THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES NORTH WALES. NOTES OF IN NORTH WALES, TAKEN CHIEFLY FROM RHYL, ABERGELE, LLANDUDNO, AND BANGOR. BY J. O. HALLIWELL, ESQ., F.R.S. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1860. DA 730 PREFACE. HAT is it all to come to ? Is it necef- fary, becaufe I take my family out for a few walks from fome of the beft known localities in Britain, that I mould tell all the world, or by printing fancy that I tell all the world, about them ? And the queftion may well be aflked, confidering that All the World and his wife go to all thefe places, and that it is hard if, between them, they cannot pick up for themfelves what information is worth having ; but they are eafy-going, quiet people, who like fmooth walking, and fo mifs a great deal of what is to be feen in the byways. Still, this conflderation 629705 6 Preface. does not conftitute a fatisfactory reply. Well, I can only fay, as an amiable and celebrated old- clothes' man once obferved, " I'll not anfwer that ; but, fay, it is my humour ; is it anfwer'd ?" People now-a-days, at leaft fome people, do not write books for other perfons to read, but to amufe themfelves with the occupation of writing. It is impoffible that we can all expect an audience, feeing that there are now more writers than there are readers. But again I afk, what is it all to come to ? If not for one's own fake, or for that of our friends, or of the public, yet in compaflion to our libraries, I would afk the queftion, and, in the very act of tranfgrefling, entreat all others, were it only for the laft confideration, not to fin in this direction. It is fearful to imagine what will be the extent of the Britim Mufeum library two or three centuries hence, if book-making continues at its prefent rate. The catalogue, inftead of as now being comprifed within the moderate compafs of two thoufand folio volumes, will take about a mile of melf. The Preface. 7 reading room will, in proportion, require fomething like a length of way of ten miles, with a double line of rail for the convenience of readers patting to the various literary ftations, conducted by a fyftem of cheap return-tickets. Taking up The Times in 2060, one may read an account of a fearful accident to a party of ftudents proceeding to the Divinity Station on the Reading Room railway, arifing from a collifion with a book-train. To imagine that anything fhort of an apparatus of this extent will fuffice for the literature of that day, always fuppofing that the prefent productive rate is maintained, appears to be vifionary. From this nonfenfe the reader, if I have one, will gather that I have been fiming for an excufe to perpetrate this little volume, but that the bait has been loft, and the hook irretrievably ruined, by a haul of ufelefs weeds, videlicet, the rubbifh juft mot here. St. Mary's Place, Weft Brompton, Oftober, 1860. " A WANDER- WIT of Wiltfhire, rambling to Rome to gaze at antiquities, and there fcrewing himfelf into the company of antiquaries, they intreated him to illuftrate unto them that famous monument in his country called Stonage. His anfwer was, he had never feen nor heard of it ; whereupon they kicked him out of doors, and bade him go home and vifit Stonage." JOHN GIBBONS. NORTH WALES. | ALL this a lake?" obferved an Auf- tralian friend, while we were {landing on the pifturefque little ruftic bridge below the inn at Capel Curig ; f c call this a lake ? why, we pafs twenty fuch in a day in our country, and heed them no more than we mould fo many ponds." It is curious, or, rather, perhaps it is not curious. What I mean is that it is not curious that at firft fight, where grandeur is wanting in fcenery, beauty mould not be immediately appreciated ; but it is curious that nearly all of us, efpecially of thofe who 12 North Wales. have feen fome of the grander natural monuments of the world, mould defpife the more beautiful allocations of nature when they are upon a fome- what diminutive fcale. So fay fome, " it is all very well, but Wales will not do after Switzerland." You might juft as well throw Pope behind the fire, becaufe Pope won't do after Shakefpeare. Com- parifons, as a wife man once faid, are odorous. There is really but little to compare, each is fo dif- ferent and fo agreeable in its kind. We do not fee the grandeur of Switzerland in any part of Wales, it is true ; but we fee beauty, in its kind, developed in great variety, and of a ftyle yielding perhaps more conftant delight than in any part of the Con- tinent. The Vale of the Conway is inferior, as a whole, to the Valley of the Rhine ; but it has beau- ties of its own that would be fought for in vain on the banks of that noble river. Thus, for example, as to the far-famed Seven Mountains, one need not travel far in Wales without meeting with {pot upon fpot far more ftriking and beautiful. And the North Wales. 