| Ellesmere | 5 |
| Wrexham | 10 |
This village, which forms a detached portion of Flintshire, takes its name from a spacious mere or lake, in form resembling a human hand, on one side of which the village is pleasantly situated. It stands on the road betwixt Wrexham and Whitchurch. The lake occupies a space of 73 acres, on one side of which stands the family mansion of Sir John Hanmer, and on the other the seat of Lord Kenyon. In the church is a handsome monument, erected in 1806, to the memory of Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, who was born at Gredington, in the vicinity. There is another monument in honour of Sir Thomas Hanmer, who was Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Queen Anne.
Hanmer is distinguished by the Welsh, as being the birthplace of their celebrated bard, Davydd ab Edmund, who at an Eisteddvod, held at Caermarthen, in 1451, won the bardic chair, and through his superior eloquence obtained the sanction of that congress to his twenty-four canons of Welsh poetry, by which the “science” has, in a great measure, been governed ever since.
HARLECH,
(Merionethshire.)
| Barmouth | 10 |
| London | 229 |
| Maen-Twrog | 10 |
| Penmorfa, across sands | 12 |
| Tan-y-Bwlch | 10 |
| Tremadoc, across sands | 10 |
| Do. through Tan-y-Bwlch | 20 |
Harlech, or Harddlech, is an inconsiderable place, situated upon a barren rock, containing four or five hundred inhabitants; it is the county town of Merionethshire, and all elections for a representative in parliament take place here. Its name is derived from its situation, originally called Twr Bronwen, and afterwards Caer Collwyn, from Collwyn ap Tagno, who resided there about 877. Harlech castle stands on a rocky eminence, close by the marshy tract between the hills and Cardigan bay, bearing it is said a strong resemblance to the Turkish castle of Belgrade. It consists of one large square building, each side measuring about 70 yards, having a round tower at the several corners, crowned with turrets now nearly defaced. The walls, now clad with ivy, are lofty and of great thickness, from the summit of which a most splendid and sublime prospect may be commanded, including a vast extent of marine and mountain scenery.
According to ancient history, this castle was built by Maelgwyn Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, about 530, and Edward I. founded the present fortress upon the ruins of the old building. It was completed in 1283. In 1404, this castle, with that of Aberystwyth, was seized by Owen Glyndwr, during his contest with Henry IV. They were both retaken, about four years afterwards, by an army which the king despatched into Wales. Margaret of Anjou, the haughty queen of Henry VI., after the king’s defeat at Northampton, in 1460, fled from Coventry, and found an asylum in this fortress.
In the civil wars of Charles I. Harlech castle was the last in North Wales which held out for the king. Near this place is a curious antique monument, called Coeten Arthur, or King Arthur’s Quoit, which is a large flat stone, lying horizontally, supported by two others. The supporters are about twenty inches square, two of them are eight feet high, and the incumbent stone, inclining to an oval, is eleven feet in length. Col. Vaughan, of Rhûg, is constable of the castle.
In the winter of 1694, this neighbourhood was greatly alarmed by a kind of fiery exhalation, or mephitic vapour, which arose from a sandy marshy tract of land, called Morfa Bychan (the little marsh), across the channel, eight miles towards Harlech, and injured much of the country, by poisoning the grass in such a manner as to kill the cattle, and to set fire to hay and corn ricks for near a mile from the coast. It is represented to have had the appearance of a weak blue flame, which by any noise, such as the firing of guns, or the sounding of a horn, was easily extinguished. All the damage was done invariably in the night, and in the course of the winter not less than sixteen hay ricks and two barns, one filled with corn and the other with hay, were burnt by it. It did not appear to affect anything else, and the men could go into it without receiving any injury. It was observed at different times during eight months. The occasion of this singular phenomenon has never been satisfactorily accounted for.
In 1692, a golden torque, which is now placed amongst the admirable collection of Welsh antiquities at Mostyn, was discovered near Harlech. It is in the form of a wreathed bar of gold, highly polished, twisted, and flexible. It is hooked at both ends, and about four feet long.