HOLT, a parish, in the hundred of BROMFIELD, county of DENBIGH, NORTH WALES, comprising the borough of Holt, and the
parochial chapelry of Is-y-Coed, in which latter are the townships of Caeca Dutton, Dutton y Bran, Dutton Difieth, Ridley,
and Sutton, each of which is separately assessed for the maintenance of its poor, and containing 1609 inhabitants, of
which number, 1015 are in the borough of Holt, 99 miles (B. 3. E.) from Denbigh, 21 (E. by Et) from Rutbin, and 191 (N.
w.) from London. This parish, which is the only portion of the grant made to the see of Chester by Edward the Confessor,
of all the lands on the western side of the river Dee, now remaining to that see, is supposed to have contained, under the
Roman dominion in Britain, an outpost to the station Dena (Chester); and the fortress erected here, according to some
antiquaries, was called, from that circumstance, Castra Legioxis, or "the castle of the legion," preserved in its
synonymous Welsh name of Castell Dean, which, on its coming into the possession of John Earl Warren, in the reign of
Edward I., was probably, by mistaking Ideas for the plural of Dew, changed into "the Castle of Lions," or "Lyons," which
it continued to bear for ages. Its present name is probably derived from a family of the name of Holt, who are said to
have held it prior to this period, probably under a lord paramount. Warren having, after the death of Madoc, (one of the
sons of Grufydd ab Madoc who had been entrusted to his guardianship by Edward I., and whom he caused to be drowned under
Holt bridge), obtained from that monarch a grant of Dines Briin and all Bromfield, in order to secure his possessions,
began to erect the castle of Holt, for which this parish is chiefly distinguished, and which gave rise to the present
borough; but dying soon after, he left the completion of it to his son William. This castle afterwards came by marriage
into the possession of Edward Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel: after the attainder and execution of Richard Earl of Arundel, in
the reign of Richard II., it reverted to the crown, and that monarch deposited there, during his expedition to Ireland,
plate and jewels of the value of two hundred thousand marks, and one hundred thousand marks in money, all which treasure,
together with the fortress, was delivered up to Bolingbroke, in 1399, prior to the deposition of that monarch. In the
following reign the estates were restored to the Fitz-Alans; and Thomas Earl of Arundel, in 1410, granted the inhabitants
a charter of incorporation, but, jealous of the Welsh, who were ever on the alert to throw off the English yoke, precluded
all but Englishmen from participating in the privileges then bestowed. In the reign of Henry VII., the lordship and castle
of Holt were granted to Sir William Stanley, who repaired and altered the latter at a great expense, but on whose
subsequent attainder for high treason, Henry not only resumed the lordship, but confiscated to his own use the treasures
found in the castle, which, exclusively of jewels, amounted to more than forty thousand marks in money and plate. Henry
VIII. bestowed this lordship on his natural son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, on whose decease soon after, at the age
of seventeen, it again reverted to the crown. In the reign of Edward VI., Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral, and brother of the
Protector, had possession of the lordship and castle, the latter of which he made subservient to the promotion of his
ambitious projects, collecting in it a large magazine of warlike stores and ammunition; but, being attainted of high
treason, and found guilty, he was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, in 1549, when Holt once more reverted to the crown.
During the civil war in the reign of Charles I., this castle was an important fortress, and was alternately in the
possession of each of the contending parties. In 1648, it was besieged and taken for the parliament, by Sir William
Brereton and Sir Thomas Myddelton; but was shortly after retaken by the royalists, and valiantly defended by Sir Richard
Lloyd, of Esclusham, near Wrexham, in 1646, against the parliamentarian forces under Major-General Mytton, to whom, after
an obstinate resistance, it was finally surrendered upon honourable terms, and was immediately demolished by order of the
parliament. Though anciently a place of some note, this borough at present constitutes only an inconsiderable village,
situated on the road from Wrexham to Nantwich, on an eminence rising gently from a spacious vale, and on the western bank
of the Dee, in the navigable part of its course, and immediately above the point where this river is joined from the west
by the powerful stream of the Alyn. The surrounding scenery, owing to the flatness of the country, is not of the most
pleasing character; the Dee, in this part of its course, flowing smoothly through a tract of meadows unadorned by any
picturesque beauty. This river is here crossed to the village of Farndon, in Cheshire, by a stone bridge of ten arches, of
very curious and ancient construction, which appears, from an inscription formerly to be seen over a portion called the
Lady's Arch, to have been built in the year 1345. The parish comprises two thousand seven hundred and twenty-six acres,
which are flat and liable to be flooded by the river Dee: the soil consists partly of gravel and partly of clay. A
market, which was formerly held at Holt, has long been discontinued: it nevertheless has two annual fairs for cattle, on
June lith and October 29th. By virtue of the above-mentioned charter of Thomas Earl of Arundel, granted with the royal
sanction, and dated from his " Castle of Lyons," it is still governed by a mayor, two bailiffs, and a coroner, who are
elected annually. By the 27th of Henry VIII., Leon, otherwise Holt, was made a contributory borough, to share with those
of Denbigh and Ruthin in the return of a member to parliament: the right of election was formerly vested in the resident
burgesses, in number at present one hundred and fourteen. Serious quarrels concerning the election of a. burgess have at
different times arisen, from great numbers of strangers being made burgesses of Holt, for the express purpose of voting at
these elections. By the act for amending the representation of the people, recently passed, the town of Wrexham has been
added to this district of contributory boroughs; and the privilege of exercising the elective franchise has-been extended
to all male persons of full age occupying, either as owner or as tenant under the game landlord, a house or other premises
of the annual value of not less than ten pounds, provided they be capable of registering as the act directs. The limits of
the borough are co-extensive with the township of Holt, and comprise an area of about nine miles in circumference: the
present number of houses of the annual value of not less than ten pounds is thirty-eight: the bailiffs of Denbigh are the
returning officers. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £200
private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. The church,
dedicated to St. Chad, is a handsome structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a good square embattled
tower: the interior consists of a nave and aisles of equal height, without a clerestory. There is a place of worship for
Wesleyan Methodists. A school for the instruction of children of this parish was founded in 1664, by Mr. Griffith Roberts,
who endowed it with property now producing £52 per annum. Mr. John Brown bequeathed the interest of £200, and Mrs.
Gartside the interest of £50, to be annually distributed in bread to the poor of the borough; and there are also some
other bequests for charitable purposes. The castle was a strong pentagonal fortress, occupying the summit of a rock,
environed on three sides by a broad moat, excavated in quarrying stone for its erection, and on the fourth by the river
Dee: it was fended at four of the angles by massive circular bastions, from which issued slender embattled turrets, and
at the fifth angle and also at the entrance by square towers, of which the former was the " donjon," or keep, while the
approach to the latter was defended by a drawbridge and portcullis. Of this once strong and important fortress there are
no remains, except slight vestiges of the moat. Coins of Antoninus and other Roman emperors have been found here; and
slight traces of earthworks, supposed to be of Roman construction, are yet visible near the castle, and on the opposite
side of the river. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor of the town and parish amounts to £660. 15.,
of which sum, £386. 15. is raised for the township of Holt.