History of the Bailey Hill

Bailey Hill Timeline

Bailey Hill was formed during the Ice Age over 10,000 years ago; a point in history which is usually regarded as the end of the Stone Age. There is some evidence of human settlements in the Mold area during the Bronze Age (which commenced c. 1700BCE). Some very old artefacts have been found in the Mold area including the famous Gold Cape and amber beads, dating from 1900-1600 BCE, discovered in 1833. Large Iron Age (c.1200BCE onwards) hill forts were established on the high ground surrounding Mold (on the Clwydian Range) and in the Alun Valley. It is likely that any evidence of a possible early hill fort on Bailey Hill would have been destroyed when the Normans built their Motte and Bailey Castle.

The Romans arrived in Britain in 43CE and are thought to have been in Wales by 48CE where they encountered Brythonic-speaking Celtic tribes. The Deceangli, lived in and controlled what we now call North Wales, and the Hill would have probably been within their area.

The Romans, during their long military occupation, mined extensively in areas both north and south of Mold. The Romans finally left Wales circa 383CE. No Roman remains have been found to date in Mold, but Thomas Pennant’s famous ‘Tour of Wales’ (published in the late eighteenth century) refers to a Roman coin (of the Emperor Vespasian, 69-79CE) having been found on Bailey Hill.

In the post-Roman and early-Medieval periods, the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys emerged. To the east, on the other side of Wat’s Dyke and Offa’s Dyke (c. 8th Century), the Saxon kingdom Mercia became a large and strong region within England.

By the late 11th century, this area of North Wales was controlled by the medieval Welsh rulers of Powys, but it was also close to the easternmost parts of Gwynedd – and the two kingdoms combined forces to defend the border between Powys and Mercia. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (c1010 to 1063) became ruler of both kingdoms in 1039 and for a period of 7 years, the whole of Wales from 1055-1063. After his demise, Wales came under more Mercian attacks.

In 1066 William of Normandy fought Harold Godwinson over their rival claims to the Crown of England, at the Battle of Hasting, William emerged victorious. The victory was followed by a period of savage persecution as the Normans established control throughout England. The Anglo-Saxon English regions resisted strongly, sometimes with Welsh assistance. However, the Normans were brutal, and the destructive ‘harrying’ of the North of England (1069-70) – killing an estimated 100,000 people between Chester and the Cleveland coast – was a grim warning to all.

