, on 8 January 1810, to George Kenyon, 2nd Baron Kenyon of Gredington (from the family seat of Gredington Hall at Hamner, Flintshire), a fellow member of the Welsh landed gentry.

Kenyon was apprised of the proposal to erect a monument atop Moel Famau, across the summit of which ran the Flintshire-Denbighshire border, and informed that the current design under consideration comprised a ‘pyramid arising from a triangular base.’ This construction, whose designer remains unknown, was to be adorned with ‘gigantic tablets of cast iron [. . .] inserted immovably into the stone’ upon which inscriptions, in Welsh, English and Latin, executed in ‘the antique style of character’ were to feature.9 Kenyon visited the summit of Moel Famau on 6 July and, we may infer, approved of the idea of erecting a commemorative monument there, because some six days later the Flintshire ‘squirearchy', convened as the Justices of the Peace (magistrates) holding their Midsummer Quarterly Session, determined to:

Proceed with the erection of the Column, and to seek subscriptions towards the cost wherever they might be had, and to invite their neighbours in Denbighshire to share with them the honour and the cost.10

7 John Burke and John Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I – A to L (London; Henry Colburn, 1847) p. 655. 8 ‘A List of the Subscribing Members of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,’ an appendix to The Rev. Hubert Marsh, The National Religion the Foundation of National Education: A Sermon Preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London on Thursday, June 13, 1811 [. . .] (London; Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1811) p. 54. The church was part of the diocese of St Asaph, which included Flintshire and Denbighshire, with parts of Caernarvonshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Thomas Nicholas, Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales (Baltimore; Genealogical Publishing, 1991) p. 448. 9 Quoted in R J Edwards, A History of the Jubilee Tower on Moel Fammau in North Wales (London; Arliss Andrews, 1885). Reprint edition, The Prince of Wales Countryside Award: Moel Fammau Project. A History of the Jubilee Tower on Moel Fammau in North Wales, by R J Edwards (1885) reproduced from an original copy and amplified from contemporary papers with an account of its rehabilitation for European Conservation Year 1970 (Mold; Flintshire County Council, 1970) p. 7. (Hereafter cited as ‘Edwards’). The manuscript of Edwards book is in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. NLW MS 2108B. It contains some material that did not appear in the published work.10 Quoted in Edwards. p. 8.

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Kenyon made contact with the Heir to the Throne, Prince George the Prince of Wales, who was soon to become Prince Regent when George III’s recurrent ‘insanity’ reappeared, and on 3 August procured the sum of 100 guineas (£105) towards the cost. The next twelve donors, in descending order of contribution (which perhaps gives some indication of the pecking order amongst the North Wales squirearchy) were as follows: Lord Kenyon £52.50 Sir Thomas Mostyn MP, £52.50 The Reverend W Whitehall Davies £26.25 Sir Edward Lloyd £25 David Pennant £25 F R Price, the High Sheriff for Flintshire £21 Sir John Williams £21 Sir Stephen Glynne £20 Sir Thomas Hanmer £10.50 Mostyn Edwards £10.50 William Shipley £10.50 Thomas Hanmer £10.5011 The former pyramid design had by now been superseded, and a proposal by the architect Thomas Harrison was under consideration. Harrison had a sound reputation and had been responsible for a number of prestigious projects located mainly in northwest England.12 Whitehall Davies wrote to Kenyon on 30 September 1810, explaining that he had received ‘a very clever sketch from Harrison’ and that he thought the ‘Gentlemen of Flintshire are very willing to leave the plan to his superior taste.’13 Harrison’s sketch, though it may have been clever, did not contain the final design and, according to an account published the following year, his idea was ‘to erect on the very apex of the mountain a lofty embattled tower,

11 Edward Parry, Royal Visits and Progresses to Wales [. . .] (London; Chapman Hall, 1851) p. 415. The amounts have been rendered into modern usage. There were also a great number of people who subscribed one guinea (£1.05) to the fund, and a number of documents relating can be found in the Denbighshire Record Office, located at Ruthin Gaol. DRO DD/WY/5742. 12 See the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for a full account of his life and works. 13 Quoted in: Peter Howell, ‘The Jubilee Tower on Moel Famau’ in Architectural History, Vol. 27. 1984. p. 332.

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bearing some affinity to the turrets of Caernarfon Castle.’14 Some skilful detective work by Peter Howell unearthed two drawings by Harrison that are in the Salt Museum at Northwich in Cheshire, which, he concluded, showed the original designs for the tower.15

These designs were both impressive and ambitious, and being so would have undoubtedly proven expensive to construct (Picture 2). Indeed, it is clear that there were already worries over the financial aspect of the scheme and the Flintshire magistrates decided, on 4 October, that reminders would be sent out to those who had promised to subscribe, and an effort made to induce them to give more.16

With the date of the Jubilee fast approaching, the squirearchy of Flintshire and Denbighshire formed from amongst their number two committees. One was to organise and oversee the Jubilee celebrations whilst the second, which included Whitehall Davies and Kenyon, was tasked with receiving the ‘plans of the intended building and to adopt and carry into execution such as may be thought proper.’17 The members of this latter group, other than Kenyon and Whitehall Davies, were: Sir Thomas Hamner, Edward Jones Esq. and the Reverend Hope Wynne Eyton, all representing Flintshire. The Denbighshire contingent comprised Sir W W Wynn, Sir Foster Cunliffe, Reverend Dr. Middleton, Reverend Thomas Clough and Reverend the Warden of Ruthin.

