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HARLECH (perhaps for Hardd lech, fair...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 954 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HARLECH (perhaps for Hardd See also:lech, See also:fair See also:slate, or Harleigh, an Anglicized variant)  , a See also:town of Merionethshire, See also:Wales, 38 m. from See also:Aberystwyth, and 29 from See also:Carnarvon on the See also:Cambrian railway . Pop . 900 . Ruins of a fortress See also:crown the See also:rock of See also:Harlech, about See also:half a mile from the See also:sea . See also:Discovery of See also:Roman coins makes it probable that it was once occupied by the See also:Romans . In the 3rd See also:century Bronwen (See also:white bosom), daughter of See also:Bran Fendigaid (the blessed), is said to have stayed here, perhaps by force; and there was here a See also:tower, called Twr Bronwen, and replaced about A.D . 550 by the See also:building of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, See also:prince of See also:North Wales . In the See also:early loth century, Harlech See also:castle was, apparently, repaired by Colwyn, See also:lord of Ardudwy, founder of one of the fifteen North Wales tribes, and thence called Caer Colwyn . The See also:present structure See also:dates, like many others in the principality, from See also:Edward I., perhaps even from the plans of the architect of Carnarvon and See also:Conway castles, but with the retention of old portions . It is thought to have been square, each See also:side measuring some 210 ft., with towers and turrets . See also:Glendower held it for four years . Here, in 146o, See also:Margaret, wife of See also:Henry VI., defeated at See also:Northampton, took See also:refuge .

Dafydd ap Ieuan ap Einion held it for the Lancastrians, until See also:

famine, rather than Edward IV., made him surrender . From this See also:time is said to date the See also:air " See also:March of the men of Harlech " (Rhyfelgerdd gwyr Harlech) . The castle was alternately See also:Roundhead and See also:Cavalier in the See also:civil See also:war . Edward I. made Harlech a See also:free See also:borough, and it was formerly the See also:county town . It is in the See also:parish of Llandanwg (pop. in 1901, 931) . Though interesting from an antiquarian point of view, the See also:district around, especially Dyffryn Ardudwy (the valley), is dreary and desolate, viii . (with portrait) . In memory of See also:Professor See also:Harkness his See also:sister established two Harkness scholarships .

End of Article: HARLECH (perhaps for Hardd lech, fair slate, or Harleigh, an Anglicized variant)
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