Denbighshire

“ Evans visited the spot, or whether she was only told of them by her informant. Even in the latter case it seems evident that this habit of tying rags on trees or bushes near sacred wells has only ceased in that part of Denbighshire within this century. It is very possible that it continued in North Wales more recently than this instance would lead one to suppose; indeed, I should not be in the least surprised to learn that it is still practised in out-of-the-way places in Gwynedd, just as it is in Glamorgan. We want more facts. ”

“ On 10 May 1695 Price was heard before the lords of the treasury in opposition to the grant made by the king to the Earl of Portland of the lordships of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale. On 14 Jan. 1696 he presented a petition of the freeholders and inhabitants of Denbighshire to the House of Commons against the grant, and his motion for an address to the king was carried unanimously. ”

“ JONES, OWEN (1741–1814) , Welsh antiquary, was born on the 3rd of September 1741 at Llanvihangel Glyn y Myvyr in Denbighshire. In 1760 he entered the service of a London firm of furriers, to whose business he ultimately succeeded. He had from boyhood studied Welsh literature, and later devoted time and money to its collection. ”

“ Morus Huw of Perthi Llwydion, near Cerrig-y-Druidion, Denbighshire, a distinguished poet, who flourished from about the year 1600 to 1650. He is generally considered to be the best song writer that has appeared in Wales. Many of his compositions are in the Blodeugerdd.
Thomas Jones, bardd cloff (the lame bard) . This highly respectable bard was born at Mynydd Bychan (the little mountain) , in the parish of Llantysilio, Denbighshire, April 15, 1768. When quite an infant, he met with an accident which lamed him for p. 91life—hence the appellation of the lame bard. ”

“ Area, 565 sq. m. There is, owing to the changed bed of the Conwy stream, a small detached part of the county on the north coast of Denbighshire, stretching inland for some 21⁄2 m. between Old Colwyn and Llandulas. About half the whole length of the county is a peninsula, Lleyn, running south-west into the Irish Sea, and forming Cardigan Bay on the south and Carnarvon Bay on the north. The county is rich in minerals, e.g. lead, copper, some gold. Its slate quarries are many and good. Its mountains include the highest in England and Wales, the summit of Snowdon (Wyddfa or Eryri) being 3560 ft. ”

“ Glendower has plenty of men, but no doubt needs money sorely. He can draw no revenue from his estates in Denbigh, and those in South Wales cannot suffice for the expenses of feeding the body of men, always under arms. Doubtless he will ask for a great sum, and 'tis like that he will get it. Grey is a favourite of the king, and the latter will doubtless aid him, for he needs his services to hold Flint and Denbighshire against the Welsh.
"Moreover, methinks that the king would, for another reason, make every effort to buy Lord Grey's freedom ”

“ The Roman Road, from Segontium to Conovium, must have passed near it, probably on the South side; and this high mountain, so conspicuous and so easily distinguished at a distance, formed a kind of link, no doubt, in the military chain of communication p. 28between this County and Denbighshire, as it is very visible from Dinorwick, (now called Pen Dinas) a Roman Encampment in the Parish of Llanddeiniolen, near Carnarvon, on the West, and from many fortified eminences in the other County, on the East. The usual signals in ancient times were fires by night, and a particular kind of flag by day. ”

“ Denbigh, situated nearly in the centre of the vale of Clwyd, is a well-built town, standing on the declivity of a hill. A large manufactory of shoes and gloves is here carried on, and annually supplies London with a vast quantity. The ruins of the castle, still remaining on a rock, commanding the town, are too celebrated in history, and too cruelly shattered by the ravages of war, to be passed unnoticed. The principal entrance forms a fine Gothic arch, with the statue of King Edward the First its founder, above it, in an elegant nich, curiously carved, encircled with a square stone frame. ”

“ The borough town of Denbigh occupies the sides of a steep hill, rising abruptly from the level of the beautiful vale of Clwyd, and bearing on its towering crest the venerable ruins of an ancient castle, a proud memorial of the bravery of the inhabitants in those days, when love of anarchy was mistaken for independence, and loyalty and fidelity were terms of reproach. The principal street approaches the market-place from the foot of the hill, and contains several very elegant and handsome private residences. The Town Hall possesses no architectural beauties, its sole merit is utility. ”

