ASAPH-ST, a city and parish, partly in the hundreds of ISDULAS and YALE, county of DENBIGH, but chiefly in the Rhuddlan division of the hundred of RHUDDLAN, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 15 miles (W. by N.) from Flint, 18 (N. W. by w.) from Mold, and 1218 (N. w.) from London, containing 3144 inhabitants. The hill upon which the upper part of the city is built, and the township in which the cathedral church is situated, are called Brn-Paulin; from which circumstance, corroborated by the peculiar adaptation of the spot for a military station, and from its position between two rivers, the proximity of an exploratory post on the brow of the hill called Bron y Wyka, or "the watch hill," and the discovery of numerous Roman coins, it is by some writers supposed to have been occupied by the Roman forces under Suetonius Panlinus, either in advancing to the conquest of the Isle of Mona, now Anglesey, or on their rapid return to subdue the revolted Britons under Boadicea. The city, which was originally called Llan Elwy, derived its origin and name from the erection of a church on the bank of the river Elwy by St. Kentigern, commonly called St. Mango by the Scottish historians, bishop of Glasgow, and primate of Scotland, who, about the middle of the sixth century, being compelled to quit his see by a pagan prince of that country, fled for refuge into this part of North Wales, where he was kindly received by Caswallon, uncle of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, then sovereign of this country, who assigned to him the pleasant tract between the rivers Elwy and Clwyd, the site of the present city. On this spot Kentigern built a church of wood, and laid the foundation of an extensive monastery, similar to that established at Bangor Iscoed, which so rapidly increased, that, during the time he presided over it, it is said to have cone tained not less than nine hundred and sixty-five brethren, of whom part devoted themselves to religious instruction and the performance of the services of the church, and the remainder to labour and secular pursuits. Maelgwyn, whose seat of government was then at Deganwy, on the river Conway, about eighteen miles distant, was at first opposed to this growing establishment; but he -became reconciled to it, and Kentigern having converted Prince Maglocunus to the Christian faith, he allowed it to be elevated into an episcopal see, which he endowed with several lordships, and invested with many privileges and immunities. On the death of the prince by whom Kentigern had been expelled from North Britain, his successor Roderic, King of the StrathClyde Britons, recalled that prelate to his original charge, and reinstated him in the dignities of which he had been deprived: the latter then appointed Asaph, or Hassaph, his successor in the see of Llan Elwy, which from him subsequently obtained the appellation of St. Asaph, by which it has since been known. Asaph, who was a native of North Wales, and eminently distinguished for his piety, dying in 596, was buried in the cathedral church, which had been probably rebuilt of stone during his prelacy: he was subsequently canon ized, and his memory was held in such veneration, that the circumstance of his remains having been deposited in the cathedral contributed greatly to its subsequent prosperity, and to the high character for sanctity which it afterwards attained. The history of this see, which includes all events of importance connected with the city, is involved in considerable obscurity. Its situation near the marches exposed the latter to the frequent attacks of hostile armies, by which it was often ravaged; and its being also a barrier, on the line of demarcation between the sovereignties of North Wales and Powys, made it frequently an object of contention in the intestine wars among the native chieftains, by whom it was alternately laid waste. From these causes the records of the successors of Asaph, during a period of nearly five hundred years, are, with the exception only of a few incidents obtained from other sources, entirely lost; and during the long interval from the death of Asaph until the Norman Conquest, we learn only from the Welsh Chronicles, and on the authority of Spelman, that the Bishop of St. Asaph was among the suffragan bishops of St. David's who, in 601, were present at the meeting of St.Augustine and his associates. Although the see may have been occasionally vacant during those times of distraction and tumult, Wharton considers it as certain that the bishops were regularly appointed, notwithstanding that their names are not to be found upon record, with the exception only of Chebur, whom Wynne, in his History