DENBIGHSHIRE, a county (maritime) of NORTH WALES, bounded on the north by Flintshire, the Irish sea, and a detached part of Carnarvonshire; on the west by Carnarvonshire; on the south by Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire; on the south-east by the English county of Salop; on the east by a detached portion of Flintshire; and on the north-east by the English county of Chester. It extends from 52° 48' to 53° 18' (N. Lat.), and from 2° 54' to 3° 47' (W. Lon.); and includes an area, according to Evans' Map of North Wales, of three hundred and eighty-seven thousand six hundred statute acres, or nearly six hundred and six square miles. The population, in 1831, was 83,167. At the period of the Roman invasion of Britain, the territory now forming the county of Denbigh, in Welsh called Sir Dinbech, was included in the country of the Ordovices, a people who, according to Whitaker, extended their dominion over North Wales, from the districts now forming the county of Salop, a great part of which, on their advance towards the north-west, fell into the possession of the Cornavii. Under the Roman sway it formed a portion of Venedotia, one of the minor divisions of the great province of Britannia Secunda, but retains hardly any trace of its occupation by that people. No station is known to have been situated within its limits; and the only roads connected with it were, a branch of the Watling-street, which crossed the northern parts of it, from the station Varis, at Bodvari, on the western confines of Flintshire, to that of Conovium, at Caerhen, near Aberconway, in Camarvonshire; and the Via Devana, which, from the station Deva, at Chester, passed southward within or near the eastern confines of Denbighshire towards that of Nidus, at Neath, in Glamorganshire. Nothing of importance is recorded concerning this territory until the reign of Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia, who, to put an end to the predatory incursions made by the Welsh into the western parts of his dominions, led a powerful army against them, pursued them to their fastnesses, and extorted a peace on his own terms: by these means he annexed to his former dominions extensive districts, until then possessed by the native Britons, which he colonized with a Saxon population, and separated from the territories of the Welsh by the vast ditch and rampart which bears his name, extending from the estuary of the Dee to the banks of the Wye, and including in the Mercian territory part of the present county of Denbigh. To the eastward of this is another similar boundary line, run; ning nearly parallel with it, at a distance varying from five hundred yards to three miles, and called Wat's Dyke, of the formation of which there is no authentic record. Offa's Dyke, however, prevented not the hostile incursions of the Welsh into the Saxon territories; and the Saxons retaliated by making dreadful ravages on the more accessible parts of the country of the Cymry. Egbert, in the year after his accession to the throne of Wessex, entered North Wales with a formidable army, devastated the whole country to the foot of the Snowdon mountains, and seized upon the seigniory of Rhyvonioc, in Denbighland. On the death of Rhodri Mawr, or Roderic the Great, sovereign of all Wales, the greater part of this county became included in the principality of North Wales, called by the Welsh Gwynedd, and the seat of the government of which was at Aberfraw, in Anglesey; while those parts of it lying eastward and southward of the Vale of Clwyd were included in the sovereignty of Powys, the seat of government being at Mathraval, near Meiv6d, in Montgomeryshire. Anarawd, the son of Roderic, who succeeded to his kingdom of Gwynedd in 877, was, a few years afterwards, applied to for an asylum in his dominions by the remainder of the Strath-Clyde Britons of the North, who had been long harassed by the Danes, Saxons, and Scots, and had lost Constantine, their king, in battle. Anarawd received them on the condition of their recovering a portion of the Saxon territory, on which to settle, and of their defending it by arms: under the conduct of one Hobart, they easily dispossessed the Saxons of the country between the Dee and the Conway, of which they remained in quiet possession until Eadred Earl of Mercia began to make preparations for regaining the territory from which he had been so summarily expelled. The Britons, receiving early intelligence of his designs, removed their cattle and goods beyond the Conway, and being promptly joined by Anarawd with a powerful body of forces, this prince completely defeated the Saxons at Cymryd, about two miles from the town of Aberconway, and pursued them into Mercia, whence his troops returned to their own country loaded with spoil. The northern Britons were allowed to establish a separate state in the conquered country, which included the greater part of the counties of Denbigh and Flint, and received from its inhabitants the name of Strath-Clwyd, or Ystrad-Clwyd, from its being traversed by the river Clwyd. In the contests maintained for the sovereignty of Wales between the sons of Hywel Dda and those of Edwal Voel, the former, assembling their forces in South Wales, laid waste the territory of North Wales, as far as the river Conway, on the banks of which they were encountered by the latter at Llanrwst, where, after a sanguinary conflict, the sons of Edwal Voel were victorious, and, pursuing their enemies into South Wales, they retaliated upon their territories the evils which had been inflicted upon their own. From this period no event peculiarly affecting Denbighshire is recorded, until after the conquest of England by the Normans. Henry II., leading a large army into North Wales, in the year 1157, drove Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, out of his camp near Northop in Flintshire; and the latter took up a strong position, since called Cli Owain, or "Owain's Retreat," near the city of St. Asaph: on Henry's further advance, Owain retreated to Biln y Pin, a still stronger pest, situated about five miles to the west of St.Asaph, in this county, and soon after concluded a peace with the English monarch, among other conditions of which he and his chieftains submitted to do homage to Henry. A few years after this, all the princes of Wales, with Owain at their head, entered into a confederacy for the recovery of their independence; and the first enterprise of the revolt was an inroad by Davydd, son of Owain, into Flintshire, whence he carried off the inhabitants and the cattle, and brought them into the Vale of Clwyd. Henry advanced with a small army to Rhuddlan, in Flintshire, but soon returned into England, where, having assembled the choicest troops from every part of his dominions, he advanced into Powys by way of Oswestry in Shropshire. The combined forces of the Welsh assembled to oppose him at Corwen, a little beyond the southern border of Denbighshire; and Henry, desirous of bringing' them to action, led his army to the Ceiriog, a small river in the south-eastern part of the county, the woods on the banks of which he ordered to be cut down, to escape the danger of ambuscades. In attempting to force a bridge over this river, the