“ Within the castle enclosure, in a tiny cottage, John Henry Rowlands, or Stanley, the African explorer, was born. Very eager is Denbigh to claim this distinguished man, and but little can you get them to say about the brutal treatment which drove him away from home and made him a wanderer upon the face of the earth. Denbigh claims Twm o’r Nant also,—he is buried at the bottom of the town in Whitchurch,—but not content with claiming him, they canonize him with the absurd name of “Welsh Shakespeare.” ”

“ With the exception of the Dee and Conway, which form natural county bounds on the east and west, the rivers of Denbigh are inconsiderable. The mean elevation of the interior district, extending from Bettws-Abergele to Derwen, and from Denbigh to the Gwytherin hills; is about eight hundred feet above sea level. Several small pools are found amongst the hills, possessing neither great extent nor much natural beauty; and, being collected in the highest regions, they are devoid of those accompaniments which give such picturesque p. ”

“ In that case, the older designation, Caledfryn-yn-Rhos (“a rocky hill in Rhos”) , was much more appropriate, for the town ascends by one long street to heights that appear mountainous to the tired pedestrian; and from Denbigh Castle, the ruins of which occupy the summit of this “small hill,” the land slopes off suddenly to an immense depth of rich pastoral landscape, enclosed in a basin of lofty but graciously rounded hills. Like Carnarvon, Denbigh Castle is to some extent being rebuilt ”

“ Its square battlemented tower has a very fine appearance, crowning the clump of village houses on the hill-top, as you approach from Rhyddlan. The ascent of the hill is very steep; so it is at Denbigh and at Ruthin,—the steepest streets, indeed, that I ever climbed. Denbigh is a place of still more antique aspect than St. Asaph; it looks, I think, even older than Chester, with its gabled houses, many of their windows opening on hinges, and their fronts resting on pillars, with an open porch beneath. The castle makes an admirably ruinous figure on the hill, higher than the village. ”

“ Their intercourse was, however, maintained by letter, and they also frequently met at Lumley Castle, a seat of the countess's, within two days' ride of the doctor's parish, until her increasing indisposition rendered journeying impossible; then, indeed, the doctor extended his rides into Wales, but with longer intervals between his visits, though with the happiest effects to the objects of his journey.
Mr. Denbigh, worn down with watching and blasted hopes, under the direction of the spiritual watchfulness of the rector of B——, became an humble, sincere, and pious Christian. ”

“ After the Earl of Denbigh's death she redoubled her appeals to her son ‘to leave that merciless company which was the death of his father. Now is the time that God and nature claim it from you. Before you were carried away by error, but now it is hideous and monstrous’ (ib. p. 260) . His succession to his father's title increased Denbigh's importance to the parliament, and he was given the post left vacant by the death of Lord Brooke [see Greville, Robert] . ”

“ Denbigh Castle, surrounding the hill with a double wall, was built, in Edward I.’s reign, by Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, from whom the town received its first charter. The outer wall is nearly a mile round ”

“ Undoubtedly, however, this prince was born in the town. One feels indignant sometimes, perhaps often, in Wales at the value set upon celebrity, the celebrity which “pays”; at Denbigh the proud claiming of Stanley, the explorer, where the poor lad was knocked about [113] and abused worse than some cur of the streets; the exploitation of Dr. Johnson, who happened to be with Mrs. Piozzi in the vicinity of Denbigh for a few days; and then this English Prince of Wales whom the Welsh insist upon having born in the tower which he himself built! ”

“ When the Civil War broke out Feilding, unlike the other members of his family, ranged himself among the Parliamentarians, led a regiment of horse at Edgehill, and, having become earl of Denbigh in April 1643, was made commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army in Warwickshire and the neighbouring counties, and lord-lieutenant of Warwickshire. ”

“ To this affectionate offer of Sir Edward, Denbigh replied with an emotion equal to that of the baronet, though he declined, with respectful language, his offered assistance as unnecessary. He had friends powerful enough to advance his interests, without resorting to the use of money; and on taking Sir Edward's hand, as he left the apartment, he added with great warmth, "yet, my dear sir, the day will come, I hope, when I shall ask a boon from your hands, that no act of mine or a life of service could entitle me to receive." ”

