KILKEN (CIL-CAIN), a parish, in the Northop division of the hundred of COLESHILL, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 4 miles (W.
by N.) from Mold, containing 1189 inhabitants. This parish is supposed by some to have derived its name from CU, a
retreat, and Cain, fair, or pleasant; but others deduce it from Eurgain, niece to St. Asaph, second bishop of the see,
which, after his canonization, obtained its name from him. Eurgain was brought up and educated by her uncle, and, during
the general persecutions which at that tune assailed the establishment of the Christian religion, retired to the district
included in the present parish of Kilken, in a vale under Mod Vamma, the loftiest of the Clwyttum mountains, where she
built a cell, and lived in solitude and devotion. From her pious and exemplary life she acquired the appellation of
Eurgain, signifying " the fairness of gold ;" and shortly afterwards a church was erected near the site of her hermitage,
and consecrated to her memory: the vale in which she dwelt is still called Nant Cain, and the brook which runs from the
mountain that shelters it also retains the name of Cain. The village is pleasantly situated on the river Alyn, and the
vicinity is enlivened by pleasing and finely varied scenery. The parish comprises five thousand five hundred and fifty
acres of land, which are chiefly gravelly, with some wet stiff soil: it is partly hilly and partly fiat: two thousand
four hundred acres of waste land were enclosed pursuant to an act obtained in 1793. On the mountain of Mod Vamma, near its
confines, is the Jubilee Column, erected to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of George the Third's accession to the
throne. The neighbourhood abounds with mineral wealth, and considerable mines of lead were formerly wrought to great
advantage; but, owing to the low price of the ore, some of them are at present discontinued. Fairs are held on March
14th, July 7th, and October 12th. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated
in the king's books at 46. 6., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph: there is also a sinecure rectory, rated
at £16. 14. 7., and in the gift of the Bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a small but interesting structure,
and is distinguished for the beauty of its roof of finely carved oak, which was brought from Basingwerk abbey, at the
dissolution of that establishment: it is an elegant piece of workmanship, and is supported by arches springing from
corbels decorated with angels bearing shields, on which the cross and other emblems of the Crucifixion are displayed.
There are places of worship for Independents and Calvinistic Methodists. A parochial school has recently been erected by
subscription, but the endowment is very inconsiderable, and only a few children receive instruction. There are various
charitable bequests to a considerable amount for distribution among the poor. In the mountainous districts of the parish
are several small camps and numerous tumuli. Near Kilken Hall, in the vale of Nannerch, is the celebrated Fynnon Leinw, or
"flowing well," which Camden describes as flowing and ebbing with the tide; but this peculiarity has long since ceased to
distinguish it: it is a copious and limpid spring, and is much resorted to for bathing, for which purpose it bas been
enclosed, and is said to possess properties fully equal, if not superior, to those of the far-famed spring at Holywell.
The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to 464/6. 13.