This town is pleasantly situated on the western bank of the river Conway, which here forms the boundary between the counties of Denbigh and Caernarvon, in the spacious and beautiful vale of Llanrwst, environed by majestic and well-wooded hills, the land at the foot of which is plentifully watered and remarkably fertile. The town consists principally of small houses and shops, with a population of 3905 inhabitants. It has a market on Tuesday, and a branch of the North and South Wales bank. The Eagles is the principal inn; but a good house of public entertainment is sadly wanted here.
The bridge over the Conway, leading to Gwydir, is an elegant structure, built about the year 1636, from a plan by the celebrated Inigo Jones, at an expense of £1000, defrayed conjointly by the two counties which it connects. It is an extraordinary fact that a vibration of the bridge may be caused by any person standing above the middle arch and forcing himself rather smartly against the parapet.—Excellent roads have lately been made, communicating with the London, Holyhead, and Chester roads, and also with Denbigh and St. Asaph, the improved state of which has induced a considerable increase of visitors, during the summer months, to view the picturesque and much admired scenery of this neighbourhood.
Llanrwst was formerly noted for making harps; at present the spinning of woollen yarn, and the knitting of stockings, constitute the principal branches of trade. In the market-place stands the town-hall, a substantial structure, rebuilt in 1842.
The original church, dedicated to St. Grwst, was a small edifice, situated close to the margin of the river, and built about the year 1170; and was supposed, from its style of architecture, to have been erected in the fifteenth century: it contained a screen of beautifully carved oak, brought here from the abbey of Maenan, which was used as a gallery for the singers. A new church has, however, been built on its site; and adjoining it, on the other side, is Gwydir chapel, a handsome square castellated edifice, the interior of which is decorated with a profusion of carved work; it was built by Sir Richard Wynne, from a design by Inigo Jones, in 1633, as a burial place for his family, the deceased members of which had previously been interred in the chancel, and contains many elegantly engraved brasses, exhibiting portraits of several of this family. On the eastern wall is a slab of white marble, recording the pedigree of the founder, and tracing his ancestors to Owen Gwynedd, prince of North Wales. On the southern wall is a mutilated monument to the memory of Sir John Wynne, Bart., a learned antiquary, and an indefatigable gleaner of materials for the illustration of Welsh history. In the centre of the chapel, upon the floor, lies the stone coffin of Llywelyn the Great, who died in 1240, and was interred in the abbey which he had founded at Aberconway, thence removed to Maenan, and from that place, at the dissolution, the coffin was brought to the old parish church of Llanrwst, where it remained obscured by rubbish, until placed in its present more appropriate situation. The same attention has likewise been paid to another piece of antiquity placed near it, a recumbent armed effigy of Howel Coetmor, grandson of Davydd, brother to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd; he was the owner of the Gwydir estate, which was sold by one of his descendants to the family of Wynne. There are in the parish eleven places of worship for dissenters. A new church, called by the inhabitants the English church, has lately been erected about half a mile from Llanrwst. It is a neat and commodious edifice.
Gwydir.
This ancient mansion, about half a mile distant from the town, beautifully situated amidst extensive woods of oak, which clothe the rocks projecting between the rivers Conway and Llugwy, near the foot of a lofty precipice called Carreg y Gwalch, or the Rock of the Falcon, was erected by John Wynne ab Meredydd, in 1555, and comprised an extensive, but somewhat irregular pile of buildings, ranged in a quadrangular style, and consisting of an inner and outer court. A great part of this edifice was taken down in 1816, since which time the present structure, though on a much smaller scale, has been built. A small portion of the former mansion still remains, and is fitted up in an antique and elegant style. That part which was built by Meredydd still remains, and contains some magnificent rooms, in which are several articles of furniture made from the druidical oaks of ancient times, and the cradle which nurtured Sir John and Sir Richard Wynne is still to be seen. The pleasure grounds are laid out with great taste, and contain a good collection of plants. Mary Wynne, afterwards Duchess of Ancaster, the last of this great race, conveyed the property to that family, and Lord Willoughby d’Eresby now possesses it in right of his lady.
Vale of Llanrwst.
This delightful vale, which is neither so widely extended as the Vale of Clwyd, nor so contracted as that of Llangollen, is regarded by the admirers of picturesque scenery, as exhibiting the most varied assemblage of beautiful features which the pencil could delineate. Mr. Burke has pronounced it “the most charming spot in Wales.” The prospect of the dense woods and towering hills which enclose it on each side, is enlivened by the sparkling waters of the sportive Conway, which present an animated scene, either of small vessels arriving at the village of Trefriw, or of the diminutive boats, called coracles, used in fishing for salmon and smelts, considerable quantities of which are caught in their respective seasons. At Mayne, within a mile of Llanrwst, is a spring of high repute, and frequently used with great effect as a cold bath.
In the valley called Nant Bwlch yr Haiarn, near Gwydir, is a cataract which falls about 100 feet, called Rhaiadr-y-Parc Mawr. The quantity of water, however, is seldom large enough to produce much effect. About two miles and a half from Llanrwst, on the Conway road, is the small but beautiful village of