Scenes in North Wales / With Historical Illustrations, Legends, and Biographical Notices

by G. N. Wright

The view from the high grounds of the park is amazingly extensive, commanding a prospect over seventeen different counties. A part of the grounds, distinguished by the name of the “Black Park,” derives its epithet from the death of a keeper, who, coming to the assistance of a young woman who was attacked by a stag, was himself gored to death by the ferocious animal. The village of Chirk lies at the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. It consists of a few cottages built from agreeable rustic designs, and presents a neat and cheerful appearance. The church is handsome, spacious, and adorned with a noble tower. The interior is ornamented with monuments of the Chirk-Castle family; the best and most interesting of which is erected to the memory of the famous Sir Thomas Myddleton.

The little river Ceiriog, which separates England from Wales, flows through the valley of Chirk, and is crossed by a handsome aqueduct conveying the waters of the Ellesmere canal. This extremity of the aqueduct is met by a tunnel passing under the hill, and carrying the line of navigation towards the aqueduct at Llangollen. A singular mound may be observed on the brow of the hill hanging over the Ceiriog, and at a little distance from the church, it is obviously artificial, and is doubtless a sepulchral barrow, such as are frequently found in other parts of the principality.

LLANRWST CHURCH.

The town of Llanrwst is situated on the eastern bank of the river Conway, in the beautiful and luxuriant vale to which it lends its name. The river is broad, smooth, and shallow, except when swollen by the mountain floods, which rise and fall with wonderful rapidity. One of the most celebrated objects here is the famous shaking bridge, built from a design of Inigo Jones. It consists of three arches, the centre sixty feet span, and, if the crowns of the arches were not too high, would be a light, beautiful, and ingenious work. The ceremony of shaking is performed by two persons upon the crown of the centre arch, first rocking themselves sufficiently to acquire a gentle momentum, and then falling back against the great centre stone of the battlements; a person leaning against the opposite battlement will feel the tremulous motion communicated through the whole masonry of the bridge. The view of Llanrwst vale from the bridge, and from the road leading to it on the Denbighshire side of the river is of unexampled beauty. The Gwydyr woods clothe a precipitous mountain on the west, for a length of five miles, through which a bold crag here and there is seen protruding with a fine effect. The opposite side is also finely wooded, and variegated with mansions, parks, meadow, corn-land, and all that enriches a landscape. This perspective of the vale presents a composition embracing grandeur and magnificence in a high degree, combined with scenes of great pastoral beauty.

The town possesses no architectural or other peculiar attractions, and from the lowness of its situation does not participate in the exquisite scenery with which it is surrounded. Its recommendations are of a less romantic though not less useful character, consisting in the excellence of its fairs and markets, and its convenient position for the conduct of a profitable inland trade. The town and market-hall, the free school, and the almshouses [91] are its most ancient institutions of a public class. The church is picturesquely placed on the bank of the river; and the view of the valley, with the famous bridge in the foreground, enjoyed from the churchyard, is eminently beautiful. The church is dedicated to Saint Rystyd or Rwst, archbishop of London in the year 361, and one of those who were present at the council of Arles. The ground on which it is built was given by Rhun ap Nefydd, in expiation of the foul murder of Prince Idwal, who was slain in Cwm Idwal, by order of his foster-father Nefydd Haradd. The chief object of interest here is the Gwydyr chapel, adjoining the church, of which Inigo Jones was the architect, A.D. 1663, the expense being defrayed by Sir Richard Wynne. The design is much admired, and its restitution by Lord Willoughby D’Eresby, representative of the ancient house of Gwydyr, is characteristic of a happy exertion of munificence and taste. The carved roof is not part of Jones’s design, it was brought hither from the dissolved abbey of Maenan, three miles from Llanrwst. In this mausoleum of the Wynnes are some curious monuments, illustrative of history, and no mean specimens of the progress of the arts at the period of their execution. A white marble tablet contains a pedigree of the family from the time of Edward the First down to the year in which the chapel was erected. Underneath this pedigree is an exquisite portrait, engraved on brass, of Dame Sarah Wynne, daughter of Sir Thomas Myddleton, of Chirk Castle, executed in a masterly style by William Vaughan in the year 1671. On the south side are two pyramidal columns of variegated marble adorned with military insignia, one to the memory of Meredyth; the other of Sir John Wynne, and his consort the Lady Sidney, daughter of Sir William Gerard, chancellor of Ireland; and between the columnar monuments is a simple tablet to John ap Meredydd who died in 1559.

A fine effigiated tomb, sunk in the floor, represents Howel Coetmore ap Gryffydd Vychan ap Dafydd Gam, in complete armour, his feet resting on a lion couchant. He was grandson of Gryffydd, [93] who lies interred in the church of Bettws-y-coed, and proprietor of the Gwydyr estates, which were purchased from one of his descendants by the Wynnes.

Here also is preserved the stone coffin in which the remains of Llewellyn the Great were deposited in the abbey of Conway; upon the dissolution of religious houses in Wales it was removed here. A singular Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation, appears on a monument in the pew belonging to the Davises of Cyffddû; it is dedicated to the memory of Gryffydd Lloyd of Bryniog, and is supposed to have been written by himself,

“Once the undeserving schoolmaster,
Then the more undeserving lecturer,
And last of all the most undeserving rector of this parish.
Do not think, speak, or write any thing evil of the dead.”

FLINTSHIRE,

The smallest of the six shires included within North Wales. It occupies an area of one hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, and extends thirty-three miles in length and ten at its mean or average breadth. The estuary of the river Dee and the waves of the Irish sea lave its shores on the east and north. Denbighshire joins it on the west and south, and Cheshire on the east. A range of hills, the loftiest of which, Moel y Gaer, attains a height of one thousand and twenty feet above the sea-level, extends from Prestatyn to Hawarden, and bisects the surface of the county longitudinally. The section on the sea side is the richest mineralogical district in the principality, and that on the land side yields an abundant agricultural return. The coal field occupies the parishes of Whitford, Holywell, Flint, Northop, and part of Hawarden; and considerable quantities are exported from Mostyn quay for the consumption of the principality. Pure limestone exists along the sea coast, and constitutes a valuable export. Lead ore, lapis calaminaris, zinc, pseudo-galena, petro-silex, and other valuable minerals are found in the Holywell and Mold districts. Many of these are wrought at the towns along the coast, the supply of fuel being abundant, from which circumstance this small county has acquired considerable wealth. The Marquis of Westminster, Lord Mostyn, Lord Dinorben, and Sir Edward Mostyn are amongst the wealthy mineral proprietors. The scenery here is less interesting than in the adjoining shires; it possesses less variety of surface, less plantation, fewer rivers, and there is a partial denudation of the surface from the mine waste, which completely poisons vegetation. The termination of the beautiful vale of Clwyd, and the embouchure of its meandering river, lie within the county boundaries, and the Allen makes a circuitous, but not picturesque, course through the south-eastern hundreds. Flintshire includes the respectable manufacturing towns of Holywell, Mold, and Hawarden, and returns one member to the imperial parliament. The boroughs of Flint, Caergwrle, St. Asaph, and Holywell, enjoy the privilege of electing a second; the two last mentioned places deriving that advantage from a clause in the Reform Bill of 1832.