The context within which the decision to celebrate the King’s Jubilee deserves some minor consideration. Firstly, it was, as Edward Parry was to later term it, an ‘unusual event’ for a reign to last for fifty years.18 The only English monarchs to achieve such longevity had been Henry III (1207-1272) and Edward III (1327-1377), whilst Scotland’s James VI, who also became James I of England in 1603,

14 A Descendant of Sir D de H (‘a descendant of an antient [ancient] line of loyal ancestry’) ‘Celebration of the Jubilee, upon Moel’Famma Oct. 25 1810’ in Sylvanus Urban, The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle: from January to June 1811, Volume LXXXI (London; John Nichols and Son, 1811) p. 126. (Hereafter cited as ‘Urban’). 15 Howell. p. 333. Salt Museum references: 1977.3419.5 and 1977.3419.? 16 Reminder for promised subscription to Jubilee Tower. Ruthin Gaol. DRO DD/DM/1025/2 17 Howell. p. 332. 18 Parry. p. 415.

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reigned for a total of nearly 58 years, from 1567-1625. No monarch within living memory had then come close to achieving a fifty-year reign; George II, the grandfather of George III, sat on the throne for a little over 33 years.

There was also a political aspect, inasmuch as it was a time when ‘Boney the Bogeyman’19 loomed large. Indeed, though his ambitions of invading Britain had been comprehensively thwarted by Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805, Napoleon was otherwise at the height of his powers. His main enemy, the recently created United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was almost completely isolated. Only Britain's continued dominance as a sea power stopped France taking over the distant Spanish and Dutch colonies in America, India and the Far East, and thus creating a gigantic world empire. Moreover the struggle against Napoleon was, it may be remembered, a war against a revolutionary state that had dispossessed and executed most of its own aristocracy and governing elite. Those who had lost their power, and in many case their heads, in France were from the same class as those who constituted the governing elite in Britain. The social system in Britain was not, to the undiscerning eye of those at the bottom, markedly different to that which had pertained in Royalist France. Indeed, Napoleon claimed that he would have invaded Britain as a liberator, and that he would have ‘exited the democratic element against the aristocracy.’20

The net result could be little other than to make those at the top in Britain somewhat nervous; criticism of the political and social status quo resulted in prosecution and imprisonment. Victims of this sensitivity included, for example, Thomas Paine who had, in 1791, published his most influential work, The Rights of Man, in which he attacked the hereditary monarchical principle and argued for equal political rights. The British government banned the work and charged the author with seditious libel (publishing writings that subverted the authority of the monarch).

19 Eliza Gutch and Mabel Peacock, County Folk-Lore, Vol. 5: (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1908), pp. 383-384. 20 A Vieusseux, Napoleon Bonaparte: His Sayings and his Deeds. Two Volumes. (London; Charles Knight & Co., 1846) Vol. I. p. 135.

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Bread and Circuses Bread and circuses are, metaphorically, famed for keeping ‘the great unwashed’ quiet, and the ceremony that took place on the summit of Moel Famau on 25 October, and the celebrations afterwards, were, if reports published shortly afterwards are to be believed, redolent of both.

On the happy event of our Gracious Sovereign having completed the fiftieth year of his reign, the Counties of Flint and Denbigh assembled from 3000 to 5000 persons on the summit of Moel Famau [. . .]

On this grand station, the two above-named Counties determined to show their loyalty, by erecting a Jubilee Column, to commemorate the happiness they felt, in common with the whole nation [. . .]

The sun shone upon the undertaking; and the thousands who attended seemed all animated with sympathetic joy on the occasion. The Committees and Gentlemen of the two Counties met at about noon at the Bwlch Penbarras, between Ruthin and Mold; where, also, a detachment of the Flintshire and Denbighshire Loyal Militias [. . .] headed a procession of the principal Gentlemen of the two Counties to the top of the mountain, a distance of nearly two miles, most of them on horseback. [. . . ] Lord Kenyon [deputising for Prince George, the Prince of Wales] [. . .] and sundry others of the most respected families of the Counties, ascended the mountain, accompanied by a constellation of beautiful Welsh ladies. The martial music and appearance of the Military and procession on horseback to the summit, already thickly peopled with an assembled multitude, was interesting and grand. Soon after, the Military formed a circle round the summit, and Lord Kenyon delivered to the Architect several coins and medals alluding to and commemorating the great occurrences and glories of the Reign, and deposited one of each in an earthen vase of the country, under the foundation stone.21

21 Twelve in number: A Guinea of George III; a half Guinea after the Union with Ireland; a gilt medal of his Majesty, on his completing the 50th year of his reign, with the motto “We praise thee, O God;” a white medal of his Majesty on the same occasion, expressing also the Union with Ireland, and the universal joy of the Nation; a bronze medal of his Majesty; the reverse alluding to the Victories of the War, especially Lord Nelson’s glorious Victory of the Nile, 1798; a bronze medal of his Majesty, on his preservation from an assassin in 1810; a bronze medal on the Union with Ireland, in Jan. 1801; a bronze medal on the Peace [of Amiens] 1802; a bronze medal of the Prince and Princess of Wales; a bronze

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The Noble Lord then, in an excellent speech, in which, from his heart, flowed the most noble and truly loyal sentiments, alluded to the leading incidents in our Gracious Sovereigns character [. . .]