of Wales, states to have accompanied a deputation of learned men to Rome, in the year 940, to obtain from the pope a ratification of the celebrated code of laws compiled by Hywel Dda, sovereign of all Wales, at the making of which the Welsh Chronicles and the learned Spelman both agree that a bishop of St. Asaph assisted. The monastery continued to flourish till nearly the commencement of the ninth century, about which time the monks were dispersed, but their lands and possessions continued with the see, which, notwithstanding the frequent assaults it experienced, retained possession of its privileges and endowments, and, in the year 1016, the cathedral church was rebuilt of stone, chiefly by the munificence of King Ethelred and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and completed by Canute, soon after he had ascended the throne of England. Though these acts of munificence were obviously intended to conciliate the affections of the Welsh, they failed in producing the desired effect; the latter expelled all the Saxon ecclesiastics, and declared open war against them. The subsequent benefactions of Edward the Confessor, conferred on the see from the same motive, did not produce a different result; but Harold, after he had taken Rhuddlan, was more successful in his efforts for conciliation, and bestowed on the ecclesiastics considerable portions of land in Disserth. After the Norman Conquest of England, this place suffered dreadful ravages in the fierce conflicts between the Anglo-Normans and the native chiefs: the city was laid waste and almost deserted by its inhabitants, the bishops were plundered and driven from their see; the episcopal chair remained vacant for many years, during this frightful period of war and devastation, and the revenues of the see were seized by the crown. In the reign of Henry I., Hewens, Bishop of Bangor, the first Welsh prelate that ever attended an English council, being present at the synod held at Westminster, in 1102, before Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, described in forcible terms the great distress to which the Welsh prelates were reduced: shortly after, an ecclesiastic named Gilbert was appointed to the see of St. Asaph, and consecrated by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the bishops of London and Rochester; and this authority, which had been previously exercised by the bishops of St. David's, was retained by the archbishops of Canterbury ever afterwards. Gilbert died in 1152, and was succeeded in the prelacy by Galfrid ab Arthur, commonly called, from the place of his birth, or from his archdeaconry, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who holds a distinguished rank among the ancient monkish chroniclers. On the invasion of North Wales by Henry II., in 1157, Owain Gwynedd, the reigning sovereign, encamped his forces for some time at a hamlet in this parish, which was subsequently called Cid Owen, .or " Owen's retreat," and afterwards, on the nearer approach of the enemy, he retired to a stronger position at BrS'n y Pin, five miles to the west of the city, from which post he frequently des,cended to skirmish with the English. In 1175, Godfrey, then bishop, was driven from his see by the Welsh, and Adam was appointed his successor: at a council held in London, at which Henry II. was present, that monarch gave to the deposed bishop the abbacy of Abingdon. Reyner, bishop of this see in 1188, accompanied Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was then preaching the crusades in Wales, and exerted his personal influence in promoting the object of the primate's exertions within his diocese. In 1241, a treaty of peace was concluded between Henry III. and Davydd ab Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, and signed on the part of the latter by the bishops of Bangor and St. Asaph, at Alnet, on the river Elwy, near this city; but on the renewal of hostilities, in 1247, both those prelates having taken part with their countrymen, in resisting the ambitious designs of the English king, had their churches destroyed, and their lands laid waste by the English forces, and were reduced to such a state of destitution, that they were compelled to abandon their respective sees, and to subsist upon alms: the latter retired to the abbey of St. Mary Osney at Oxford, where he soon afterwards died. After a vacancy of two years, the Dean and Chapter petitioned Henry III., who granted them license to elect a bishop, and Anian, or Einion, was appointed to the see, and consecrated in 1249. His second successor, who had been confessor to Edward I., by whom his appointment was confirmed in 1268, bore the same name, and was