A History of Chirk Castle and Chirlaand. By Margaret Mahler.
(G. Boll and Sons. 6s. net.)—At the moment of writing Chirk, as being the scene of mining troubles, is bettor known than it has been for many years. Still every one may not know that it is in Denbighshire, on the Shropshire border. The Castle was once famous, though, it seems, we are not to identify it with Crogen Castle, which gave a name to the battle fought in 1165. Chirk belonged to the Mortimers. After their fall it passed from one owner to another with "bewildering frequency," as Miss Mahler puts it. She has been at great pains to follow the story, and she illustrates it with a number of details which add greatly to its interest. A chapter on " Work and Wages," for instance, comes home to us in a way whioh the strifes and alliances of bygone
generations do not. A. tiler, we read, received £1 13s. 4d. (in present-day value), his labourer 15s,, a carpenter £1 fis. 8d., while the chaplain received 453 6s. 8d. per annum (possibly he had some other charge). These figures belong to the first half of the four- teenth century.
Previous page