Lord Kenyon then distributed more medals; and [. . .] laid the first stone of the intended column in the name of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. [. . .] Mr Harrison then read the following inscription to be fixed into the stone:

This stone was laid by George Lord Kenyon,

Baron of Gredington in Flintshire; he being graciously deputed by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,

for and in his name to lay the same; when the Right Hon. Earl Grosvenor, and Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, Bart.

were Lords Lieutenants of the Counties of Flint and Denbigh, in the Sheriffalty of

Richard Lloyd, of Fron Hawlog, and Francis Richard Price, of Bryn-y-pys,

Esquires, in the presence of the Nobility, Gentry,

and Yeomanry of each County. It being part of the foundation of an

Edifice to be erected by Voluntary Subscription,

in commemoration of our much beloved and revered Monarch

GEORGE THE THIRD, King of the United Kingdoms of

Great Britain and Ireland, completing his fiftieth year of

His Glorious Reign, and upon the 25th day of October

in the year of the Christian Æra 1810.22

The ‘circus’ portion of the day was then completed by joyful acclamation, volleys of musketry from the militia members, and a rendering of God Save the King, before the crowd descended the

medal of Earl Howe, on his glorious victory 4th June 1794; a bronze medal of Marquis Cornwallis, on receiving Tippoo Sultan’s Sons as Hostages in 1792; a bronze medal of Lord Nelson, from the statue erected at Birmingham to his glorious memory. Urban. p. 127. 22 Urban. pp. 125-6.

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mountain to Denbigh, Ruthin and Mold for the ‘bread.’ Free dinners of roasted oxen were prepared at these places, and the celebrations, of ‘utmost hilarity and loyalty,’ complete with fireworks continued through the evening. It was noted that ‘Lord Kenyon, upon this occasion, desirous that the poor should participate in the general joy that prevailed, ordered a fat ox to be distributed in the vicinity of Mold, and likewise one in and about the town of Hanmer [. . .] several sheep he also distributed in smaller districts in the country.’23 At Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, the ‘great gates’ were thrown open in the afternoon and

[. . .] tables were spread in the quadrangle with plenty of beef and plum pudding, and Cwrw da [good beer] flowed from the cellar, and above 500 of the surrounding poor were made happy on the glorious occasion. In short, all was joy and gladness at the Castle on that memorable day.24

Other than the ceremonial laying of the foundation-stone, no further work was attempted for several months. Indeed, the design was changed again, reverting to an Egyptian motif, as Whitehall Davies was to inform Kenyon on 4 March 1811:

Harrison disappointed me by not attending the meeting at Mold. [. . .] This circumstance has occasioned an inevitable delay; but we have done all in our power to prevent a recurrence of the disappointment by ordering specimens of stone from various quarries on and near the mountain with the cost of delivery on the summit, also of lime and sand, to be procured, and presented to the committee on the 27th of this month. Water is found within 200 yards [182 metres] of the spot and by artificial means may probably be procured nearer.

By this post I send a letter to Harrison, to urge the immediate despatch of a finished drawing of the building to your Lordship for presentation to the Prince if it be deemed worthy of His Royal Highness’ inspection. I am myself much struck with the simple grandeur of the Plan, and being Egyptian is at once unique (as to

23 Urban. p. 126. 24 Quoted in Edwards. p. 20.

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this kingdom) and appropriate – the name Abercromby will explain my meaning [. . .] 25

The reference to Abercromby probably refers to the monument, completed in 1809, to Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had been killed in Egypt in 1801 whilst fighting the French. Located in the south transept of St Paul's Cathedral, London, and designed by Richard Westmacott, this monument featured the unmistakably Egyptian motif of twin sphinxes flanking a rendition of the mortally wounded general. Indeed, the, ultimately unsuccessful, campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt and the near east between 1798 and 1801 had awakened, or reawakened, an interest in all things associated with that area. Bonaparte had not merely taken an army with him, but also a number of scholars to study the archaeology and artefacts of the Pharaohs.26 One of their most important discoveries, in July 1799, was the Rosetta Stone, and these activities resulted in a new era of Egyptian studies both in France and Britain. This found expression in the ‘Egyptian Revival,’ which, amongst other things, influenced architectural style, one of the physical embodiments of which led to the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, being constructed in 1812.27 A design for a national monument, in the shape of a ‘gigantic pyramid’ atop Shooter’s Hill, Greenwich, was also proposed, though never realised.28 The Egyptian style was then to become eminently fashionable, and Harrison’s design did not merely reflect this but

25 Quoted in Edwards. p. 12. 26 Douglas J Brewer and Emily Teeter, Egypt and the Egyptians (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1999) p. 6. 27 Nikolaus Pevsner, Studies in Art, Architecture, and Design. Two Volumes. Vol. I. From Mannerism to Romanticism (New York; Walker, 1968) pp. 213, 251. 28 James Stevens Curl, The Egyptian Revival: Ancient Egypt as the Inspiration for Design Motifs in the West (Abingdon; Routledge, 2005) p. 204. The most obvious, and famous, Egyptian monument in the UK, the so-called ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’ on the Thames embankment in London, has nothing to do with the Egyptian Revival. Firstly, it is a genuine artefact, dating from around 1460BC, the time of Pharaoh Thotmes III. Secondly, though the project was first mooted in 1801, it was not until 1878 that the artefact was finally brought to the UK to commemorate the British victory over Napoleon. See: W R Wilde, Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Tenerife and along the Shores of the Mediterranean [. . .] (Dublin; William Curry, 1844) p. 619.