13 fame may be faid in regard to many of the vaunted attractions of the Continent. But, as was juft ob- ferved, comparifons are odorous ; and North Wales mould be ftudied for itfelf and by itfelf. If, then, we would defire to appreciate Wales as it deferves to be appreciated, let us in the firft place banim from our minds a defire to have our fenfes aftonimed by mere exhibitions of magnitude. Let us try to believe that the American was retorting truthfully when, in reply to the alleged fuperiority of Mont Blanc, he afferted that there were moun- tains near New York fo high that they became quite offenfive in fummer. With fome, nothing will pafs unlefs it is of fome enormous height, width, or depth. The larger a mountain is, the more de- ferving of our fympathy; until, by -and- bye, no mountains in the world will be fufficiently high to enable our tourifts to create a fenfation by afcending them, or even to gratify their morbid love of ex- citement by overcoming the difficulties attendant on the tafk. As a kind of gymnaftic exercife the 14 North Wales. paflion is all very well ; and the men who can ac- complifh fuch feats may fo fit themfelves for nobler and more ufeful actions ; but let not the votaries of glaciers throw cold water, I mean ice, on the hum- bler followers of the lefler beauties of nature, thofe who are contented with the afcent of trumpery hil- locks barely three or four thoufand feet high, and who are fimple enough to fancy that they can dif- cover beauties in lakes, albeit thefe may not be in- land feas, in waterfalls fomething fmaller than thofe of Niagara, and in mountains even fo infignificant as thofe of the Eryri. The late Albert Smith, in one of his novels, has thus graphically defcribed the effects refulting from the yearning after what may be termed the exciting grandeur of nature : f c A man fees Niagara for the firft time, and fhouts with rapture, or is fpeechlefs with admiration. The next day he thinks it (imply a very fine fall. The next week it does not appear to tumble half fo grandly as it did ; and he wifhes the water would come down in another famion. North Wales. 15 Unlefs, like a fire-work, it alters its effects every minute, he wearies of it. And yet it is as grand as ever; the fame volume is pouring forth, the fame iris of brilliant light encompafles it, it fpar- kles and flafhes as of old. But he meafures the fenfation only by the firft effect it produced ; and unlefs it can, in itfelf, exceed this by fome new and utter convulfion of its nature, it is no more worth regarding." The effects of Niagara falls depend on their magnitude. Thofe of many an infignificant ftreamlet, fuch as are thofe at Nant Mill, make a more charming picture, and one of more enduring power of giving pleafure. Bear fomething of thefe confederations in mind ; let not the want of great magnitude prevent a calm and juft obfervation ; and the charms of North Wales will grow upon us day by day, ever yielding new combinations to furprife and delight. There is yet another confederation, a very prac- tical one, why fome of us mould be content to de- vote our fummer holidays to ramble through the 1 6 North Wales. many beautiful localities of our native land. It is becaufe, if they are not fo content, they muft ttay at home. It is not given to all to have purfes long enough, or to be fo free from engagements, as to enable them to pafs a vacation in Norway or Swit- zerland ; nor, in company with children, would it be always defirable or agreeable to do fo. Now, gentle reader, I am what it is the fafhion now-a- days to call paterfamilias ; and with a family party, eight in number, find that money goes quite faft enough even when we are content to enfconce our- felves for the fummer at a moderate diftance from home in quiet lodgings, felecting places whence we can ever and anon have a good tramp over the hills and far away, breathing femi-mountain air, content to dine in gipfy fafhion by the fide of a rivulet, or of a lake, even of one which would be thought a pond at the Antipodes. So then let us have a fummer on the northern coaft of North Wales ; and as foon as we have explored one locality, let us take the rail to the next. It will be hard if we cannot North Wales. 