English monarch was aimed at by a Welshman, whose arrow would inevitably have pierced his body, had not Hubert de St. Clair, constable of Colchester, sprung forward and received it in his own. While the English were cutting down the woods, a strong party of Welsh, without any orders from their leaders, being acquainted with the ford, crossed the river, and suddenly attacked the van of Henry's army, which was composed of pikemen; and in the warm action that ensued many were slain on both sides. Henry, however, effected the passage, and advanced across the south-eastern part of this county and the Berwyn mountains to the confines of Merionethshire, where he encamped for several days, the Welsh being posted upon the opposite heights, losing no opportunity of cutting off his supplies. The English army was at length reduced to great distress, and its difficulties were rendered still greater by sudden and violent rains; so that Henry was constrained to return into England with great loss of men and ammunition: in revenge for the disappointment of his designs, he commanded the eyes of the hostages, which he had previously received, to be plucked out: this defeat has generally been called the battle of Crogen. After the death of Llewelyn, the last prince of North Wales, his brother Davydd held a meeting of the Welsh chieftains at Denbigh, of which he possessed the lordship, in which it was determined to maintain the war against the attacks of the English. This task, however, proved far beyond their strength; and Davydd, being soon afterwards taken prisoner near this place, was put to death as a traitor by the English monarch. About the period of the subjugation of Wales by Edward I., the eastern parts of this county fell into the hands of English possessors, under very peculiar circumstances: Emma, widow of Grufydd ab Madoc, who died in 1270, disagreeing with her husband's relatives respecting the education of her sons (or, as Mr. Pennant thinks, her grandsons), obtained possession of the eldest two, and delivered them over as wards to Edward I. One of them, named Madoc, with his inheritance of Bromfield and Yale, was placed by that monarch in charge of John Earl Warren; and Llewelyn, the other youth, with his patrimony of Chirk and Nanheudwy, in that of Roger Mortimer, third son of Roger Mortimer, the son of Ralph Lord Mortimer, of Wigtown. These noblemen having obtained possession of the territories above-mentioned, conspired together, and caused the sons of Grufydd to be drowned in the river Dee; after the perpetration of which murder they each received from the king a grant of the estates of their respective wards, dated at Rhuddlan, October 27th, 1281, with the exception of the castle of Hope, and the lands thereto appertaining, which Edward retained in his own possession. The first-mentioned lordship continued in the family of the Warrens until the year 1347, when it descended by an heiress to the Fitz-Alans, Earls of Arundel, who purchased from John, grandson of Roger Mortimer, the lordship of Chirk and Nanheudwy: these united domains remained with the Fitz-Alans for several generations, and at last, after repeated attainders and forfeitures of different heirs, became finally vested in the crown. The lordship of Denbigh was bestowed by Edward I. upon Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who, among other conciliatory concessions to his new vassals, granted them permission to kill all kinds of wild animals, except in certain parts reserved for his own amusement: but the exercise of these privileges seems to have been abridged by his successors, for, in the reign of Henry VI., five parks are enumerated in this lordship, viz., Moylewike, Caresnodooke, Kyfford, Bagh, and Posey, the rangership of which that monarch gave to Owen Tudor. Lacy erected a castle to secure his new acquisition, and converted the neighbouring village into a walled town, thus laying the foundation of the future importance of the present county town. A wide-spread revolt soon compelled. Edward again to head an expedition into North Wales, on which occasion the Earl of Lincoln, to preserve his newly-erected castle of Denbigh, advanced before the king, and, arriving under its walls on November 1 1 th, 1294, was suddenly attacked by the Welsh insurgents, who, encouraged by the situation of the English, were desirous of hazarding their fortunes upon the issue of a single battle, in which the English forces were defeated and compelled to retire. From the Earl of Lincoln the lordship descended to Thomas Earl of Lancaster, who married that nobleman's daughter Alicia, and, after whose attainder, Edward II. gave it to his favourite, Hugh le Despencer. After the execution of the latter nobleman, Edward III. bestowed it on Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who being a few years after attainted of high treason, the seigniory of Denbigh was granted by the same monarch to William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury; but it was soon restored to the family of Mortimer, in which it remained until conveyed by marriage to Richard Duke of Yoik, on the accession of whose son Edward to the throne of England, it became vested in the crown. Queen Elizabeth, in the sixth year of her reign, granted it to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, at the same time creating him Baron Denbigh; but on the attainder of this nobleman, the title and estates reverted to the crown. In 1696, William III. issued a patent, under the great seal, conferring on William Earl of Portland the lordships of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale, without regard to the tenures of persons then occupying various parts of such estates, by compositions, rents, royal payments, and services to the crown, or to the Prince of Wales, on whom it had been usually settled for his support: but the Welsh landholders, aware that such an unqualified grant would encroach upon their liberty and property, and form a dangerous precedent, applied to their representatives to state their grievances before parliament; and the Commons, after due deliberation, presented a petition to the king, from the whole House, earnestly requesting him to recall his grant of the above-mentioned lordships, with which the king complied. The lordship of Denbigh, with the forests (as they are legally termed) of Bromfield and Yale, still form a part of the landed possessions of the crown. The other grand seigniorial territory in this county, namely, the lordship of Ruthin, was granted by Edward I. to Reginald Grey, second son of Lord Grey, of Wilton, in whose descendants it remained until the reign of Henry VII., when, for some valuable consideration, it was conveyed to the crown by George Grey, Earl of Kent, and Baron Ruthin, in whose family the latter title continued until the death of Charles Grey, eighth Earl of Kent, after which it descended, by female heirs, through the families of Longueville and Yelverton, to that of Talbot, by which it is now enjoyed. The lordship of Ruthin, after its conveyance to the crown, seems to have been possessed by the Earl of Warwick, and subsequently formed part of the estates belonging to the Myddeltons of Chirk castle, and in the