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pioneered it, being the first such completed structure in the United Kingdom (Picture 3).29

The Tower The design was, it seems, indeed approved by the Prince, who had taken over the monarchy from his father and become Prince Regent on 5 February 1811.30 The summit of Moel Famau was owned by the Crown, via the recently established Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, through it being part of an allotment to the crown under the Llanferres and Cilcain Enclosure Act.31 Despite Kenyon purchasing several of the allotments32 around the summit in 1811, the Conveyance stipulated that an area around the proposed monument, and a way to access it, remain in the possession of the Crown so as to guarantee public accessibility. The exception to the land transfer was stated as follows:

Except nevertheless and always reserved to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors out of these Presents and out of the sale for which the contracting and agreeing is hereby certified a space or circuit of

29 Howell. p. 334. 30 For the Regency Act, 1811 see: A Aspinall and E Anthony Smith (Eds.) English Historical Documents 1783-1832 (London; Routledge, 2000) pp. 83-6. 31 National Archives: CRES 49/2675 336298. Details of the ‘Llanferres and Kilken Act’ can be found at the Flintshire Record Office - QS/DEM/1, QS/DEM/2 - and Ruthin Gaol - QSD/DE/1 - whilst relevant maps are contained in Roger J P Kain, John Chapman and Richard R. Oliver, The Enclosure Maps of England and Wales 1595–1918: A Cartographic Analysis and Electronic Catalogue (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2004). 32 Enclosure or, as it was sometimes spelt, Inclosure was, and remains, a matter of great controversy. Put basically, it involved the appropriation of common land to private landowners and the forced consolidation of agriculture from small-scale open-field to a larger enclosed field system. This process was of long-standing, beginning in the 14th century, but it was under the pressure of a greatly expanding population and the need to use the land more efficiently that thousands of Enclosure Acts were passed by Parliament in the period 1750-1850. Though small landowners and those who lost their communal rights were sometimes compensated with plots of land referred to as ‘allotments,’ these Acts frequently forced smaller farmers to sell to the big landowners. This in turn created large numbers of landless and dispossessed people who migrated to the cities in search of a living. Dependent upon point of view, this was either a much-needed shake-up of an archaic and inefficient system, or a rapacious quest by large and unscrupulous landowners. For further reading see: http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/places/histlan4.htm, John E. Martin, Feudalism to Capitalism: Peasant and Landlord in English Agrarian Development (London; Macmillan, 1983), Frank A. Sharman, ‘An Introduction to the Enclosure Acts’ in The Journal of Legal History, Volume 10, Issue 1 May 1989, pp. 45-70.

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land part of the said Allotment or one of them to be of the superficial content of one acre statute measure33 round the site [of the proposed tower] together with the right of a convenient carriage way to the same of the breadth of eight yards [7.3 metres] at the least [. . .] for the use of all persons resorting thereto from the highway [. . .] being the turnpike road from Mold to Ruthin [. . .]. 34

Following these transactions Kenyon proceeded to begin at least preliminary work on the site by having a boundary wall constructed.35 No further work was done in respect of the actual memorial however, and it was not until 27 August 1812 that the name of the contractor that was actually to build the structure can be traced via a letter from William Wynne, Clerk of the Peace for Flintshire, to Kenyon.

[. . .] The men employed to search for stone were not able to find any on the east side where they were directed to try [,] in consequence of which I directed them to begin last week on the west side of the hill, and I now have the satisfaction to state [. . .] that good stone has been found there within a few yards of the summit which will lessen the expense of the building very much. I shall inform Mr Penson of this circumstance to enable him to form his estimate with greater accuracy.36

‘Mr Penson’ was Thomas Penson of Wrexham, who practised as a mason, surveyor and architect, and was, in 1805, appointed Surveyor of Bridges and other Public Works in Flintshire, and, in 1808, County Surveyor of Denbighshire. Given that his relationship with the Flintshire squirearchy appears, from the 1780s, to have been ‘uncomfortable owing to his inability to keep costs within estimates,’ and that, owing to this, from 1810 all work that he would normally

33 An ‘Acre Statute Measure’ was 4,840 square yards, or 0.4 hectare. 34 ‘Extract from Conveyance to Lord Kenyon of Allotments in Llanferres and Kilken dated 23 March 1811.’ National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298. 35 Howell. p. 335. 36 Edwards. p. 13.

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have got almost by default was put out to competitive tender, he seems a strange choice.37

Perhaps it was his difficulties with previous estimates that led to him submitting one that was considered somewhat inflated in respect of erecting the memorial? Harrison certainly thought it too expensive, as is made plain in his letter of 13 September 1812 to Kenyon:

[. . .] the enclosed estimate [. . .] much exceeds what I hoped the Tower would have been built for. I will endeavour in the course of this week to send an experienced workman to view the situation and procure the necessary information of the value of material etc. to enable him to make an estimate of the work and will then write again [. . .] Your Lordship may be sure Mr. Penson’s estimate will not be divulged.38

We do not know how much the estimate was, but it was almost certainly more than £3,235; the latter figure being the one presented to the committee tasked with receiving the ‘plans of the intended building and to adopt and carry into execution such as may be thought proper’ on 1 October. On that date the committee, augmented with several of the subscribers, convened at The Eagles Inn, Wrexham, and resolved:

That a contract be entered into with Mr. Penson for erecting the Jubilee Tower, according to a plan designed by Mr Harrison, and adopted at a former meeting of the subscribers.39

It was also revealed at the meeting that the total amount collected in subscriptions up to that date came to a little over £1,130; there was thus a shortfall of over £2,100. Further subscriptions were solicited, and one account details that by 15 August 1814 Penson had been paid £1,750.40 Howell concludes that Kenyon made up the balance.41

37 Robert Anthony, ‘Penson, Thomas, Sr.’ in AW Skempton (Ed.), A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland (London; Thomas Telford, 2002) p. 518. 38 Quoted in Edwards. pp. 13-14. 39 A report of the meeting is reproduced in Edwards. pp. 14-15. In part, quoted in Howell. p. 335. 40 Plasnewydd MSS at Ruthin Gaol. GB 0209 DD/GR/333.