By the end of the C11th/ start of the C12th, the Normans pushed their way westwards into the lowland borderlands of Wales (including the Alyn Valley). Nevertheless, the Welsh rulers continued bravely to resist ‘the French’ (as the Welsh chronicles called them), and their descendants. Wales managed to retain a strong measure of Welsh independence – for 200 years – until 1282. By the time of the Wars of the Roses in the mid C15th, Mold castle was in ruins and Mold town had little involvement in the series of battles between the Houses of Lancaster and York.
C8th – C9th Wat’s Dyke, first and the larger Offa’s Dyke, later are built not far from the Hill to defend the Mercian Kingdom from the warring Welsh.
1055-1056 Gruffydd ap Llywelyn rules the whole of Wales for 7 years; after his death Wales comes under increasing pressure from the English to the East. The Hill lies within the commote of Ystrad Alun, at the northern edge of the kingdom of Powys.
1066 William the Conqueror crosses the channel from Normandy and having defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings becomes Kind of England. The Normans then moved northwards to establish their rule, building many castles.
1086 Mold is not listed in the Doomsday book but local homesteads such as Bistre, Broncoed and Gwysaney are./td>
c1086 - 1128 The Normans, moving into the Welsh borderlands, establish a Motte and Bailey Castle and the new township of Mold.
1101 Earl Hugh d’Avranches gifted estates including Bailey Hill to Hugh Fitz Norman, Baron of Mold and Hawarden.
1135 The estates are passed down to Robert de Monhault and remained in the possession of the Monhault family until the death of the last Monhault, Robert de Monhault in a duel at Maplethorpe, Lincolnshire.
1146 Mold Castle is captured by Owain Gwynedd.
1156 Mold Castle is captured by Robert I./td>
1199 Llewelyn ap Iorwerth captured the castle and held it until his death in 1240./td>
1241 Dafydd ap Llewelyn returns the castle to Henry II under the terms of the Treaty of Gwerneigron. The castle is repaired at a cost of £40 and becomes a ‘Royal Stronghold’.
1245 Dafydd ap Llewelyn captures the castle, but is defeated in 1246 by Roger de Munthaut II.
1256 Llewelyn ap Gruffudd captures and destroys the castle.
1277 - 1284 Edward I’s campaign against Llewelyn ap Gruffydd ends with the signing of theTreaty of Rhuddlan 1284. During this period Edward I builds substantial castles at Flint, Caernarfon, Conwy, Rhuddlan, Beaumaris and Harlech.
1277 By the Treaty of Conwy Edward I regains Mold Bailey Castle and restores Roger de Munthaut III to Mold.
1282 Dafydd ap Gruffydd captures Mold Castle (and it is unlikely that the castle was ever rebuilt thereafter).
1329 On the death of the last of the Munthauts (Montalts), the estates of the Lordship of Mold and Hawarden pass to William Montague, first Earl of Salisbury.
1399 With the execution of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury for treason, the lands are held by the English Crown and in 1437 pass to the Stanley family, Earls of Derby who hold them until 1651.
1642 - 1648 During the Civil War Mold was not besieged but suffered skirmishes between Parliamentary and Royalist supporters as the two armies passed through the town en route to sieges at Ruthin, Hawarden or Chester.
1651 7th Earl of Derby executed
1657 - 1729 The Lordship of Mold was purchased from the 8th Earl of Derby by Captain Andrew Ellis, Sir John Trevor & Colonel George Twistleton ‘The Lords of Mold’ These lands were divided amongst the three purchasers with the Bailey Hill land given to Captain Ellis.

Captain Ellis married Frances Fiennes, their daughter Cecil married Sir Richard Langley (died 1677) and left estate to Alderman Langley of London, his father. The Lordship of Mold passed to Andrew Langley (Son) and then in 1710 to Anthony Langley Swymmer (Nephew died 1729)
1729 Thomas Swymmer Champneys inherited the estates aged 4.
1750s - 90s ‘Castle Hill’ in Mold, is depicted by many landscape painters – Moses Griffiths, Warwick Smith, John Ingelby, Edward Pugh.
1778 - 1783 Thomas Pennant (a gentleman of Flintshire) publishes his ‘Tour of Wales’, which includes an account of a visit to Bailey Hill and Mold. He reports that a gold coin of Vespasian (Roman Emperor AD 69-78) was found there; and that a “vast quantity of bones, some human” plus “oxen, sheep, horses, and hogs”, and “remnants of horns of stag and roebucks” are to be found “on one side of the upper yard”. (Pennant, T – ‘Tour of Wales’ 1778, Part 1).
1792 The Manor & Lordship of Mold was settled on Thomas Swymmer Mostyn Champneys on his marriage to Charlotte Margaret Mostyn, 2nd daughter of Sir Roger Mostyn. Trees are planted on the mainly bare slopes of Bailey Hill and a wall is built to enclose the hill. A Gothic cottage is also built on the eastern side.
1780s-90s ‘Castle Hill’ in Mold, is depicted by many landscape painters – Moses Griffiths, Warwick Smith, John Ingelby, Edward Pugh.
1801 Swymmer Champneys land holdings are sold by auction to repay debts; Bailey Hill was not sold.
1809 Bailey Hill is purchased by Sir Thomas Mostyn for £15000. His sister Charlotte Margaret Mostyn had married Thomas Swymmer Champneys in 1792.
1828 The The Welsh Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is built on the south western edge of the hill, on land donated by Sir Thomas Mostyn. John Wesley, minister and leader of the Methodist movement had visited Mold to preach in 1750,’51 & ’52.
1833 Half a mile east of the Hill, the ‘Mold Gold Cape’ and amber beads (1900-1600BCE) are found in a small mound.
1830 - 1870 Sir Thomas Mostyn died unmarried, the title Baronet of Mostyn became extinct and his estates passed to another sister, Elizabeth and her husband Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd. Sir Edward Pryce Lloyd adopted the name Mostyn and in 1831 was made Baron Mostyn and his son and heir apparent, Thomas Edward Mostyn Lloyd-Mostyn married Henrietta Augusta Nevill in 1855. Thomas Edward Mostyn Lloyd-Mostyn died in 1861 leaving Lady Augusta to bring up their two sons with the estate being heavily mortgaged and in 1870 to reduce the indebtedness, Bailey Hill was put up for auction.
1800’s Mold Friendly Societies.
1848 - 49 A Bowling Green is established on the Inner Bailey; and human skeletons are found during the construction: and, the phrase ‘Human Skeletons found here’ is recorded on the 1860/70 Ordnance Survey map.
1851 Mold’s Cymmrodorion (Welsh Society) hold a significant local Eisteddfod, using Bailey Hill for ceremonies. The winning poems in the englyn form, in praise of the famous Welsh landscape painter Richard Wilson (who lived at Colomendy Hall, home of his cousin, in his later years) are later added to his gravestone, located at the rear of the Mold Parish Church.
1868 - 1870 The foundations of a tower and wall were discovered on Bailey Hill

