Location: Holt, North Wales

Background:

The little village of Holt, near Wrexham in North Wales, stands on the Welsh side of the border between England and Wales. The river Dee runs close by, separating Holt from the pretty Cheshire village of Farndon which is reached by crossing the river over a mediaeval sandstone bridge – partly restored – which has weathered the centuries and the test of time reasonably well.

Reputed Activity:

Sometimes known as Farndon Bridge, the structure is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of two small boys, sons of the Lord of Dinas Bran who were murdered in mediaeval times by the Lords Mortimer and Warren, and by the spirit of a soldier killed nearby during the English Civil War.

Research and Historical Fact:

The  'Lost Boys' - Madoc and Llewellyn ap Gruffydd:

"A Topographical Dictionary of Wales" (Samuel Lewis, 1849) states that: "After the death of Llewelyn, the last Prince of North Wales, his brother Davydd held a meeting of the Welsh chieftains at Denbigh, of which he possessed the lordship, when it was determined to maintain the war against the attacks of the English. This task, however, proved far beyond their strength; and Davydd, being soon afterwards taken prisoner near this place, was put to death as a traitor by the English monarch, Edward I. About the period of the subjugation of Wales by Edward, the eastern parts of this county fell into the hands of English possessors, under very peculiar circumstances: Emma, widow of Grufydd ab Madoc, who died in 1270, disagreeing with her husband's relatives respecting the education of her sons, obtained possession of the eldest two, and delivered them over as wards to Edward I. One of them, named Madoc, with his inheritance of Bromfield and Yale, was placed by that monarch in charge of John, Earl Warren; and Llewelyn, the other youth, with his patrimony of Chirk and Nanheudwy, in that of Roger Mortimer, third son of Roger Mortimer, the son of Ralph, Lord Mortimer, of Wigtown. These noblemen having obtained possession of the territories above-mentioned, conspired together, and caused the sons of Grufydd to be drowned in the river Dee; after the perpetration of which murder, they each received from the king a grant of the estates of their respective wards, dated at Rhuddlan, October 27th, 1281, with the exception of Hope Castle, and the lands thereto appertaining, which Edward retained in his own possession."

The English Civil War:

In 1643 the bridge was attacked by the parliamentarians following a skirmish in which 'grenados' (hollow iron balls packed with gunpowder and ignited with a fuse) were thrown amongst the defenders.  Major General Sir William Brereton, a leading parliamentarian wrote of the battle for Hope bridge: "..... they had also made a towre and drawbridge and strong gates upon the bridge soe as they and wee coceived it difficult if not altogether ympossible to make way for our passage'. Brereton however, along with Sir Thomas Middleton, and their joint forces took the bridge on 9th November 1643 when they 'cast some grenados amongst the Welshmen'.

Conclusion:

It would certainly appear that the legends surrounding Holt Bridge have some substance to them.  Several sources recall the murder of two young Welsh princes and specifially name Roger Mortimer and the Earl Warren as the perpetrators of the deed and the bridge was certainly the site of a skirmish, in which men would have died, during the English Civil War.

*****

On the evening of 11th June 2008 we set out to explore Holt Bridge.  Initially very quiet, it was only as the sun began to go down and the shadows lengthen, that we began to pick up anomolies with our equipment which may serve to illustrate that there is certainly something going on at this location.