CWM, a parish, in the hundred of RHUDDLAN, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 3 miles (E.) from Rhuddlan, containing 442
inhabitants. The name of this place appears to be derived from the situation of the church and village in a sequestered
hollow, enclosed by lofty hills. The parish, which is about three miles in length, and two and a half in breadth, and is
partly within the manor of Rhuddlan, belonging to the Bishop of St. Asaph, consists principally of mountainous tracts of
common, with only a very small portion of enclosed and cultivated land. The scenery is highly picturesque; and from the
hills which surround the village are obtained some fine prospects, extending over the fertile and beautiful Vale of Clwyd,
and embracing a view of the Irish sea, and the summits of Snowdon, with the adjacent mountains. The elevated parts of the
parish are thought to abound with mineral treasures, and iron-stone has been found, for the working of which a forge and a
foundry are now being erected, about a mile and a half from the village. These works will be impelled by a stream from
Fynnon Asaph, or " St. Asaph's Well," a spring of great power, the waters of which already turn two corn-mills in the
parish, at no great distance from its source, and another stream from which forms the cascade at Dyserth. Slate has also
been found in the Cwm mountain, but not of a qUality adapted for roofing. The turnpike road from Chester to Holyhead
passes within a mile and a quarter of the village. A part of this parish is within the limits of the contributory borough
of Rhuddlan. The living consists of a rectory and a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph: the rectory,
which is a sinecure, is rated in the king's books at £6. 15. 5.; and the vicarage, which is discharged, is rated at £5.
8. 9., and is endowed with £200 royal bounty: they are both in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The tithes of
the parish are equally divided between the rector and the vicar. The church, dedicated to St. Valacinian, is a plain
substantial edifice, without either tower or spire, and, though the exterior walls are kept in good repair by the parish,
the interior is in a miserable state of dilapidation: it contains several gravestones, supposed to be sepulchral
monuments of Knights Templar; and in the churchyard is an ancient tombstone, on which is a bow sculptured in stone.
According to tradition, the renowned Welsh prophet and bard, Davydd Ddil of HIraddug, so called from a mountain of that
name above the church, was buried under one of the walls of the church, in fulfilment of his own prediction, that he
should neither be buried in or out of it. There are places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, in
connexion with each of which is a Sunday school. The rent of some lands in the parish, producing from £15 to £20 per
annum, is appropriated to the apprenticing of poor children: the origin of this benefaction, which is of very ancient
date, is not correctly known: it is vested in the Glynne family, and Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, Bart., is the present
trustee. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor is £232. 15.