distinguished by the surname of de Schonaw: he had been a Dominican friar of Nanney, and was from that circumstance also called, by the Welsh, y Brawd dd o Nannau, "the black brother of Nannau:" he obtained for his church, in 1271, from John Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel and lord of Oswestry and Clunn, a grant of one hundred acres of land at St. Martin's, in acknowledgment of which he was to present annually at Midsummer a pair of gilt spurs; and in 1276 he received from Edward I. a confirmation of the rights and privileges of his see. Richard, son of Fitz-Alan, confirmed and materially augmented the benefaction of his father, and, in 1278, Grufydd Vaughan, Lord of Yale, settled upon the bishop and his successors the manor of Llandegla. During the invasion of the principality by Edward I., the city suffered great devastation, and, in 1282, the cathedral and the houses of the ecclesiastics were burnt to the ground, by a body of English forces in the service of that monarch. Alarmed at this calamitous event, and sensible of the continual danger to which the establishment was exposed, from the defenceless state of the city, which afforded neither shelter nor security against the frequent outrages, both of the English and the Welsh, Anian was desirous of removing the seat of his diocese to Rhuddlan, about three miles distant, which, being a fortified place, might afford protection from those devastations to which, during the unsettled state of the principality, the city of St.Asaph was constantly exposed. Edward sanctioned the design of Anian, and offered to grant a site for the erection of a new church, and one thousand marks towards the expense of the building; but that design was not carried into effect, either from the reluctance to abandon the ancient seat of its first establishment, which had acquired a high degree of veneration, as the depository of the ashes of St. Asaph, or, as Godwin supposes, by the death of Pope Martin IV., to whom application had been made for license to remove it, or more probably, as Browne Willis states, by the circular letters of the Archbishop of Canterbury, exhorting the bishop and canons to rebuild the cathedral on the former site; and in the year 1284, the building which forms the principal part of the present structure was erected. In the course of the preceding negotiations, matters had been so represented to the king, that he deprived Anian of the prelacy, seized the temporalties for his own use, and entrusted the spiritual management of the see to the Bishop of Wells; but Archbishop Peckham, who visited the see of St. Asaph, in company with the deposed bishop, convinced of the necessity of having a resident prelate, prevailed upon Edward to restore Anian to his see, and he was accordingly reinstated. During the repeated struggles between the Kings of England and the native Princes of Wales, the bishops of St. Asaph were constantly led to embrace either one side or the other; and Leoline de Bromfield, Anian's immediate successor, adhering to the party of Edward, repeatedly excommunicated Madoc, son of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, for his determined opposition and resistance to the English monarch. This prelate, in 1310, gave four portions of the tithes of the parish to the four vicars choral of his cathedral, for serving the cure of the parish; but the latter have now only four portions of five townships of the parish, the corn tithes of the said townships being divided into five portions, of which the bishop receives one. He also appropriated the rectories of Llansilin and Rhuddlan to the canons of the cathedral, who derive their present stipends from that source, and that of Llanasaph to the cathedral: he died in 1313, and bequeathed considerable property to the church, having obtained special license to that effect from Edward, to whom his goods, like those of other Welsh drelates deceased, would otherwise have escheated. The confirmation of an annual fair on May 1st, the anniversary of the death of St. Asaph, was obtained for the city by Davydd ab Bleuddyn, successor of Leoline, who, besides a grant of certain lands to himself and his successors, also procured a confirmation of the appropriation of the church of Nantglyn to the vicars choral, for saying mass in the chapel of St. Mary, in this parish, which appears to have been erected about this time. William de Spridlington, who succeeded to the see in 1375, procured, on account of its poverty, several livings to be held in commendam with it, and one for the better support of the vicars; and obtained from Edward III. the grant of a weekly market and an annual fair, the former to be held on