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It is said that the tower was never finished. However, what exactly this means is unclear and there are several accounts of the structure in what seems to have been its final state, which was probably reached within a two years of its inception:42

On the top of Moel Famau, a lofty eminence rising 1845 feet above the level of the sea, and a few miles south-east from Denbigh, stands a pyramidical monument of great size and conspicuous figure. It is called the Jubilee Monument, and was erected about 1810 to commemorate the 50th year of the reign of George III. It is a rough stone building of 150 feet [45 metres] in height, and measures 50 feet [15 metres] in diameter at the base.43

This 1836 account tallies with those contained in a guidebook published in 1839 – ‘a rough stone building of pyramidical form, about 150 feet in height, and 60 feet [18 metres] in diameter at the base.’44

There is also a painting of the tower, which depicts it as being very like Harrison’s design. This is by Moses Griffith, the Welsh draughtsman and watercolour artist employed by Thomas Pennant, the Flintshire born traveller, naturalist and antiquary. Griffith has been described as an ‘able and ingenious draughtsman’45 and ‘an artist greatly in advance of his day, who understood architectural detail, and drew with photographic accuracy.’46 Following the death of his patron in 1798, Griffith was retained by Pennant’s son, David, and during the period 1805-1813 he executed some 200 watercolours

41 Howell. p. 340. n. 30. 42 Edwards argues that ‘[. . .] an impression seems to prevail that the process of rearing the edifice extended over a very long period, for which, however, I have not been able to find any authority.’ Edwards. p. 42. Further, Moses Griffith painted a rendition of it in completed form, and he is adjudged to have painted nothing after 1813. Megan Ellis, Griffith, Moses (1747-1819) http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-GRIF-MOS-1747.html 43 Peter Orlando Hutchinson (writing pseudonymously as Pedestres (Pedestrian), along with his walking stick, Sir Clavileno Woodenpeg Knight of Snowdon) A Pedestrian Tour of Thirteen Hundred and Forty Seven Miles through Wales and England, Two Volumes (London; Saunders and Otley, 1836) Vol. II. pp. 256-7. 44 Leigh’s Guide to Wales and Monmouthshire (London; Leigh and Son, 1839) p. 250. 45 The Analytical Review, or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign [. . .] Vol. XVI From May to August Inclusive, 1793 (London; J Johnson, 1793) p. 19. 46 Archaeologia Cambrensis: the Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association Vol. X, Third Series (London; J Russell Smith, 1865) p. 212.

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of Welsh scenes.47 His view of the Jubilee Tower, which is undated, featured in the 1998 Thomas Pennant exhibition held at The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.48

It may be recalled that David Pennant was one of the original contributors to the fund to erect the monument, and it would therefore not seem strange that he should wish Griffith to depict it. What would be unusual though would be for Griffith to not represent it as it was (Picture 4). Indeed, his rendition is so close to the design by Harrison that, if he did not paint it from life, he must have copied Harrison’s work, three copies of which are known to exist.49 Given Griffith’s record and reputation however, and the fact that he lived close to the scene at Holywell at the requisite period (as did his employer), such a proposition is unfeasible. The importance of these points becomes clear when considering later descriptions of the monument, which describe and depict an altered structure.

The most complete written description is given in an account published in 1849 by Samuel Lewis. This detailed account indicates that there have been fundamental changes made to the upper structure:

[. . .] a lofty stone structure, comprising a square central tower six yards [5.5 metres] in length on each side, and thirty-nine feet [12 metres] high, flanked at each angle with a square tower of the same dimensions and elevation. From the central tower, and resting partly on the angular towers, rises a square tower of larger dimensions, to the height of forty feet [12 metres], surmounted by an obelisk thirty-six feet high [11 metres]. This structure, commonly called the Jubilee Column, occupies a base eighteen yards [16.5 metres] square: the angular towers are solid, but the central tower on the basement is perforated with an arch, and it was intended to construct a staircase leading from this archway to the larger tower above. The building is altogether 115 feet [35 metres] in height, and, from its commanding situation, is a prominent and very imposing object in the views from

47 Megan Ellis, Griffith, Moses (1747-1819) http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-GRIF-MOS-1747.html 48 http://www.llgc.org.uk/ardd/pennant/llun29.gif 49 Two, in Cheshire Record Office, Chester, and The Salt Museum, Northwich, have already been referred to. The version sent to the Prince Regent in 1811 is in the Royal Archives at Windsor. http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page3553.asp

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all the high grounds in the neighbouring counties; it is seen from the city of Chester, from Liverpool, and other distant places, and forms a conspicuous and well-known landmark for vessels navigating the Irish Sea.50

Edward Parry’s 1851 account - ‘a rough stone pyramidal

mass of masonry, one hundred and fifty feet [45 metres] in height, and sixty feet [18 metres] in diameter at the base’ – is substantially in accord with earlier descriptions, but he also includes a drawing.51 Clearly, if this drawing is accurate, and it tallies closely with Lewis’ description, then the tower had been altered after construction (Picture 5).

Given that all the accounts and representations are accurate, then there is only one possible explanation; that the repairs recorded as having been undertaken in 1846 were much more extensive than has hitherto been believed, and resulted in a substantial remodelling of the upper structure (see below). Unfortunately there is no direct evidence for this, but as an explanation it can at least be reasonably accommodated within what is known.

The problem remains though that none of the descriptions or depictions indicate what was unfinished about it, though Lewis’s comment about the staircase is perhaps a clue even if his source is unknown. It seems also the case that no inscribed plaque, or inscription of any sort, was ever mounted.52 The remarks concerning the ‘rough stone’ construction indicate that the tower was constructed using vernacular - that which is typical for an area or a region – techniques and materials, and an examination of the remains confirm this. Those familiar with the surrounding countryside will be aware of the many buildings, particularly farm buildings, which are constructed from small and medium sized pieces of roughly cut stone.