“ The churches are very neat, and the cathedral an august old pile; there is an ancient monument of an Emperor of Germany, with assemblies every week. While I continued at Chester, I made an excursion into North Wales, and went into Denbigh, the capital of that country, where are the remains of a very great and old castle, as is also at Flint, the capital of Flintshire. These castles were the frontier garrisons of Wales before it came under the subjection of England. The country is mountainous, and full of iron and lead works ”

“ It was, however, impossible that the death of a man of Mr. Denbigh's rank should be unnoticed in the prints, and the care of Francis dictated the simple truth without comments, as it appeared. As regarded the Moseleys, what was more natural than that the son of Mr. Denbigh should also be Mr. Denbigh?
In the presence of the rector's family no allusions were made to their friends, and the villagers and the neighborhood spoke of them as old and young Mr. Denbigh.
The name of Lord Lumley, now Earl of Pendennyss, was known to the whole British nation ”

“ I am very unhappy. I have not had the heart left in me to admire Dr. Denbigh, who has filled his role brilliantly all the afternoon. In half an hour he and Aunt Elizabeth had philandered as deep as a six months' flirtation; and I must say that they have kept at it with an art amounting almost to sincerity. Aunt Elizabeth did not once mention settlement work, and put no inquiries to Dr. Denbigh about Elizabeth Frye, Dorothea Dix, or Clara Barton. ”

“ For these exploits he received the thanks of parliament. During this period, and throughout the whole of Denbigh's command, he was engaged in a bitter quarrel with the committees of Warwickshire and Shropshire. He was accused of allowing his soldiers to plunder, protecting royalists, discouraging the well-affected, and carrying on suspicious communications with the enemy (Commons' Journals, iii. 604; Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. pp. 19, 27, 34, 41) . Denbigh answered their complaints in a vindication of his conduct which is printed in the ‘Journals of the House of Lords,’ and on 8 Nov. ”

“ So Lord Denbeigh sailed with the Earl of Essex for the war in Spain, and my lady's soul left her body and went with him; for surely 'twas but her body that remained at Amhurste. All day long would she sit silent, nor move, nor look, and her hands the one upon the other before her, as who should say, "I am done with all things, whether of work or of play." ”

“ Letter 61 To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, Jan. 22, 1761. (page 108)
I am glad you are coming, and now the time is over, that you are coming so late, as I like to have you here in the spring. You will find no great novelty in the new reign. Lord Denbigh (123) is made master of the harriers, with two thousand a-year. Lord Temple asked it, and Newcastle and Hardwicke gave into it for fear of Denbigh's brutality in the House of Lords. ”

“ Hilary's Chapel, which is that which the town uses. The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from space to space, and covered with a roof. A more [1196] elegant and lofty Hovel.
The rivers here, are mere torrents which are suddenly swelled by the rain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constant stream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy. There are yet no mountains. The ground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified by inequalities.
In the parish church of Denbigh is a bas relief of Lloyd the antiquary, who was before Camden. ”

“ His friend, Ortelius, owes to him his map of England; and some of the most rare and valuable works in the British Museum were collected by Llwyd for his brother-in-law, Lord Lumley. He was born in the town of Denbigh in the year 1527, and died at the early age of forty-one. The altar tomb of Sir John Salisbury is a rich specimen of monumental architecture. In the cemetery surrounding the church is a slab to the memory of Twm y Nant, the Cambrian Shakspeare, who died in the year 1810, at the age of seventy-one years. (See account of Denbigh Castle, p. 72.) ”

“ FEILDING, BASIL, second Earl of Denbigh (d. 1674) , eldest son of William Feilding, first earl of Denbigh [q. v.] , was born before 1608, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, created a knight of the Bath, 1 Feb. 1626, and summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Feilding of Newnham Paddox, Warwickshire, 21 March 1628 (Doyle, Official Baronage, i. 539) . At first he attached himself to the fortunes of his uncle the Duke of Buckingham. ”