Monday, and the latter on the 9th of October. Previously to this time, the tenants of the lordship of Llan Elwy, or St. Asaph, were bound to find six labourers to work throughout the year in the quarry called Red Rock, or at such other work as should be appointed by the bishop, for the maintenance of the cathedral church; but, in 1381, this prelate released them from this imposition, on condition of their paying annually the sum of ten marks, which is stated by Bishop Godwin to have been paid in his time, and called Ardreth y Garreg GOch, or " the rent of the red rock. " John Trevaur, the second prelate of that name, being detained prisoner in the castle of Flint, in 1399, by Henry Duke of Lancaster, was induced to pronounce sentence of deposition against his sovereign, Richard II., in favour of this ambitious nobleman, by whom, after the accomplishment of his usurpation, he was sent on an embassy into Spain. During his absence in that country, Owain Glyndwr, exasperated at his adherence and that of his clergy to the cause of the usurper, burnt the cathedral, of which he left only the outer walls standing, destroyed the houses of the canons, and reduced the episcopal palace to ashes. Trevaur, on his return, finding the insurrection of Glyndwr increasing, and his party every day gaining ground, went over to the side of that chieftain, for which reason he was expelled from his see, and being sent to Paris, upon an embassy by Owain, died there in 1410. The political troubles of this reign continuing, the see appears to have remained vacant from the time of his expulsion to his death, and the spiritualties were entrusted to the abbot of Shrewsbury, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who issued a mandate to the Archdeacon of Chester, to certify the names of all such as preached up rebellion in the diocese of St. Asaph. After the accession of Edward IV. to the throne, Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, being a strenuous adherent of the House of Lancaster, was expelled from his see, in which, during the short restoration of Henry VI., he was reinstated, with full possession of all its privileges and endowments; but upon the return of Edward to power, he was arraigned on a charge of high treason, and, being convicted, was compelled to purchase his pardon by the surrender of his bishoprick to Richard Redman, a prudent and learned divine, and a zealous adherent of the House of York. The cathedral, after having lain for eighty years in the desolate condition to which it had been reduced by Glyndwr, was rebuilt by the munificence of this prelate, aided by the liberal contributions of the neighbouring gentry. Bishop Redman, having countenanced the pretensions of Lambert Simnel, the feigned duke of York, fell under the displeasure of Henry VII.; but having unreservedly submitted himself to the clemency of that monarch, he continued to preside over the see till his death. The city for a long period exhibited marks of the desolation it had suffered from the insurgents under Glyidwr, and it was not till near a century after, that the episcopal palace was rebuilt by Davydd ab Owen, who also erected a bridge of wood over the river Clwyd, about a quarter of a mile to the north-east of the city, which was afterwards rebuilt of stone, but is still called Pont Davydd Esgob, or " Bishop David's Bridge." During the civil commotions in the seventeenth century, this place suffered dreadful havoc: the revenues of the see were sequestered by the parliament, the cathedral was desecrated and converted into a stable for horses and oxen, and the episcopal palace was appropriated as a tavern for the sale of wine and spirituous liquors. In this degraded state it continued till the Restoration, when, after a vacancy of nine years, the see was filled by Bishop Griffith, who restored the cathedral, which was afterwards greatly improved by his successor, Dr. Isaac Barrow, who also rebuilt the episcopal palace, and erected and endowed almshouses for eight poor widows. During the prelacy of Dr. John Wynne, a violent hurricane blew down the upper part of the tower of the cathedral, which, falling into the choir, greatly damaged that part of the building; it was, however, immediately repaired by the bishop and other dignitaries of the see, aided by the liberal contributions of the gentry and clergy resident in the vicinity. Among the bishops of St. Asaph, many have been eminently distinguished for learning and piety, and for their sedulous attention to the interests of the see. Bishop Hughes, who was promoted to this diocese in 1573, was a great benefactor both to it and to the city: he procured from the Archbishop of Canterbury a faculty