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The old county of Brecknockshire has lost some of its southern territory to the new Borough of Wrexham and a portion to the north to the new Borough of Conwy whilst gaining some ground from the dissolution of Merionethshire
The Romans knew this county as Venedotia, and included the county in the province of Brittainia Secunda; in the time of Egbert it was overrun by the kings of Mercia, and from very early days was one of the battlegrounds in the long struggle that ended when the infant English prince was born at Carnarvon, the first Prince of Wales of the English royal house. But long before this, in the time of Henry KK, Denbighshire came under English rule – or rather, under Norman rule.
There is little trace remaining of the Roman occupation, but ancient “standing stones” testify to the Druid influence, together with the barrow of ancient British dead. At Cerig-y-Druidon – itself a testimony to the Druid faith – at Llanarmon, Llansallan, Capel-Voelas, and Eliseg, these relics of old time survive. Across the south-eastern wing of the county ran Offa’s Dyke, from the region of Chirk to that of Caergwrle. Denbigh and Ruthin are characterised by Norman strongholds, at Llan-Egwest, Wrexham, and Llanrhaiadr are fine old ecclesiastical remains.
Along the west of the county lies an upland tract, partly tableland, partly summits rising to over tow thousand fee above sea-level; in the south that part of the Berwyn Mountains within the county rises higher still; the vales of Conway, of Dee, and Clwyd, together with the smaller valleys of their tributaries, form the most beautiful parts of a beautiful county. The vale of Llangollen is world-famous, and Bettws-y-Coed divides itself between Denbighshire and Carnarvon. Such towns as Abergele and Denbigh itself are full of interest and of beauty.
Denbigh occupies a steep acclivity, overhung by the rock on which the castle stands – its name is derived from two words meaning a “small hill.” Under the last Llewellyn it formed the gathering place of the Welsh chieftains against the English, and up to quite modern times it was the rendezvous for the triennial Eisteddfodd, or meeting of the Welsh bards.
Little of the castle remains to-day, but some idea can still be gained of the enormous strength of its walls; the great gateway still stands, a desolate specimen of mediaeval architecture, with a statue of Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, over the arch, while passages and dungeons still remain to attest the former extent of the fortress. It was destroyed at the time of the Restoration of Charles II, having previously withstood a siege of four months’ duration. The Lacy whose statue survives was the builder, as he was of the wall of Denbigh, in the time of the first Edward; castle wna wall alike were necessities then, with the principality newly subdued.
The postern passage, with three rectangular turns for purposes of defence, and its two portcullises, is still a feature of the sights of Denbigh, and there is a wonderful view of the Vale of Clwyd from the walls of the castle. In 1759 the Earl of Leicester of unhappy memory began the building of a large church in the grounds of the castle, and the outer walls of the unfinished building remain, a fitting monument to the designer.
Denbigh church is a new edifice, replacing the mother-church situated a little over a mile outside the town, at Whitchurch, which was built in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its hammer-beam roof is a fine piece of work, and in it is a Renaissance design alabaster tomb bearing the recumbent figure of Sir John Salusbury, with quaint figures of his children, dating from 1578.
Ruthin, originally “Rhudd-din,” or the Red Fortress, overlooks the Vale of Clwyd, and is noteworthy for its timbered houses with old-time projecting porches. Its church is fourteenth-century work in part – the chancel was destroyed in 1663, and the spire is nineteenth century – with a splendid roof over the original nave, now the north aisle. Ruthin Castle occupies the site of a stronghold erected shortly after the Conquest by Hugh, Earl of Chester; the existing ruins are those of the fortress, rectangular in shape, set up by Edward I, and unsuccessfully besieged in 1400 by Owen Glendower. The Parliament troops dismantled it after a siege by General Mytton.
Perhaps as noteworthy as any part of Denbighshire is the Vale of Llangollen, which drew encomiums from Ruskin on the score of its beauty. That great reveller Borrow had a word to say on the place, but in accordance with his character he praised its ale and said nothing about its beauty. The “ladies of Llangollen,” who devoted their lives to “friendship, celibacy, and the knitting of blue stockings,” are buried in the churchyard here, together with their faithful servant Mary Carryl. Their visitors included Wellington, Scott, de Quincey, and Wordsworth, the last-named of whom wrote a sonnet to which the eccentric ladies took objection. The “ladies’” house still stands, and one of its window recesses is lined with part of its occupants’ old pew in Llangollen church, while its external decorations of oak carving render it worthy of notice, though the fine collection of curios which the “ladies” acquired has been dispersed for nearly a century.
Commanding Llangollen in old times was Dinas Bran Castle, the most conspicuous feature of the beautiful valley. Madoc ap Gruffyd, a thirteenth-century chieftain, was one of its early occupants, and he seems to have kept his castle – and his head – by favouring either Welsh or Norman as fortune veered from on to other. Madoc was of the thirteenth century, and less than three hundred years later a chronicler described the castle as “old and ruinous.” Destruction is reputed to have come on the fortress about the time of Owen Glendower and his insurrection, but practically the whole of its history is as legendary as it it had belonged to Arthurian times – as perhaps it did.
A little more than a mile- to the north-west of Llangollen are the ruins of Valle Crucis Abbey, a Cistercian foundation of the Madoc ap Gruffyd who trimmed his sails to Welsh and Norman winds alternately; the remains of the abbey, which came to an end at the dissolution in 1535, are more representative than those of any similar religious house in Wales.
Along the Ruthin road, less than half a mile distant from the abbey, stands Eliseg’s Pillar, a broken shaft a little over 6 feet in height, crowning what is conjectured to be a sepulchral mound. The cross was erected in the ninth century in memory of Eliseg, lord of Powis, who fought and fell in the great battle Bangor in the year 607. The original inscription, recording the erection of the monument, suffered form the Philistine spirit of the Commonwealth fanatics, and the present lettering, cut in 1779, tells of the mutilation of the historic pillar. Possibly the valley, and later the abbey, received the name “Valle Crucis” from the presence of this monument.
Few counties of the west are richer in historic and scenic interest than Denbighshire. Its nearness to Chester and the English border rendered it conspicuous in mediaeval times, when it was associated with the leading figures in history; its beautiful valleys retain their attractions for all time, independently of history.
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