WORTHENBURY, a parish, in the union of WREXHAM, hundred of MAELOR, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 7 miles (E. S. E.) from Wrexham; containing 620 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the banks of the river Dee, and on the road from Wrexham to Malpas, in the county of Chester, is entirely agricultural, and principally divided between the proprietors of the estates of Emral and Broughton, which constitute nearly the whole of the parish. Emral is at present the seat of Sir Richard Puleston, Bart., whose ancestors, originally of Norman descent, have resided here in uninterrupted succession since the reign of Edw. I. The first of the family who settled at this place was Sir Roger de Puleston, a great favourite of that monarch, who, after his conquest of Wales, appointed him collector of the taxes which he had imposed on the Welsh, for carrying on the war against France, and also made him sheriff and keeper of the county of Anglesey for life. The Welsh, exasperated by the levying of taxes which they had not previously been accustomed to pay, seized Sir Roger, at Carnarvon, and hanged him on the spot. Edward, incensed at the violence committed on his lieutenant, severely punished the insurgents, and also chose his son, Richard de Puleston, sheriff of the county; and in the second parliament, to which the shire and the borough, after the incorporation of the latter, returned members, the former elected John and the latter Robert de Puleston for their representatives, as if to atone to the descendants for the outrage committed upon their ancestor. Sir Richard, the late proprietor of Emral, had the honour, in 1806, of introducing into Wales his Majesty George IV., when Prince; in commemoration of which event his Royal Highness was pleased to signify his approbation that -Sir Richard, as a testimony of his regard and esteem, should bear, as a crest, an oak tree, with an escutcheon pendant therefrom, charged with three ostrich feathers within a coronet. Sir Richarddied in May 1840, and was succeeded by his son, the present baronet. Broughton is also a spacious mansion, to which are attached extensive grounds, and is likewise an ancient family residence. The soil of the higher lands of the parish is in general good loamy clay, producing superior crops of wheat, and rich pasturage; that in the lower, which is subject to partial floods from the river and some tributary brooks that intersect it, is formed of alluvial earth. The river Dee forms the boundary of part of the parish on the north-west, where it also separates the counties of Denbigh and Flint. This place was formerly a chapelry to BangorIscoed, from which it was severed under the provisions of an act of parliament for uniting and dividing parishes, in 1658: the living was, however, taken possession of by Dr. Bridgeman, rector of Bangor, in 1661, but was ultimately again separated, and Worthenbury made a distinct parish, by an act obtained in the 2nd of William and Mary. The LIVING is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £19. 13. 4.; patron, Sir Richard Puleston: the tithes, which have been commuted for a rent-charge of £400, formerly belonged to the family of Puleston, subject to a small payment to the incumbent of Bangor. Judge Puleston, being desirous of establishing a resident minister here, erected a good house near the church, in 1657, and endowed the living with £100 per annum, upon condition that his chaplain, Philip Henry, who had entered his family as tutor, in 1653, would undertake the cure of souls; which offer being accepted, Mr. Henry resided in the house, and performed the duties of the incumbency till 1661, when he was suspended from his charge for non-conformity, and in the following year quitted the parish. During the insurrection of the inhabitants of the county of Chester, in 1659, some of Lambert's forces came to this church, to attend the ministry of that celebrated preacher. The church, dedicated to St. Deiniol, is a handsome modern edifice of brick, with a lofty tower, ornamented on the summit with urns and crosses alternately. Here is a school, in which about 50 children daily and 45 on Sundays are educated at the expense of their parents. Thomas Puleston, Esq., in 1739, bequeathed £150 for building a school-house in the churchyard, for the gratuitous instruction of poor children, and for six small houses to be let rent-free to decayed tenants on the Emral estate; but this charity was never carried into effect, as neither school nor almshouses have been erected. From the benefaction table it appears that a sum of £46 was left by several unknown donors to the poor, which was in the hands of the Rev. Dr. Puleston; and the equivalent is supposed to be a distribution of six twopenny loaves of bread on Sunday in the church to as many old persons, at the charge of Sir Richard Puleston. Sir John Puleston, of Emral, was chamberlain of North Wales in 1554; and John Puleston, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, was born at Emral.