to hold in commendam with the bishoprick the arch- deaconry of St. Asaph, which has since that time been invariably held by his successors in the see: he died in 1600, and was interred in the cathedral church. The learned William Morgan, an eminent linguist and divine, was one of the principal persons engaged in translating the Bible into the Welsh language, of which the first edition was printed in 1588: he also assisted in the English version, commonly called Queen Elizabeth's Bible: he was translated from Llandaf to this see in 1601, and died in 1604. Parry, the successor of Bishop Morgan, and his coadjutor in the translation of the Bible, was succeeded by John Owen, who introduced the custom of preaching in Welsh in the parish church of St. Asaph; he repaired and beautified the cathedral, in which he placed an organ of large dimensions, and paved the road between the cathedral and the parish church, a portion of which latter he rebuilt: he also enlarged the episcopal palace, and, having lived to see the revenues of his see sequestered by the parliament, he died at Aber Kinsi, near St. Asaph, in 1651, and was privately buried in the cathedral, under the bishop's throne. Dr. Isaac Barrow, uncle of the celebrated mathematician of that name, was alike eminent for his munificence and his piety; be greatly promoted the interests of the diocese by his prudence and liberality, and the welfare of the city by his benevolence and charity: he died in 1680, at Shrewsbury, from which place his remains were removed to St. Asaph, and interred in the churchyard, near the west door of the cathedral. Dr. William Beveridge, usually styled the " Apostolic Beveridge," was equally eminent as a divine and for his proficiency in oriental literature: he published a treatise on the excellence of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, and Arabic languages, with a Syriac grammar, and, among numerous devotional works, one entitled " Private Thoughts," which has deservedly acquired a high degree of admiration, and " the Church Catechism Explained, for the use of the diocese of St. Asaph." Bishop Fleetwood, who succeeded him, expended large sums of money in repairing and beautifying the cathedral, and materially contributed to the obtaining of an act of parliament, in 1712, for abolishing the custom of mortuaries due from the clergy of his diocese, in lieu of which vexatious source of revenue, the sinecure rectory of Northop was annexed to the see. Dr. Thomas Tanner, the celebrated antiquary, and well-known author of the Notitia Monastica, for some time presided over the see of St. Asaph: he died in 1735, and left his valuable collection of manuscripts to the Bodleian library. The city is beautifully situated on the gentle acclivity of an eminence, washed on the eastern side by the river Clwyd, and on the western by the river Elwy, which unite at the distance of about a mile to the north. Over the Elwy, at the extremity of the principal street, is a handsome stone bridge of five arches; and over the Clwyd is a fine bridge of more modern erection, within a quarter of a mile to the east of the cathedral church. The houses in the principal street are of brick, and in general small, though neatly built; the streets are well paved, but not lighted; and, under the provisions of an act of parliament for making a new line of road, several handsome houses and pleasing cottages have been built, which have greatly improved the appearance of the place. In the construction of the new road, which now forms the best street in the town, an elegant bridge has been erected over the river Clwyd, near Bronwylva; the road has been raised several feet, in order to avoid a steep hill; and some beautiful plantations have been formed on both sides of it, which contribute to render the approach to St. Asaph not only commodious but picturesque. The view of the city is peculiarly striking: its elevated situation on an eminence near the termination of the rich and fertile Vale of Clwyd, crowned on its summit with the cathedral, and having the parish church at its base, makes it a conspicuous object from every point of view; and the luxuriant groves of trees in which it is deeply embosomed, give to it a pleasingly romantic appearance. The surrounding scenery, which in every direction abounds with objects of interest and beauty, is seen to great advantage from the eminence on which the city is built, and from the high grounds in the immediate vicinity. From the brow of a hill, about two miles distant from the town, on the road to Holywell, is an extensive and pleasing view of a portion of the Vale of Clwyd, beautifully diversified with corn-fields and meadows, groves