early part of the present century was vested in three co-heiresses of that family: by a decree of Chancery, in 1819, it was finally settled on Miss Myddelton, the present owner. Richard IL, during his expedition into Ireland, deposited a vast amount of treasure in the castle of Holt, in this county, which had been originally erected by Earl Warren, and which was delivered up to Bolingbroke, in 1399, prior to the deposition of that unfortunate monarch. During a fair holden at Ruthin, in the year 1400, the Welsh chieftain, Owain Glyndwr, suddenly made a descent upon that place, attacked its castle without success, and, after pillaging the inhabitants and burning the town, returned to the mountains. In the wars of the Roses, Edward IV. is said by Leland to have been besieged in the castle of Denbigh, on which occasion he entered into a compact with the Lancastrians, by which he was allowed a safe retreat, on condition that he should leave the realm, and never return. Denbigh, among several other strong places in Wales, was held, during the latter part of the year 1459, by Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, in behalf of his half-brother, Henry VI.; but in the following year it was taken by the Yorkists. In 1468, however, the earl is said to have returned into Wales, and being joined by a large body of forces, he pillaged and burned the town of Denbigh. The statute of the 27th of Henry VIII., which for ever abrogated the peculiar jurisdictions of the lordships marcher, at the same time incorporated the lands subject to such jurisdictions in new and additional counties, of which this of Denbigh is one. In the year 1643, during the great civil war of the seventeenth century, Holt castle, which had been garrisoned for the king, was taken for the parliament by the troops under Sir William Brereton and Sir Thomas Myddelton, the latter of Chirk castle, in this county, which he represented in parliament: it was soon after retaken by the royalists, but, in April 1646, was again compelled to surrender to the parliamentarian forces, after a vigorous siege of about two months. After the retreat of Charles I. from Chester, in 1645, he took refuge for some time at Denbigh. In November, the parliamentarian forces under General Mytton gained an important victory, near that town, over the royalist troops commanded by Sir William Vaughan, slaying about one hundred, taking nine hundred prisoners, and totally dispersing the remainder. The castle of Denbigh, nevertheless, remained in the undisputed possession of the royalists until July of the following year, when it was besieged by General Mytton, to whom it surrendered on the 3rd of November ensuing. In the mean time the castle of Ruthin, which had been first attacked by the same commander in the middle of February, had surrendered to him in the middle of April. In 1659, Sir Thomas Myddelton, in concert with Sir George Booth, having declared too precipitately in favour of the restoration of Charles IL, the castle of Chirk was besieged and taken by the troops under the command of General Lambert. Denbighshire is in the diocese of St. Asaph (excepting fourteen parishes, which are in that of Bangor), and in the province of Canterbury: the portion in the first-mentioned diocese is included in the archdeaconry of St. Asaph, and deaneries of Rhos, Bromfield and Yale, and Marchia: the fourteen parishes of the latter are in the immediate jurisdiction of the Bishop of Bangor, and form the deanery of Dyfryn Clwyd: the total number of parishes is fifty-eight, of which twenty-three are rectories, twenty-one vicarages, and fourteen perpetual curacies. For purposes of civil government it is divided into the six hundreds of Bromfield, Chirk, Isaled, Isdulas, Ruthin, and Yale. It contains the borough and market towns of Denbigh, Ruthin, and Wrexham, the last having been added to the district of boroughs by the late Reform Act; the borough of Holt, and the market towns of Llangollen and Llanrwst. One knight was formerly returned to parliament for the shire, and one representative is now returned for Denbigh and the three other boroughs conjointly: but the county is now entitled, under the late act, to the return of two members, who, with the member for the boroughs, are elected at Denbigh: the polling- places are Denbigh, Llangollen, Llanrwst, and Wrexham. This county is included in the North Wales circuit: the assizes are held at Ruthin, and the quarter sessions at Wrexham and Denbigh alternately; the county gaol is at Ruthin, and the county houses of correction, or bride-wells, are at Ruthin and Wrexham There are thirty-six acting magistrates. The parochial rates raised in the county for the year ending March 25th, 1830, amounted to £41,139, and the expenditure to £41,311, of which £34,272 was applied to the relief of the poor. The form of this county is extremely irregular; and beyond its south- eastern extremity is a detached portion, comprising part of the village of Llanymynech, bounded on the west by the river Tanat, and on the south by the Vyrnwy (which streams separate it from Montgomeryshire), and on the east and north by Shropshire. Its surface and scenery are much diversified; and the rugged and mountainous features of the principality are here conspicuous, though frequently softened into picturesque beauty by an intermixture of varied fertility. The hundred of Yale, in the eastern part of the county, is for the most part mountainous, bleak, and barren. This elevated district, almost the only produce of which is heath, is formed by the Clwydian and Hiraethog range of mountains, which, with its dependent hills, also form the greater part of the elevated wastes which occupy so much of every other district of the county: this range is in the form of the Roman letter U, its two sides running parallel with each other, and enclosing the beautiful Vale of Clwyd. The north-eastern, or Clwydian wing, entering within the north- eastern border of the county from the vicinity of Ysceiviog, in Flintshire, presents a variety of limestone and argillaceous strata in its course by Yale, Minera, the Vrondeg hills, Eglwyseg lime-works, Oernant slate-quarries, and Cevn dti, to Bryn Eglwys, where it completes the curve which connects it with the south-western, or Hiraethog range: this wing extends from above Derwen, on the southern border of the county, to Eglwys-Bach, on the river Conway, its north- western extremity, and forms one of the most extensive and dreary wastes in the whole principality, being from twenty-five to thirty miles in length, and varying in breadth from five to nine miles: its chief covering is heath. Among these hills, in the western part of the county, are several small lakes, which give rise to numerous meandering streams. The hills on the coast extend no farther eastward than Abergele, where the country begins gradually to sink into the extensive plain of Morva Rhuddlan, which stretches eastward into Flintshire. By much the greater part of the far-famed Vale of Clwyd is in this county, in which it extends in length more than twenty miles, and in breadth generally from five to seven: thickly studded with towns, villages, and seats, its appearance is rendered still more pleasing by