50 Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales [. . .] Two Volumes (London; S Lewis and Co., 1849) Available online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47842 51 Parry. pp. 414-6. 52 Edwards. p. 42.

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I spent my early years at Rhiwisg, a farm on the Ruthin-Mold road just outside Llanbedr DC, and all the older buildings there were constructed of such material. A more easily accessible example can however be found at Holywell; the Greenfield Valley Heritage Information Centre was constructed, faithfully utilising local techniques, from the remains of farm outbuildings that formerly sat on Moel Famau. Whilst such techniques seem eminently suitable for relatively low buildings, albeit at the cost of a greater degree of maintenance in comparison with more expensive constructions, one wonders at their fitness for a structure such as the tower.

Other, roughly contemporaneous, lofty memorials built of close-fitting masonry survive to this day. Examples include the Marquess of Anglesey’s Column, also designed by Harrison, at Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, which was finished in 1817 and is some 35.5 metres tall.53 This column is of course not in quite as exposed a position as the Jubilee Tower, but the memorial to the first Duke of Sutherland, situated atop Beinn a' Bhragaidh, just to the west of Golspie, East Sutherland, overlooks the North Sea. It is thus exposed to the full severity of the weather in that famously tempestuous region, yet its nine-metre sandstone statue mounted on a 21-metre pedestal of locally quarried stone has been there since 1834.54

It may be that the intention had been to render the exposed surfaces with a protective coating. Both Harrison’s plans and Griffith’s painting show what appear to be smooth surfaces, though whether this was achieved through the application of a coating is impossible to say. What is more certain is that an un-rendered ‘rough stone’ construction, as appears to be pictured by Parry, would be somewhat vulnerable to the depredations of the weather, and that this might be the case is perhaps borne out by the subsequent history of the tower.

53 http://www.northwalesattractions.co.uk/Images/Virtual/MofA/MofAHome.html 54 Charles Stephenson, ‘Why this effigy of a man keeps the company of eagles,’ in the Press & Journal, Highland Edition, 30 December 1994.

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‘Blown over by the gale.’ Requests for subscriptions to put the tower in a state of repair were being made by 1846.55 The damage at that time was apparently severe: ‘[. . .] one corner being completely down; this portion was rebuilt and the building underwent a thorough pointing, or ere this it would have been a “heap of stones.’56 There were 31 listed contributors, including ‘The Lord Bishop of St Asaph’ (£5) and ‘Henry Potts Esq.,’ who also gave £5 and agreed to provide ‘the Stone gratis.’ The most generous subscriber was Kenyon, who donated £50 and promised ‘a further subscription if required.’57 A subscription list for ‘The Purpose of Building a Visitors Room and Shed for Horses, and for Repairing the Mountain Road’ was also opened, though there are only three names appended and the total sum pledged amounted to £3.55.58 Whether this sum was sufficient, which seems doubtful, or further funds were raised, is unknown. A guide published in 1847 does however record that the work was completed: ‘[. . .] the mountain road has lately been repaired and a room for visitors with a shed for horses erected on the summit [. . .].’59 As previously argued, it may have been at this time that the physical structure of the uppermost portion of the tower was altered to its final state.

Kenyon, certainly the greatest benefactor, and arguably the prime mover, behind the erection and maintenance of the Jubilee Tower passed away on 25 February 1855. His eldest son, Lloyd, who

55 D C Castledine, ‘Restoration of the Jubilee Tower on Moel Famau’ in The Annual Report of the County Archivist (Mold; Clwyd County Council, 1980) p. 25. 56 William Davis, Hand-Book of the Vale of Clwyd: A Reprint of the 1856 Edition (Mold; Clwyd County Council, 1988) pp. 165-69. 57 Undated. ‘Moel Famau: List of Subscriptions for the Purpose of Putting the Tower into a State of Repair.’ Ruthin Gaol. DRO DD/WY/6851. 58 Undated. ‘Moel Famau: List of Subscriptions for the Purpose of Building a Visitors Room and Shed for Horses, and for Repairing the Mountain Road.’ Ruthin Gaol. DRO DD/WY/6851. 59 John Hicklin, Excursions in North Wales: A Complete Guide to the Tourist [. . .] (London; Whittaker Co., 1847) p. 172.

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became the 3rd Baron, succeeded him.60 In 1856 he put the Moel Famau allotments up for sale at an auction held at the Wynnstay Hotel, Wrexham – formerly the Eagles Inn where the resolution to erect the tower had been carried on 1 October 1812. John Catherall of Mold bought them for £2000.61 Perhaps it was the demise of George Kenyon that led to further neglect of the Jubilee Tower, already noted as being ‘in a very dilapidated state’ in 1850 despite the repairs carried out only a few years previously.62 During the winter of 1855 one of the corners was further damaged by a storm,63 though a guidebook published in 1861 merely noted ‘a pyramidical column 150 feet in height’ and failed to note any damage.64

Writing in 1885, Edwards concluded ‘[. . .] that if the building had been periodically inspected, and any incipient deterioration attended to, it, perhaps, might to this day have braved the elements.’65

That it failed to do so was then, probably, a combination of neglect and the inherent unfitness of the vernacular techniques used to construct it. Though there have been some differences of opinion as to when it actually happened, it seems fairly conclusive that the structure suffered a catastrophic failure between one and two o’clock on the afternoon of 28 October 1862 (see below).66 The extent of the damage also varies between accounts, the Caernarvon Herald of 1 November stating ‘about two thirds of the obelisk, or forty yards [36.5 metres] of the upper portion, fell to the ground, probably from the effects of the severe storm of wind and rain, which has visited us lately.’ The North Wales Chronicle of the same date goes further, somewhat exaggeratingly claiming that the Tower ‘has now only the appearance of a carelessly piled heap of stones (Picture 6-7).’67

60 See: http://www.thepeerage.com/p1813.htm#i18123 61 Edwards. pp. 17-18. ‘Sale particulars of Moel Famau Tenement’ 1856. Ruthin Gaol: DRO DD/WY/6213. 62 Parry. p. 416. 63 Davis. pp. 165-69. 64 Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in North Wales with a Travelling Map (London; John Murray, 1861) p. 61. 65 Edwards. pp. 42-3. 66 Edwards. pp. 44, 46. Howell. pp. 337, 341. n. 36. 67 Both papers are quoted in Edwards. pp. 44-45.