and woods, intersected by the windings of the river, and enlivened with numerous picturesque cottages, skirted on all sides with rugged and precipitous mountains, except on the right hand, where a fine view of the sea is obtained, bounded in the distance by dark receding mountains. To the south the prospect embraces a fine view of the town of Denbigh, with the venerable remains of its ancient castle on the lofty summit of an isolated rock, and on the north are seen the ruins of Rhuddlan castle, forming an interesting and picturesque object in the distance. The road from St. Asaph to Denbigh is in many parts beautifully picturesque, the small Vale of Elwy, at the extremity of which is a fine bridge of one arch, eighty feet in the span, over that river, called Pont yr alit Goch, is richly wooded, and abounds with finely varied scenery: the Elwy, which sometimes rushes through the vale with the impetuosity of a torrent, is beautifully shaded by the luxuriant foliage on its banks. The market is on Friday; and fairs are held on Easter Tuesday, July 15th, October 16th, and December 16th, chiefly for cattle. By the late act for amending the representation of the people in England and Wales, St. Asaph has been added to the other boroughs of this county, now eight in number, which unitedly return one member to parliament: the right of election is vested in every male person of full age occupying, as owner or as tenant under the same landlord, a house or other premises of the clear yearly value of not less than ten pounds, provided he be capable of registering as the act directs: the number of houses worth ten pounds per annum and upwards is about ninety-three: the boundaries of the borough are minutely described in the appendix to this work: the bailiffs of Flint are the returning officers. The diocese of St. Asaph appears originally to have comprehended the whole territory of the ancient Princes of Powys: its jurisdiction at present extends over the whole of the county of Flint, with the exception of the parishes of Bangor, Overton, Hanmer, Hawarden, and Worthenbury; the whole of Arm, ut the Bi,hoprIck. Denbighshire, except the deanery of Dyfryn Clwyd, and the chapelries of Holt, Iscoed, and Penley; the hundreds of Edeyrnion, Pen11S.n, and Tal y boat and Mowddy, in the county of Merioneth; the greater part of the county of Montgomery, including thirty-seven parishes; three parishes in the county of Carnarvon; and eleven parishes and chapelries in the county of Salop; comprehending in the whole one hundred and thirty parishes and parochial chapelries, all of which, with the exception of seven, are in the patronage of the bishop, as is also the deanery of St. Asaph. The ecclesiastical establishment consists of the bishop, who is also archdeacon; a dean, who is also chancellor of the diocese; a precentor, who holds the prebend of Vaenol, called the golden prebend; a chancellor of the cathedral, who holds the prebend of Llan-Nevydd; a treasurer, who holds the prebend of Meliden; and three other prebendaries, seven canons, four vicars choral, an organist,four lay clerks, four choristers, and other officers. The cathedral consists principally of the structure raised by Bishop Anian, about the year 1284, and, after its demolition by Owain Glyndwr, restored and partly rebuilt by Bishop Redman, towards the close of the fifteenth century, with the exception of the choir, which was partly rebuilt about the year 1770, by the dean and chapter, with funds which had been vested in their hands, as trustees, for that purpose. It is a plain cruciform structure, principally in the decorated style of English architecture, with a low square embattled tower rising from the intersection of the nave and transepts, and having at the north-east angle a square staircase turret: the exterior is of simple, but good design, the buttresses are few and of very bold character, and the arch of the west door is plainly moulded. The nave is of the decorated style, and is separated from the aisles by a lofty range of piers and arches, the details of which are plain, but of good character, and lighted by a range of clerestory windows, square-headed and enriched with ancient tracery, and at the west end by a fine window of six lights, which is an elegant composition in the decorated style, enriched with flowing tracery of exquisite design. The transepts, which are also in the decorated style of architecture, are without aisles, and lighted by a range of windows of appropriate character, but not remarkable for their tracery. The choir, which is also without aisles, is of comparatively modern date, and, though apparently an imitation of the later style, bears but a very faint