Once there they
dismounted, and a portion being told off to look after the horses, the main
body advanced on foot against the enemy.
There was yet a long ride before them. Following the Severn on its western
side so as to avoid the passage of the Avon, they rode to Worcester, and
then up through Dudley and Shrewsbury.
It would have been shorter to have passed through Hereford and Ludlow, but
Harold feared that they might there come upon some marauding party of the
Welsh, and any of these who escaped might carry the news across the border,
when the fleet-footed mountaineers would quickly have conveyed it to the
Welsh king at his castle at Rhuddlaw. Rhuddlaw, now a small village, is
situated in Denbighshire, and was an important military position, situated
as it was at no great distance from the sea, and commanding the Vale of
Clwyd, the most important avenue into Wales from the north. From Shrewsbury
they pushed forward as rapidly as possible to Rhuddlaw; but quickly as they
had journeyed, the news of their coming was borne more rapidly. Griffith
received the news an hour before their arrival, and mounting, rode down to
the Avon and embarked on board ship.
Great was the disappointment of the earl and his followers when they found
that the object of their long march across England had failed, and that the
capture of the Welsh king, which would have put an end to the trouble, had
been missed so narrowly.
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