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That nobody was injured during the collapse seems fortunate, as there were several persons in the vicinity, the day being calm.68 The Caernarvon Herald reported that the ‘Vale of Clwyd Harriers in full cry, followed by a numerous field, had just passed’ and that ‘a party of excursionists were on the mountain.’ It also stated that ‘a lady and a gentleman had not left the passage a minute when the column fell.’69 This is the only mention that I have been able to locate of there being a passage under the monument, indicating that the doorways at the base were not all decorative. Harrison’s design at The Salt Museum clearly shows an interior space through at least one of the doors, and a recently taken video demonstrates that at least one of them did allow access into a passage under the structure.70

The mention of the Vale of Clwyd Harriers is what allowed Edwards to calculate the date, as he informed the Denbighshire Free Press in 1887:

I have discovered the exact date upon which the tower fell. The reports of the event published at the time in the local papers gave different days. In the Caernarvon and Denbigh Herald, however, it was stated that at the time of the fall the Vale of Clwyd Harriers, in full cry, had just passed. Now, in that paper of 25 October 1862, the following remarkable advertisement appeared:

“The Vale of Clwyd Hariers (sic), Captain Price, will met on Tuesday October 28, at Llangynhafal Village.”

‘Hariers’ no doubt is a misprint for Harriers; and it may be accepted as a fact, that the tower fell on the day last mentioned.71

There were those who were not sorry to see the demise of the structure, and one such wrote to the Wrexham Advertiser shortly after the collapse with some asperity:

I see by your paper that the Moel Famau Jubilee Tower has been blown down by the wind. I am very glad of it. It was an unsightly object as a work of art, and in bad taste as a tribute of respect to a

68 Howell. p. 341. n. 7. 69 Edwards. p. 44. 70 http://www.truveo.com/Moel-Fammau-Jubilee-Tower/id/1335369290 71 Letter from R J Edwards to Denbighshire Free Press. Dated only 1887. NLW MSS 2108B.

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monarch who never did Wales any good. Thackeray has built George [III] a monument upon paper, which did not cost the country £6,00072 – which no wind can blow down – and which if not very respectful to the King, has the merit of being lifelike and true.73 Let us have no further prostitution of Welsh virtue at such a shrine. Wales, if left to herself, can afford to jog along without the patronage of “the Georges.” If Moel Famau Tower is to be rebuilt, let it be as a monument to Llewelyn.74

The poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, whilst resident at St Beuno’s Jesuit College from 1874 to 1877, inspected the summit with the ruins of the tower. He related the visit in a letter to his mother dated 2 March 1876:

[. . .] a party of us set out for Moel Famau, the highest of the hills bounding the valley and distant as the crow flies about nine miles. There stands on it what remains of the Jubilee Tower erected in honour of George III’s 50th year of royalty, an ugly and trumpery construction, makebelieve-massive, but so frail that it was blown over by the gale that wrecked the Royal Charter,75 and it cumbers the hilltop and interrupts the view.76

Restoration There were to be several attempts to resurrect the structure over the next century or so, particularly upon the lead up to Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.77 Nothing came of these, but in 1904 the dilapidated state of the ruins, and the danger these posed to members

72 This figure, though it seems to have become generally accepted, is almost certainly too high. The real cost of erecting the tower is now impossible to compute, and there are several differing versions of subscription lists. 73 William Makepeace Thackeray, The Four Georges (London; Smith, Elder, 1861). 74 Letter, dated 4 November 1862, from ‘Old Wales,’ London, to the editor of the Wrexham Advertiser. NLW MSS 2108B. 75 Hopkins was mistaken, the Royal Charter, a 2,700 ton steam and sailing ship bound for Liverpool, was lost off Moelfre on the island of Anglesey on the night of 25-26 October 1859. See: Robert Williams (Ed), Shipwreck!: Charles Dickens and the Royal Charter (Porthaethwy; Magma, 1997). 76 Claude Colleer Abbott (Ed.), Further Letters Of Gerard Manley Hopkins [. . .] (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1938) p. 137. 77 ‘Towards the end of 1885 a movement was made to obtain funds for its restoration, to commemorate in 1887 the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. For lack of support the project was abandoned. Ruthin 1918.’ Note by R J Edwards in NLW MSS 2108B.