being enclosed on every side by mountains, whose brown and barren summits form a fine contrast with the verdant meads and luxuriant fields below. The dreary appearance of the desert moors is also, in many parts, relieved by small and fertile valleys, watered by sprightly streams, one of the principal of which is that called the Valley of Yale. Bromfield, by far the most important division of the county, with regard to population and wealth, was anciently called Maelor Cymreig, " Welsh Maelor," to distinguish it from the detached portion of Flintshire, on the opposite side of the Dee, called Maelor Saesneg, " English Maelor": lying to the north and west of the Dee, and to the south and east of the Alyn, the former in its western part shares in the wild and mountainous character of the adjoining hundred of Yale; but the greater portion of it is fertile, pleasant, and highly cultivated. Chirk, anciently called Gwayn, forming the south-eastern extremity of the county, almost wholly consists of hills, of which the two most conspicuous are Cader Verwyn and Cevn Uchi, forming part of the Berwyn range of mountains, which, from the vicinity of the village of Chirk, extends southwestward into Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, and Merionethshire. The mountains of Denbighshire are not among the highest in North Wales: some of the most remarkable elevations are, Moel Vammau, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five feet above the level of the sea; Cyrn y Brain mountain, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight; Moel Venni, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven; Craig Eglwyseg, one thousand six hundred and eighty-eight; Mod Arthur, one thousand four hundred and ninety-one; Pen y Cloddiau, one thousand four hundred and fifty- two; Molvre Ucha, one thousand two hundred and thirty-four; Llanellian mountain, one thousand one hundred and ten; and Moelvre I8i, one thousand and thirty-seven. The climate is very various in different situations. On the hills the air is generally cold and sharp; for even the westerly winds, during the greater part of the year, are deprived of their genial mildness in their passage to this county by the snow-clad heights of the Snowdon range; and the more elevated districts are wholly exposed to the east and north: this keenness of the air, however, added to the dryness of the soil, renders the inhabitants of the more hilly regions particularly hardy and robust. The atmosphere of the valleys is milder and more humid; but the Vale of Clwyd, as it opens northward to the sea, is exposed to the full violence of boreal blasts, which are nevertheless supposed to contribute to the salubrity for which it is celebrated: its inhabitants are distinguished for the soundness of their constitutions and their longevity. On some parts of the Hiraethog hills no grain is sown but the hardy oat; and so unpropitious is the climate there, that in some years it never ripens, but is quite green in the month of October. The soils vary in richness, in proportion as their situation is more or less favourable for receiving alluvial deposits from higher grounds. Strong loams, excellently adapted for the cultivation of wheat, &c., and for permanent pastures, occupy the Vale of Clwyd below Ruthin, a low maritime tract in the vicinity of Abergele, the banks of the Conway near Marl, and upwards towards Maenan and Trevriw, the borders of the Dee adjoining Cheshire, and much of the detached portion of the county bordering on the river Vyrnwy. Free loams, adapted for the general purposes of tillage, are found in patches adjoining to, or intermingled with, the strong loams; as also in the Vale of Clwyd, above Ruthin; in the valley of Llanrwst, above Trevriw; in small proportions in the valley of the Tanat, and in the lower parts of the smaller valleys. Light soils, consisting of various admixtures of sandy loams, rounded pebbles, gravel, and peat, more particularly adapted for the culture of barley, peas, turnips, &c., abound in the valleys, particularly in their higher recesses, and on slopes having a southerly aspect: the soils of this kind on the limestone, though shallow, are fertile. Ferny soil, or hazel mould, of various colours, occurs in small tracts, intermingled with the foregoing soils, and on the sides of the inferior hills, naturally producing fern, broom, furze, and underwood of various kinds, particularly hazel and hawthorn. On the slate hills, and on the slopes of the lesser valleys, is found till, or a hungry light mould, tinged with oxyde of iron, producing mountain ash, birch, and dwarf furze. Some parts of the Vale of Clwyd have their soils tinged by a substratum of a reddish sandstone, of loose texture; and a similar soil touches this county at Holt, on the Dee. The dry argillaceous substrata, of which most of the mountains consist, are generally covered with a thin coat of light peat, upon a substratum of till or of shale, and over runwith common heath. The hollows and levels of the Hiraethog mountains abound with a considerable depth of excellent peat for fuel, which is so close-grained that, if cut with a sharp instrument, when dry, it presents a polished surface. About a third part of the vales of Denbighshire is under tillage, and annually produces great quantities of grain for exportation. The common corn crops are wheat, barley, and oats. Wheat is commonly cut with the reaping-hook; and barley, in the Vale of Clwyd, with cradled scythes. Rye is occasionally grown; as also are peas, though to a much less extent than formerly: beans are hardly ever seen. The culture of turnips was introduced into this county about the year 1765, and though it has here made more progress than in the other counties of North Wales, it is yet far from being extensive. Potatoes are grown for home consumption. The most common artificial grass is red clover, with which rye-grass is sometimes mixed: some of the clover is seeded: in the hilly districts hay seeds are obtained from Anglesey. Only the meadows of the Vale of Clwyd, and those bordering on the Dee and the Vyrnwy, are rich enough to fatten cattle: the hilly parts of the county rear great quantities of cattle, to be sold lean to the graziers of richer districts. Artificial irrigation is assiduously practised in all convenient situations. In the more fertile vales of the eastern parts of the county, the grass lands are chiefly appropriated to the dairy, the produce of which, in both cheese and butter, is conveyed in considerable quantities to the markets of Chester, Shrewsbury, and Bridgenorth: the greater part of the cheese is made and sold as Cheshire cheese: a small quantity as Gloucester: annatto is used for colouring in the lowlands, but seldom in the uplands. Lime is the most general manure, where it can be conveniently obtained: it is frequently burned in sod kilns, on'the field to be manured. Sea-thong, or sea-weed, is collected in considerable quantities on the coast after storms, and is highly valued as a manure. Shell-sand,. containing a proportion of from two- thirds to four-fifths of decayed shells, is sometimes imported in sloops from the coasts of Carnarvonshire and Anglesey, for the same purpose, and is the