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Hundred of Atiscross, in which Hawarden is an important parish, is, in Domesday, included in the county of Chester, and in that Hundred, as in very many parts of the Welsh border, the Saxons, as is well known from history and still evident from the prevailing names of places, early and in strength established themselves. But, although the power of the Earls of Chester and the perfectly Saxonized condition of the peninsula of West Chester gave the invaders a secure hold over the open country on the west bank of the Dee, their sway was contested on the higher and more rugged ground, and though such names as Hope, Northop, Holywell, Whitford, Newmarket, Soughton, and Ryden show that they had settlements in the central and northern parts of Flintshire, the presence of a still larger number of Welsh names show that their occupation was actively contested and the very reverse of secure.

The length and severity of the struggle is also made evident by the number and magnitude of the various military earth-works which still attract attention. Such of these as are situated on the summits of hills, are of irregular form, and bear Welsh names, may safely be attributed to the Welsh, while those of Saxon origin, usually on more accessible ground, have a tendency to a circular form, and in some very marked instances are characterized by a central mound, such as is seen at Shrewsbury and Cardiff, and has been removed from Worcester and Hereford.

Hawarden, the Haordine of Domesday, and in Welsh called "Penard Halawg," said to mean "the steep head of the marsh," is, as its name declares, a Saxon settlement, and its fortress, so long preserved, presents in a remarkable degree the features of a well-known class of earth-works found both in England and in Normandy. The parish, containing about 16,000 acres, occupies the eastern or English