Bailey Hill is put up for auction. A group of Mold gentry and clergy recognising the importance of the hill to the townspeople of Mold and not wishing to lose it to private entrepreneurs, raise over £400 (including £100 from Marquess of Westminster) by subscription to buy Bailey Hill from Lady Augusta Mostyn.

1871 The land acquired is vested in the name of the Mold Local Board and a Grand Opening Concert is held. The Local Board was superseded in 1894 by the new Mold Urban District Council.
1871 A visit from Edward Kemp, the well-known landscape gardener, is commissioned by the Local Board to provide advice on the scope he sees for Bailey Hill to be enhanced as a public park.
1873 The National Eisteddfod is held on Bailey Hill, attended by William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister at that time./td>
1902 Planting of a Coronation Oak (for Edward VII’s coronation) by Mrs. Lucy Beresford.
1920 The park is formally laid out by Mold UDC, a tennis court established on the outer bailey, and the present gates are built.
1922 The Gorsedd stone circleis erected on the Hill amid some protest against the new feature being added to a historic site.
1923 National Eisteddfod of Wales, takes place in Mold, with the ceremonies held on Bailey Hill
1925 The Cenotaph was erected.
1940app A building, initially used as an Isolation hospital , is erected on the present site of the playground.
1984 Partial skeletal remains are found in the ground near the hedge on the western side of the inner bailey during a footpath renovation, they are in the care of Aura Leisure and Libraries, Museums, Culture and Heritage Manager and currently the subject of data analysis.
2007 Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust Report #882 entitled “Mold Castle and its Environs” is produced, gathering the historical and archaeological data known at the time.
2010 The first Bailey Hill Festival was held
2012 The “Bailey Hill Outline Conservation Statement” is produced on behalf of Flintshire County Council and Mold Town Council, incorporating the CPAT report of 2007. This supports the application for the regeneration of Bailey Hill spelling out the vision that culminated in works being carried out in 2020.
2013 Mold Town Council lease the Custodian’s Lodge from Flintshire County Council.
2018 Flintshire County Council, Mold Town Council and a new registered charity Friends of Bailey Hill are jointly awarded Lottery funds to develop Bailey Hill for the benefit of the town of Mold and encourage tourism to the town. The Friends liaise closely with the local councils on a major £1.8M Project to upgrade the park
2018-19 A new registered charity ‘Friends of Bailey Hill/ Ffrindiau Bryn y Beili’ forms – and Friends liaise closely with the local councils on a major £1.3M Project to upgrade the park
2020 Construction works commences to major upgrade the park and its facilities – a £1.8M project (funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other grant-aiders).