most fertilizing of all. The " Lummas plough," a variation of the Rotherham plough, is in almost universal use, having been first introduced, in place of the large old-fashioned plough, about the year 1760: the Scotch plough, drawn by two horses abreast, is also occasionally seen; but the horse-teams more generally draw singly: oxen are commonly yoked in pairs. The cattle of the high lands are almost wholly of the diminutive race which occupies so much the greater part of North Wales, and are provincially called runts: their colour is chiefly black; their horns long, and curving upwards; and their particular value consists in their extreme hardiness, owing to which they may be reared on their scanty pastures at little expense or trouble. In the vales the cattle are of a superior kind, larger, and of all varieties of colour: those reared in the maritime plain extending from Abergele eastward are distinguished for their aptitude to fatten. The sheep in the mountainous districts are small and hardy, havi generally white faces and legs, and sometimes horns, id their wool is commonly coarse: the weight of their carcass varies from seven to twelve lb. per quarter; that of their fleece, from threequarters of a lb. to two lb. and a half. Another native breed is that which occupies the south-eastern and eastern parts of the county, from the border of Montgomeryshire to Wrexham: they have black faces, and as fine wool as any sheep in the island, that of the Ryeland breed only excepted: the mutton of those fed on the limestone lands is reckoned particularly delicious. Other breeds, of various kinds and crosses, are kept by individuals in the enclosed districts. Hogs are most numerous in the dairy district. In the vales, excellent draught horses, both for the coach and for the waggon, are obtained from England: their colour is generally black, or bay, and they are strong, active, and well made. Towards the eastern border of the county are some orchards, from which, in plentiful seasons, cider and perry are sometimes made for home consumption. The most extensive woodlands are in the Vale of Clwydand on the eastern border of the county: on the latter side there are about five hundred acres in the parish of Chirk only. The woods around Erthig, or Erddig, the seat of Simon Yorke, Esq., are distinguished for their luxuriance, and the taste with which they have been formed: this is the only spot in North Wales where the song of the nightingale is known to have been heard. Some of the most flourishing trees in the Vale of Clwyd are, the oak, sycamore, ash, chesnnt, elm, and poplar. , The enclosures of waste lands, since the year 1790, when they formed one-half of the county, have been very numerous and extensive. The more elevated regions, being sterile, and having so ungenial an aspect, are applied with most profit to the rearing of lean cattle. Some parts of the Vale of Clwyd are rendered of very little value by stagnant water, for which there is no outlet, and which causes the soil to produce little besides rushes and other coarse aquatic grasses; but much of this land has been greatly improved by draining and embanking. Coal is the common fuel, except in the districts most distant from the pits, where peat is used. In the year 1796, an Agricultural Society was established at Wrexham, which extends the sphere of its transactions over the country around that town, to the distance of twenty miles in every direction. In the Vale of Clwyd is a Farmers' Club, which holds its meetings monthly. The geology of this county is interesting, and its mineral productions are various and important, consisting chiefly of coal, iron and lead ores, slates, limestone, and freestone. The Berwyn range of mountains is composed of primitive schistus, that is, such as does not contain iron pyrites, or any impressions or remains of organized bodies; the position of the strata being at the same time nearly perpendicular. The greater part of it lies in thick irregular lamina3, intersected in different places by veins of quartz; but the slates that are quarried are unmixed with quartz, and frequently incline in their position considerably from the perpendicular: the position of the strata is most irregular on the eastern descent of Trim y Sam, and the southern side of Llangollen Vale. On the border of Flintshire, the Clwydian hills consist of argillaceous shale, which, proceeding south-eastward, is bounded on the northeast by the limestone of that county, and on the southwest by that bordering the Vale of Clwyd: from Moel Accre to where this range joins the Hiraethog mountains, at the head of the Vale of Clwyd, limestone and argillaceous strata are met with alternately. The Hiraethog range consists of shale, with grey mountain rock, .or semi-indurated whinstone, and flags used for flooring and for tombstones: this is bounded on the east by limestone, and on the west is intersected by narrow tracts of grey limestone, which run transversely to the direction of the chain of hills. The great limestone tract of North Wales commences in an abrupt precipice, about nine hundred feet high, at Llanymynech, in the south-eastern detached part of this county, and thence proceeding northward, the range of hills of which it is composed forming the western boundary of the great plain of Salop, it is found successively at Porth y Waetn, Coed TreyLech, Soughton, Cyrn y Bwch, Bryn y Garth, and the Vron: near the latter place it reaches the river Dee, and, making a turn towards the north-west, it extends over almost the whole county of Flint, and a great part of that of Denbigh. The south-westernmost line of rocks may be traced from Trevor, on the north. ern side of the Dee, by the bold rocks of Eglwyseg, near Valle Crucis Abbey, the heights of Yale, and the upper extremity of the Vale of Clwyd, down the southwestern side of that beautiful district from Llanelidan to Evenechtyd, Coed Marchan, Llanrhaiadr, Denbigh, Cevn Meiriadog, and Llandulas; and terminates in the cliffs overhanging the sea at Llandudno, or Orme's Head, in Carnarvonshire: the north-easternmost range passes the collieries and freestone quarries at Ruabon to Minera, and thence runs parallel with the former into Flintshire. Eastward and north-eastward of this limestone range, which, in geological position, rests upon the slate, is a rich tract of coal measures, resting upon the limestone, from which they dip eastward while it ranges northward, and north-eastward when its direction is changed to the north-west. The thickest seam, at Brymbo near Wrexham, is fifteen feet; further south, at Ruabon, nine feet; at Chirk, seven feet; and at Llwyn y maen, and other places near Oswestry, only six feet: while at the southern extremity of the field, at Alberbury, in Shropshire, there are no seams thicker than from eighteen inches to two feet: the dip of the strata varies from two yards in three to one yard in seven. The coal is of different qualities: the most bituminous species is called binding, or coking coal ; while others, having less bitumen, and exhibiting varieties of fracture, are called stone coal, hard coal, run splent, &c.: the latter are most useful for domestic purposes, as they do not cohere in burning, or leave many