resemblance to any of the styles of English architecture: the east end is ornamented with a window, which is said to be a fac-simile of the east window in Tintern abbey, in Monmouthshire, and in 1810 was filled with stained glass, at the expense of the dean and chapter, aided by the contributions of the gentry in the neighbourhood, whose armorial bearings are emblazoned in some of the compartments: the choir is very small, scarcely affording accommodation for more than the officiating clergy. The south transept is partly fitted up as a chapter-house and library, containing a valuable collection of more than two thousand volumes, which is open to the use of the clergy of the diocese. The whole length of the cathedral, from east to west, is one hundred and seventy-nine feet, the length of the nave one hundred and nineteen feet, the whole breadth along the transepts one hundred and eight feet, and the length of the choir sixty feet: the height of the roof from the pavement is sixty feet, and that of the central tower ninety-three feet. There are few monuments of any interest, and, though many of the bishops have been interred within the walls, scarcely any memorials of them have been erected. An altar-tomb, with a recumbent figure in episcopal robes, is said to commemorate the munificent prelate, Davydd ab Owen, who was interred here in 1512; and near the west door is a plain tomb in the churchyard, with an inscription to the memory of Bishop Isaac Barrow, who died in 1680. A monument of white marble, to the memory of Dean Shipley, was erected by subscription about the close of the year 1829, at an expense of about A600, consisting of a full-length figure of the dean in his canonicals, in a sitting posture. The churchyard was enclosed with a wall and handsome palisades in 1815, and in the following year it was planted with trees and laid out in good taste; and the cathedral is now undergoing a course of repair, the expense of which will be defrayed out of the funds arising from the tithes of the parish of Llanrhaiadr in Mochnant, granted by act of parliament in the 54th of George III., for that purpose. The episcopal palace, situated at a short distance to the west of the cathedral, is now being rebuilt, upon a more extensive scale and in an appropriate style, at the expense of the present bishop. The deanery, about a quarter of a mile from the cathedral, and on the west bank of the river Elwy, has recently been rebuilt by the present dean. The canon's houses, which were demolished by Owain Glyndwr, have never been rebuilt. The bishop holds his consistory court, which is the only court exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the diocese, either himself or by his surrogate, in the chapter-house, as occasion may require, generally about nine times in the year. This parish is in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph. The four vicars choral of the cathedral perform the ecclesiastical duties in rotation, dividing equally among them a part of the tithes of the parish, and also four out of five portions of those of the parish of Gwyddelwern, in the county of Merioneth, of which the vicar of that parish receives the fifth; but they have no cure of souls in the parish of St. Asaph: in addition to this they receive a small stipend, styled " Preaching Money," from the members of the chapter. The parochial church, dedicated to St. Asaph and St. Kentigern, is situated at the base of the eminence of which the cathedral occupies the summit, and consists of two parallel aisles, called respectively Eglwys Asaph and Eglwys Cyndeirn, St. Asaph's and St. Kentigern's churches. It is a small edifice without a tower, and is supposed to have been erected about the year 1524: the interior contains two monuments of white marble, one of which is to the memory of Thomas Humphreys, of Bbd-Elwyddan, commonly called BOdlewyddan, Esq., who bequeathed an annual sum to the poor and for catechising the youth of the parish. In the churchyard, which is very spacious, are some ancient tombs, said to have been brought from Rhuddlan abbey, two miles distant: they are of stone, and in the form of coffins, having on the lids a sword and spade sculptured: one of them, which wants this ornament, has in lieu of it a shield with a lion rampant, beneath which passes a sword grasped by a hand, and round it the inscription " Hic jacet Ranulfus de .Smalwode." There are places of worship for Independents, and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. Certain lands were assigned by Bishop Hughes for the endowment of a free grammar school, but the grant being conditional, and the contingencies referred to not happening, it did not take