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of the public who visited them, prompted one of the local landowners to write to Edward Stafford Howard, Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. According to Algernon Potts, a descendant of the Henry Potts who had provided money and stone for the 1846 repairs, of Glan-yr-Afon Hall in Llanferres:78

[. . .] [a] portion of the mountain is on my estate, and my keepers tell me it [the Jubilee Tower] is in a dangerous state, a fact which I know myself. This mountain is a great resort of holiday people and the base of [the] column is usually climbed upon by them. I fear there will someday be a serious if not fatal accident there and as the tower is on Crown Land, I write this to call your attention to its state. If I might be allowed to suggest any means of warning people, I think bills in English and Welsh posted in different parts on the base calling attention to its dangerous state would do. Of course you may think of a better plan. It is a great pity that the many attempts to get subscriptions to restore it have failed; even now a shelter might be made out of the stones there to perpetuate the original idea [. . .]79

Contemporary photographs show that Potts was correct in his appreciation of the dangers (Picture 6). Potts’ letter did the rounds of the officials at the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. One of these opined that whilst ‘an area of 1 acre around the tower was resolved out of the conveyance’ in 1811 the Crown had not had ‘anything to do with the erection of the monument - and it seems to be a proper case for some local authority to attend to with the permission of the crown so far as it is affected.’80 Another civil servant, who annotated the memorandum as follows, continued this theme:

The remains of this Jubilee Tower is a landmark I know well. It appears that if the crown puts up any warning notices, the crown then takes a position of undesirable responsibility. The place is an

78 Algernon Potts was appointed as a Magistrate for Flintshire in 1893. According to the census he was ‘living on his own means’ at Glan yr Afon Hall, together with his wife, son, two daughters, a governess and four servants in 1901. Coincidentally Glan-yr-Afon Hall had also been designed by Thomas Harrison. Edward Hubbard, Clwyd: Denbighshire and Flintshire (London; Penguin, 1996) p. 58. 79 Letter of 19 April 1904. National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298. 80 Minute by ‘G B’ of 20 April 1904. National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298.

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open space and if there is danger to excursionists I agree that the local authority is the proper body to put up notices, with the consent of the crown as owners of the site. The tower is not an ancient monument of any great interest, and I think the department should refrain from doing anything indicative of claiming or supervising it.81

No reply to Algernon Potts appears to have survived, but there is a draft of a letter to P Harding Roberts, Clerk to Holywell Rural District Council, from Charles E Howlett, a senior official, in the National Archives. This makes plain that it was the local authority that should assume responsibility for the matter:

I am directed by Mr E Stafford Howard to state that he has received a letter explaining that the base of this tower which is all that remains of a column erected to commemorate the 50th year of the reign of King Geo. III is in a dangerous condition and noting that this is a great resort of holiday people and that it is feared that some accident may happen there.

From the Ordnance survey map it appears that the building is situated at the junction of the three parishes of Cilcain, Llangynhafal, and Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, the greater portion being in the parish of Cilcain, this latter parish Mr Howard believes is within the district of the Holywell Rural District Council and he will be glad to know whether the council consider that the statement that the structure is dangerous is well founded and if so whether they could think it well to have some notices put up warning of the fact. So far as this department is concerned there would be no objection to the putting up such notices in the parish of Cilcain. The land immediately adjacent to the tower and perhaps part of the site of that erection appear to have formed part of an old allotment to the crown under the Cilcain enclosure act.

When the rest of that allotment was sold to Lord Kenyon in 1811 the area around the tower was excluded from the sale, but the crown appears to have had nothing to do with the erection of the tower.82

81 Annotation by ‘W H More.’ National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298. 82 Draft of Letter from Charles E Howlett to P Harding Roberts 12 May 1904. National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298.

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The council considered this letter on the 27 May, and the status of the ruins as outlined above appears to have been accepted. A reply was despatched on the same date to that effect:

I am directed by the Rural District Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter hereon of the 12 [May 1904] which was considered at their meeting today, and in reply hereto to state that their inspector has been instructed to examine the tower, and if necessary to put up warning signs.83

An account of the meeting and the decision arrived at was printed in the 30 May edition of The Manchester Guardian. This reported that a discussion took place regarding the restoration of the tower, in which the Clerk remarked that it was ‘worthy of restoration, and it was a pity steps were not taken in the matter.’ The representative from Caerwys was of similar opinion and considered that ‘Denbighshire should join Flintshire in the necessary work, as two-thirds of the tower was in Denbighshire.’84

Whether warning signs were erected or not is unknown, but what is certain is that nothing was done to restore or otherwise improve the site, despite several abortive proposals, for around 66 years, during which time the ruins continued to crumble (Picture 8).

It was not until 1970 that a more or less private ad-hoc group, formed from amongst the ranks of the Denbigh and Flint Branch of the Country Landowners Association – the direct, though now politically neutered, descendants of the squirearchy that had caused the tower to be raised in the first place - began to solicit funds and assistance to tidy up the site and secure the remains from further deterioration.

Thanks to a number of corporate and personal contributors, some ‘200 tons of sand, aggregate, cement and water’ were carried up to the summit, where ‘hundreds of tons of fallen masonry’ were moved and access ramps created at each corner. The remaining

83 Letter from P Harding Roberts, Clerk to Holywell Rural District Council, to E Stafford Howard. 27 May 1904. National Archives; CRES 49/2675 336298. 84 ‘The Moel Fammau Jubilee Tower; Dilapidated and Dangerous.’ The Manchester Guardian 30 May 1904.

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original walls were repointed and strengthened where necessary and four stainless steel plane tables, supplying visitor information, were installed.85

This undoubtedly long overdue exercise resulted in the appearance of the structure that crowns Moel Famau to this day. Indeed, though he would no doubt have characterised the original structure as ‘a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’ the renovations undertaken in 1970 deservedly won the Prince of Wales Countryside Award for that year.

Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower of King George III, or at least the restored remnant of the latter, now form the centrepiece of Moel Famau Country Park, an area of some 800 hectares (1800 Acres) within the Clwydian Range. This area constitutes an outstanding example of what can be achieved in terms of making the countryside accessible to all. A visit to any part of it is more than worthwhile, and especially to the summit of Moel Famau on a fine day. Indeed, few would now agree with Hopkins that the ruins ‘cumber the hilltop and interrupt the view.’ On the contrary, they are now an integral part of it, whilst the view is, without doubt, truly a wonder to behold.

85 Edwards. p. 52.

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