cinders, but emit a clear flame and diffusive heat. The principal coal-pits are in the vicinity of Wrexham and Ruabon, and at Miners, Acrevair, the Cevn, and Black Park near Chirk. Iron-ore is found in connexion with the coal strata, and is raised of a peculiarly excellent quality, and in great quantity, at Brymbo, where there are several furnaces for smelting it, together with the glossy and more fusible ore of Cumberland: there are also extensive iron-works at Acrevair, RhOs-Llanyrygog, and the Cevn; in the neighbourhood of which last place is obtained iron pyrites in large masses, which, being in some cases used in dyeing black, is sent in great quantities, by the Ellesmere canal, to Chester and Liverpool, to be shipped for America. The lead-ore is chiefly found in the limestone, though in some places in a gritstone, and in others in a blackish shale: the principal mines are, that at Miners., near Wrexham, and those in the parish of Llanverras, which have been worked for a long series of ages: the calcareous rocks of Coed Marchan, in the neighbourhood of Ruthin, of Llanverras, and Llanarmon, and along the sea-coast, are also known to contain ores of this metal. A green, dusty, rich ore, called by the miners " copper malm," is found in the, Llanymynech lime-rocks, whence many tons of it have, at different times, been exported to be smelted: calamine is also obtained in great quantitieS at the same place. The limestone is of an excellent quality, and very white in its efflorescence after calcination: it is worked in almost innumerable places. The principal slate quarries are in the south-eastern part of the county, being those of Oernant, near Llangollen, and Glyn Ceiriog: to the former quarry there is a branch from the Ellesmere canal, and the latter are within five miles of the same canal at Chirk: the slates obtained at the former place are more durable than those of the latter, which, when exposed to the action of sulphuric acid, show symptoms of decomposition in four days. Chert is found at Trevarclawdd, near Oswestry, and on the Llechrydau hills, near Glyn Ceiriog. On the banks of the Dee, between Overton and Bangor, are great quantities of ductile clays, that will bear calcination, but are not used by any pottery. Carbonate of lime, in the various forms of spars, stalactites, and coarse mineral agaric, are found at Trevor, near Llangollen. The principal article of manufacture is what are provincially called webs, and, by the London drapers, Welsh plains, or cottons, a coarse sort of thick, white, woollen cloth, made in pieces of from ninety to one hundred and twenty yards long: this is confined to the small district of Glyn, which comprises a few parishes to the north and west of the town of Oswestry in Shropshire, and contains eleven fulling-mills: the webs here made are termed by the drapers "small cloth," to distinguish them from those manufactured in Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire, which are about one-eighth of a yard broader. Instead of lambs' wool, in this manufacture, the clothiers mix, with the woofing of the coarse sort of webs, flocks from the fulling-mills, and, with the finer sort, combings from Yorkshire and Lancashire, generally in the proportion of about one-third. The market for the Glyn webs is held every Wednesday, at the town-hall in Oswestry. The southern parts of the county share in the manufacture of knit woollen stockings and socks, of which Bala, in Merionethshire, is the centre: the northern boundary of this manufacture extends from Bettws, in Merionethshire, by Yspytty-Ivan, and Llanrwst, in this county, to Penmachno, in Carnarvonshire: next to Bala, the principal market for these stockings is at Llanrwst. In the Vale of Llangollen is a factory for spinning cotton yarn, and weaving it by means of power-looms. Many skins of the native sheep, and foreign lamb and kid skins, dressed at DMgelley, in Merionethshire, are sent to Denbigh, and there manufactured into shoes and gloves, the former of which are sent to Liverpool, to be exported to the West Indies; while the latter, to the amount of about seven thousand dozen pairs annually, are disposed of to London, Bristol, and other places. Notwithstanding that this is geographically a maritime county, it possesses neither sea-port nor haven; and as none of its rivers, except the Conway, near its mouth, are navigable, while flowing through it or upon its borders, its natural facilities for watercarriage are very limited. The chief exports are, lean cattle and sheep; webs, stockings, shoes, and gloves; lead; malleable and manufactured iron; slates; and butter, cheese, and bacon: and the principal imports, besides the various kinds of shop- goods for the ordinary supply of the inhabitants, are, dressed skins, to be manufactured at Denbigh; and pig iron, to be rendered malleable. The produce of the greater part of the county in wool is either sold to the adjoining manufacturing districts, or taken to the fairs of Chester and Shrewsbury, where it is purchased by the clothiers of the North of England. At Wrexham is held the greatest fair in North Wales, to which, besides the ordinary articles of sale, is brought the surplus clover and trefoil seed of the surrounding country, and, in some years, great quantities of Dutch grass seeds: at this fair, which commences on the 23rd of March, and continues to the end of the following week, are also exposed great quantities of Yorkshire cloths, and Lancashire and Sheffield manufactured goods, which supply nearly the whole of North Wales, and a great part of South Wales, for the ensuing year. A wool fair was established at Denbigh in the year 1808. The principal rivers are the Dee, the Clwyd, and the Conway; besides which, the smaller rapid streams, descending from the mountains towards any of these three great channels, or from the south-eastern extremity of the county towards the Severn, are very numerous. The Dee, descending from L15-n Tegid, or Bala lake, in Merionethshire, enters a few miles below the small town of Corwen, in that county, and crosses the south-eastern part of Denbighshire from east to west, through the beautiful and picturesque Vale of Llangollen: on reaching the eastern side of Denbighshire it becomes its boundary, and forms the line of division between England and Wales; but flowing north-eastward, it separates from this county; in a very devious part of its course, the large isolated portion of Flintshire, which for several miles occupies its eastern bank: then, becoming the boundary of Cheshire, it takes a northerly course towards the city of Chester, and wholly quits Denbighshire at its north-eastern extremity, at Holt. The chief tributa,ries of the Dee from this county are, the Alwen, which has its source in one of the lakes in the western part of the county, and flows south-eastward into Merionethshire; the Ceiriog, a torrent which descends from the slate mountains in the hundred of Chirk, and joins it below Brknkinalt, in the parish of Chirk; the Clywedog, which it receives from the westward, a little below Bangor, in Flintshire; and the Alyn, which, rising among the hills about Llandegla, flows northward into Flintshire, through which county it makes an extraordinary