effect. The school is endowed, however, with lands here given in trust to the vicars of St. Asaph, by Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, of Chamber Wen, by will dated October 25th, 1729, and now producing £60 per annum, of which £40 is paid to the master, for the instruction of twenty-four boys of the parish; and his salary has been increased by the interest of £200, bequeathed by Mr. Hutchinson of Wrexham, in 1829. A National school will shortly be erected, the expense to be defrayed from trust money in the hands of the vicars choral, an annual payment from the Dean and Chapter, and any subscriptions that may be received from the clergy. Almshouses for eight poor widows were founded and endowed with £12 per annum by Bishop Barrow,.in 1678, who also gave £100 towards the maintenance of a free school at St. Asaph, which he intended to have erected, but died at Shrewsbury in 1680, before he had carried the design into effect: the almshouses, having fallen into decay, were rebuilt by Bishop Bagot, and the widows are appointed alternately by the bishop and dean, and the families of Cevn and Llanerch. In addition to the above endowments, various minor sums have been given for charitable uses, the principal of which are, a rent-charge of £2 by Dr. Smith, in 1680, for apprenticing a poor boy; £30 for clothing poor persons in the townships of Bodlewyddan, Pengwern, and Vaynol, if, 10 to the poor of Bryn Paulin and Gwernglevryd, and £20 to the almswomen of St. Asaph, by Thomas Humphreys, in 1696; £20 each by Margaret Lloyd, in 1720, and Ellin Lloyd, in 1726, to the poor of Cevn Meriadog and Wygvair; £10 by Alice Morris, in 1724,--£ 100 by the Rev. William Lloyd, in 1732, £10 by the Rev. Richard Lloyd, in 1736, and £20 by Susannah Lloyd, in 1750, for the benefit of the poor of the parish in general; £60 by the Rev. Robert Lloyd, to the poor of l3Odlewyddan, Bryn Paulin, Cevn Meriadog, Gwernglevryd, Talar, Vaynol, and Wygvair; and a portion of land by Thomas Foulkes, in trust to the vicars of St. Asaph, for clothing poor people. Near the river Elwy, in the township of Wigvair, is Fynnon Vair, or " the well of Our Lady," situated in a richly wooded dell: this spring, which is enclosed in a polygonal basin of hewn stone, beautifully and elaborately sculptured, discharges about a hundred gallons per minute: the water is strongly impregnated with lime, and was formerly much resorted to as a cold bath. Adjoining the well are the ruins of an ancient cruciform chapel, which, prior to the Reformation, was a chapel of ease to St. Asaph, in the later style of English architecture: the windows, which are of handsome design, are now nearly concealed by the ivy which has overspread the building; and the ruin, elegant in itself, derives additional interest from the beauty of its situation. There are numerous elegant mansions within the parish, among which the most conspicuous are, Bodlewyddan, the seat of Sir John Williams, Bart., lately rebuilt by its proprietor in the English castellated style; Pengwern, the seat of Lord Mostyn, built about the beginning of the last century; Cevn, the seat of Edward Lloyd, Esq., now being rebuilt in the Elizabethan style of architecture; and Bronwylva, the residence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Browne, erected in the year 1660, and enlarged in 1816. In this last mansion are some valuable trophies, taken during the late war, among which are Napoleon Buonaparte's travelling map and books of roads of the French empire, in splendid morocco cases, emblazoned with the imperial arms, taken from his library at Fontainbleau by Sir Henry, in 1815; and a French field-marshal's baton, two feet three inches in length, covered with purple velvet ornamented with golden bees, and surmounted with an imperial crown, taken in Silesia, in 1812, by a division of Blucher's corps. In the township of Cevn Meriadog are some magnificent natural caverns, extending for a considerable distance into the limestone rocks: in some parts of these the roof is more than forty feet in height, and near the river Elwy the base of the rock is perforated by a lofty natural arch, twenty-one yards in length, and thirty-six feet high, through which is a road capable of admitting a waggon loaded with hay. Various fossil remains have been found in these caverns; among which are, the skull of some remarkably large animal, with the teeth, of corresponding size, perfectly enamelled; and the tongue of an animal, as large as a deer's tongue, of which the form and grain were perfect, though the relic itself was completely petrified. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor of the city and parish amounts to 1209. 14.