CERRIG-Y-DRUIDION (CERYG-Y-DRUDION), a parish, in the hundred of ISALED, county of DENBIGH, NORTH WALES, 10 miles (W. N.W.)
from Corwen, OR the old Holyhead road, containing 1006 inhabitants. The name of this place signifies "the stones of the
daring ones," and not " of the Druids," as some have interpreted it; and is in allusion to a vast heap of stones, which
several persons now alive remember to have seen on the west side of the church, and minutely described in Bishop Gibson's
additions to Camden's Britannia, in a communication by Mr. Llwyd, but now entirely dispersed: several of them have been
used in constructing the stone fences of the adjacent fields; the largest has been removed to a considerable distance,
and now serves as a gate-poet, and the site has been broken up by the plough. Local tradition represents this collection
of stones to have been the rude prison in which Cynvrlg Rwth, a lawless chieftain, confined his captives: among them were
some of a superior size, forming a kistvaen, or atone chest, but every vestige has been removed. The parish contains about
twenty thousand acres, including a large tract of dreary mountain and moorland. The village, which is small, is situated
on a gentle eminence, and was formerly a thoroughfare on the great Irish road, which, by a recent improvement in the
route, has been diverted to a short distance from it, but still passes for several miles through the parish. The breeding
of cattle and sheep, the digging of peat for fuel, the spinning of woollen yarn, and the knitting of stockings, form the
principal occupations of the inhabitants. The neighbourhood abounds with good grazing land, a great portion of which is
let by the proprietors to the Anglesey dealers, for the pasturage of cattle, on their way from that isle to the midland
counties of England. A market was formerly held here on Friday, but it has fallen into disuse: fairs are held on March
14th, April 27th, August 24th, October 20th, and December 7th. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £10. 8. ii., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The church,
dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is a spacious structure, consisting of a nave and chancel, with a lofty chanty chapel
adjoining the south side. There are three places of worship for Calvinistic and two for Wesleyan Methodists, two for
Independents, and one for Baptists. An almshouse for six aged men was founded in 1716, by Robert Price, Esq., Chief Baron
of the Exchequer in the reign of William III., who endowed it with property now producing an income of about £55 per
annum. There are several charitable bequests, amounting in the whole to £64.17., the interest of which is distributed
among the poor, principally in white bread, which is here considered as a luxury, the inhabitants generally subsisting on
oat cake or barley bread. The above-named Mr. Price, whose memorable speech in the House of Commons, against the grant of
the lordship of Denbigh and other places in Wales to the Duke of Portland, drew upon him the especial notice of his
sovereign, was born at Giler, in this parish. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to
£385. 3.