circuitous course, and again touches Denbighshire in the vicinity of Gresford, from which village it runs eastward to the Dee, a little below Holt. The Clwyd descends northward from a small lake among the hills on the southern border of the county, through the rich and spacious vale to which it gives name, being joined in its course by numerous streams from the mountains on either side; having flowed past the town of Ruthin, it reaches the border of Flintshire, a little below the village of Llandyrnog, and, taking a north-westerly direction, enters that county in the vicinity of Bodvari: its chief tributary is the Aled, which descends in a very irregular north-easterly course from the mountains near the source of the Alwen, in the south-western part of this county, and joins it a little below St. Asaph, in Flintshire. The Conway, issuing out of the small lake called LIyn Conway, at the point of junction of the three shires of Denbigh, Merioneth, and Carnarvon, makes a rapid descent northward in successive cataracts, almost immediately becoming the boundary between the counties of Denbigh and Carnarvon: emerging from under the wooded cliff of Gwydir, it rushes into the beautiful Vale of Nantconway, and, a few miles below the handsome bridge of Llanrwst, enters the eastern confines of Carnarvonshire, between which and Denbighshire, after a course of a few miles, it again becomes the boundary, and so continues until below Llansantfraid, where, fast increasing in breadth, it again enters Carnarvonshire: the Conway is navigable to Llandoged, in this county, near which place it meets the tide. The south-eastern extremity of the county is bounded on the south-west by the rivers Rhaiadr and Tanat successively; the former, about midway in this line, falling into the latter, which in its further course to the Severn is joined by a small stream from the hundred of Chirk. The Ellesmere canal, which forms a communication between the navigable channels of the rivers Mersey, Dee, and Severn, was originally designed to pass from Chester, through the eastern part of the county of Flint, and, entering Denbighshire in the parish of Gres-ford, to haye proceeded southward through the eastern part of this county, to Shrewsbury; thus also opening a direct communication between Chester and the great coal district of Denbighshire. But, owing to the broken and unsound state of the country, caused by the various excavations which had been made for coal and other minerals, it was found necessary to abandon the construction of the above-mentioned line, in the country lying between Chester and the vicinity of Ruabon, to which a branch of the main canal now extends northward from the vicinity of Ellesmere, and terminates on the northern side of the Dee, at Pont Cysylltau. Here it is met by several rail-roads from the collieries, furnaces, and forges in the parish of Ruabon; and adjacent to it have been constructed basins, wharfs, and warehouses, which afford facilities for a considerable trade in the mineral produce of the country, &c. Hence a navigable branch extends up the northern bank of the Dee to Trevor, Llangollen, and the vicinity of the Oernant slate quarries, near Llantysillio, where it receives a powerful stream of water from the river Dee, turned into it by a very extensive weir and flood-gates, and by this means supplies an extent of nearly forty miles of the main canal and its branches. From Pont Cysylltau the principal branch crosses the Dee and the Vale of Llangollen upon a magnificent aqueduct, constructed partly of cast iron, one thousand and seven feet long, and one hundred and twenty-six feet eight inches high above the bed of the river: from the southern end of this aqueduct it is conveyed, by means of a high embankment, about five hundred yards in length, to the same side of the valley, passes the Vron lime-works, and then, after being carried through a tunnel, proceeds between the village and castle of Chirk, within a very short distance of Black Park colliery, from which there is a tram-road leading to a wharf on its banks: it then enters another tunnel, on emerging from which, near the village of Chirk, it is conveyed across the valley and river of Ceiriog, into Shropshire, by a second aqueduct of freestone, of ten arches, seven hundred feet in length, and seventy feet high above the surface of the ground below: proceeding towards Shrewsbury, a branch from the vicinity of Frankton takes a south-westerly direction to the Llanymynech lime-works, in the detached part of the county, on the borders of Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. Here terminates, in this direction, the property of the Ellesmere Canal Company, and the navigation is continued to Welshpool and Newtown by the Montgomeryshire canal, the work of a separate company, which hence crosses the river Vyrnwy into the county of Montgomery, on an aqueduct, of five arches, each of forty-five feet span, and twenty-five feet high above the ordinary level of the water' in the river beneath: there are, besides, various smaller arches for the passage of flood water. From the lime-rocks at Llanymynech a railway, about two miles and a half in length, greatly facilitates the conveyance to the boats on the canal. The total length of the branch canal, which terminates at Pont Cysylltau, is little more than eleven miles; that of the navigable feeder, which extends to the Dee at Llantysillio, nearly six miles; and that of the Ruabon brook railway, which proceeds from the termination of the canal at Pont Cysylltau through an extensive coal field to Ruabon brook, three miles and a quarter. The roads of Denbighshire are in general good, the materials for making and repairing them being abundant and of good quality: their extent has also of late years been greatly increased. The great mail-coach road from London to Holyhead, by Birmingham and Shrewsbury, enters it from Oswestry at the village of Chirk, and crosses its south-eastern extremity, through Llangollen, to Corwen in Merionethshire, beyond which it again passes for some distance within its southern boundary. The old mail-coach road from London to Holyhead, by Chester, runs across the northern part of the county, from St. Asaph, in Flintshire, through Aber7 gele, to Aberconway in Carnarvonshire: a branch from this, at the village of Northop, in Flintshire, passes through Denbigh, and rejoins the main road at Aberconway. This county contains no remains of Roman occupation, unless the vast mining level which pierces the limestone hill at Llanymynech be of their formation: in this, now called Yr Ogo, or " the Cavern," have been found various Roman coins and other interesting antiquities, besides numerous skeletons. On one of the sloping sides of this hill is raised a stupendous rampart of loose stones, accompanied by a deep fosse, beyond which are two other fosses, cut in the rock with immense labour. But the most ancient monument of known date is " the Pillar of Eliseg," raised in memory of a British chieftain of that name, slain in battle against the Saxons, near Chester, in the year 607, by his grandson, Concenn: it is situated about two miles from Llangollen. Offa's Dyke, still by the Welsh designated by the synonymous