Some Account of Llangollen and Its Vicinity / Including a Circuit of About Seven Miles

Transcribed from the 1827 G. B. Whittaker edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
Dedicated, by Permission,
TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY ELEANOR BUTLER, AND MISS PONSONBY.
BY W. T. SIMPSON.
LONDON: G. B. WHITTAKER, AVE MARIA LANE. T. AND W. WOOD, BIRMINGHAM; AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS.
1827.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY ELEANOR BUTLER, AND TO MISS PONSONBY, THIS ACCOUNT OF Llangollen and its Vicinity IS, BY PERMISSION, MOST HUMBLY DEDICATED, BY THEIR MUCH OBLIGED SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.
Fortuitous circumstances having occasioned me to become an inhabitant of Llangollen, I was charmed with the beauty of its situation; and the political importance in which this neighbourhood was formerly held prompted me to collect a few notices of its local history, which I was advised by some of my friends to publish. The condescending politeness of the Ladies of Plas Newydd, in permitting me to dedicate my Work to them, encouraged me to proceed; and I now venture to present my little Book to the Public, earnestly hoping that its defects will not be found such as to render it deserving of severe criticism, and that it will prove generally useful.
W. T. S.
“Here let me still with simple Nature live, My lowly field-flowers on her altar lay; Enjoy the blessings that she meant to give, And calmly pass my inoffensive day.”
The attraction of North Wales, by its romantic scenery, the antiquity of its language, and the well authenticated records of its desperate struggle for independence, renders every part of the Principality interesting, and perhaps none more so than the beautifully picturesque town and neighbourhood of Llangollen, which have deservedly excited the attention and admiration of a vast number of strangers and antiquarians. Nor have the expectations of its numerous visitors been disappointed; for, though the Alps may raise their towering summits to a greater height—may embosom in their dark recesses more ample lakes, and give rise to more magnificent rivers—yet even they cannot present a more pleasing variety of scenery, or more picturesque views, than those with which Llangollen is surrounded.