appellation of Clawdd Offa, may be plainly traced in nearly the whole of its course through this county, which it enters from the northwestern part of Shropshire, in crossing the river Ceiriog to Glyn, whence it proceeds by Chirk castle and across the river Dee and the Ruabon road, and forms part of the Wrexham road, as far as Pentre Bychan: hence it is continued, by PIM Power, Adwy 'r Clawdd near Minera, and Brymbo, across the little river Cegidog, and on the southern side of Bryn Yorkyn mountain into Flintshire, its direction being first northward and then north-westward: near Chirk castle, by the river Ceiriog, is a large breach in it, supposed to be the place of interment of the English who fell in the battle of Crogen, and still called Adwy 'r Beddau, or " the Pass of the Graves: " it is observable that the ditch is in all parts on the western, or Welsh, side of the rampart, and along its course are many artificial mounts, the sites of small forts. Wat's Dyke, to the east of Offa's Dyke, of equally large proportions, but not of so great a length, is first discoverable to the south of Maesbury, in the vicinity of Oswestry, whence it may be traced across the eastern part of this county to the estuary of the Dee, near Basingwerk, in Flintshire it enters Denbighshire, in crossing the Ceiriog at the spot where that river unites with the Dee, between Bilnkinalt and Pen y Lan; and then takes its course through Wynnstay Park, and by Pentre 'r Clawdd to Erddig, where there is the site of a strong fort: hence it passes above Wrexham, near Melin Puleston, by 1361ydd, Maes- gwjrn, RhOs-ddtt, Gwersylt, across the Alyn, and through the township of Llai, to Trenddin, in the county of Flint. Mr. Pennant notices it as remarkable, that Wat's Dyke should have been overlooked, or confounded with that of Offa, by all early writers, except Thomas Churchyard, the poet, who supposes the object of its formation to have been, that the intervening space between it and the latter might be free ground, for the purposes of traffic, between the Danes and the Britons. On one of the limestone hills to the west of Abergele, called Copa yr Wylva, or the " Mount of the Watch Tower," are the remains of a very strong British post; as there are also of another, called Caerddin, or Garthen, on a lofty hill, about two hundred yards distant from Offa's Dyke, near Ruabon; and of a third, at the extremity of the elevated ridge, overlooking the Vale of Gresford, in a field called the Rofts. In the parish of St. George, on the summit of a hill called Pen y pare, are vestiges of the camp occupied by Owain. Gwynedd, after his retreat from Cli Owain. In the parish of Llanarmon are numerous remarkable sepulchral tumuli, or barrows, of different forms, composed of stones and earth, covered with sods, and enclosing cinders, fragments of bones, and urns containing ashes. At the time of the Reformation there were, at Denbigh, a house of Carmelite friars; at Ruthin, a college of regular priests; and at Llanegwest, a Cistercian abbey, called De Valle Crud*: the remains of the last form an interesting and romantic object. The most remarkable churches are those of Gresford, Llanrhaiadr, Rua-bon, Ruthin, and Wrexham, which latter is one of the most beautiful specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the principality. That of Henllan, too, is rendered worthy of notice by the peculiarity of its tower standing on a lofty rock, while the body of the edifice is situated in the vale below. There yet exist picturesque ruins of the castles of Casten Dinas Bran, near Llangollen; Denbigh; Holt; and Ruthin: Chirk Castle is now the large and ancient mansion of Robert Myddelton Biddulph, Esq., having been awarded by the Court of Chancery to his mother, as one of the coheiresses of the Myddelton family. Near the village of Llanarmon, on a remarkably large artificial mount, called Tommen y Vaerdre, may be traced the foundations of a square fort. The principal modern residences in the county are, Acton Hall, the seat of Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart.; Bathavern Park, that of Thomas Downward, Esq.; Brynkinalt, that of Viscount Dungannon; Dyfryn Med, that of P. Wynne Yorke, Esq.; Erddig, that of Simon Yorke, Esq. ; Eyarth, that of Richard Miles Wynne, Esq.; Galtvaenon, that of J. Lloyd Sainsbury, Esq.; Glanywern, that of John Madocks, Esq.; Gresford Lodge, that of Mrs. W. Egerton; Gwersylt, that of John Williams, Esq.; Kinmel, that of Lord Dinorben; Llanbedr Hall, that of Joseph Ablett, Esq.; Llanerch, that of Mrs. Allinson; Llangedwin, that of the Rt. Hon. Charles Williams Wynn; Lifts Meirchion, that of the Rev. Robert Chambres; Pen y Lan, that of Ed. Lloyd Williams, Esq. ; Penbedw, that of Thos. Molineux Williams, Esq.; Plis Heaton, that of John Heaton, Esq.; Phis Power, that of Thomas Fitzhugh, Esq.; Pool Park, that of Lord Bagot; Ruthin Castle, that of the Hon. Frederick West; Trevallyn, that of John Townshend,, Esq.; and Wynnstay, the princely residence of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart. Though the farm-houses and offices are, in numerous instances upon modern and improved plans, yet the greater number is of an inferior kind. In the vicinity of the slate hills the fences are commonly walls of flat stones; but modern fences are most frequently made of hawthorn sets, of which great quantities are raised by nurserymen in this county. In those parts of Denbighshire bordering on Cheshire servants hired for the year commence their term of service on the 1st of January; but in the rest of the county, on the 1st of May. During the hay and corn harvest, the farmers of the Vale of Clwyd and its vicinity go every morning to the cross, or market-place, of any of the towns of Wrexham, Ruthin, or Denbigh, to hire workmen for that day only; the latter being there assembled for the purpose, with their scythes and hooks. From time immemorial it has been customary for men, of from forty to sixty years of age, to come down, during the winter season, into the lowlands of this county, from Merionethshire and other mountainous districts, as professed feeders of cattle: they are commonly called " cow-men." The farmers of the lower parts of Denbighshire excel those of most other parts of North Wales in the quality of their bread, beef, bacon, cheese, and ale, which constitute the main support of the labouring classes; but advancing thence into the more mountainous tracts, the wheaten bread is found mixed with different proportions of rye and barley, or wholly superseded by oatmeal cake. There are springs of ancient celebrity, for their medicinal qualities, in the parish of St. George; at the foot of an eminence, called Gwladus' Chair, to the north-west of the church of Llanrhaiadr; and near the church of Llandegla.. A lofty precipice on the sea-shore to the west of Abergele, called Cevn Ogo, is pierced by several caverns, washed by the waves at high water: the largest of these, by way of distinction, is called Yr Ogo, or " The Cavern," and has its roof and sides decorated with stalactites, in various fanciful forms. The most remarkable waterfalls are, two upon the river Aled, near its source; and that of Pistylk Rhaiadr, near Llanrhaiadr yn MOchnant.