17 find fomething worth feeing between Chefter and Carnarvon, aye and fomething worth noting too, notwithftanding that this part of the country is fo much frequented and annually vifited by thoufands of tourifts, not a few of whom are bent on taking notes and printing them. A book is a book, &c. I won't complete the line, or there may arife an ill- natured remark of fmall flattery to the penner of thefe pages. Suffice it to fay, we, and the f f we " in- clude a daughter not yet twelve, are bent on walking excurfions over hill and dale, through foreft and flood, fuch as are to be met with anywhere within twenty miles of the railway line ftretching from Chefter to Carnarvon. I mention the age of the youngeft of the party who joined in thefe excur- fions, as fome guide to others as to the want of difficulty attending them. At the fame time, fome routes are defcribed which mould not be too rafhly undertaken in all weathers, or without due care. Lives are often placed in jeopardy by underrating dangers, and there are few places in which they i8 North Wales. may be fo eafily loft as in fome parts of Wales. More perfons perifhed on Snowdon laft year than upon Mont Blanc. Chefter is the chief point of departure for the tourift into North Wales. This city has been fo often and fo well defcribed, it would be prefumption to fancy one can fay anything new ; and yet it can- not be difmhTed without an allufion to its walls, its old houfes, its crumbling churches, and its fingular rows ; the latter alone being fufficient to render it one of the quainteft old towns in England. We here take the " line" for the Principality. The firft place reached of any note is Flint, fourteen miles from Chefter. It is a mean town, only of intereft to the tourift, from the fragment ftill preferved of its ancient caftle, which was difmantled by order of Parliament in 1647. Taylor, the water-poet, gives the following dolorous account of the caftle and town, as they appeared in the year 1652: "On Fryday the 30. of July, I rode (and footed it) ten miles to Flint (which is the fhire town of Flint- North Whales. 19 (hire), and furely war hath made it miferable ; the fometimes famous caftle there, in which Richard the Second of that name, king of England, was furprifed by Henry of Bullinbrook, is now almoft buried in its own ruins, and the town is fo fpoiled, that it may truely be faid of it, that they never had any market (in the memory of man). They have no fadler, taylor, weaver, brewer, baker, botcher, or button maker ; they have not fo much as a figne of an alehoufe, fo that I was doubtfull of a lodging, but (by good hap) I hapned into the houfe of one Mr. Edward Griffith, where I had good meat and lodging for me and my dumb Dun beaft, for very reafonable confideration, and this (me thinks) is a pitifull difcription of a mire town." What now re- mains of the caftle is a mere mell, and would be unworthy of prefervation, were it not for the inter- efting hiftorical aflbciations connected with it, and for certain architectural peculiarities faid to be ftill capable of identification. We fee enough of Flint from the rail, fo, hey, 20 North Wales. prefto, for Holy well ! And hey, prefto, out of it, too, as foon as we can ; for of all the fpecimens of a locality, beautiful in regard to its natural portion and its remains of ancient architecture, rendered ab- folutely repulfive by fqualor and dilapidated manu- factories, this is furely one of the moft confpicuous. I am fpeaking not of the town of Holywell, but of the defcending valley between St. Winifred's Well and the fea. In the fifteenth century, when the chapel of the Well was in its priftine condition, and the powerful ftream gufhed unpolluted down the vale, turning but one mill, a picturefque one for corn, pafling the calm retreat of Bafingwerk Abbey amidft the green meadows in the lower ground, it muft have been a place worthy of a photograph. Now-a-days the lefs that is faid about it the better. The fpring itfelf, however, was, is, and ever muft be, one of the wonders of Wales. It rufhes with conftant impetuofity out of the rock, at the rate of eighty-four hogfheads every minute, and is received into an elegant polygonal well, canopied by a rich North Whales. 21 arch fupported by pillars, the whole enclofed in a beautifully formed building of a fquare form, open on the fide towards a large ftone refervoir, formerly the confecrated bath. An. ancient chapel over the well, erected by the pious mother of Henry the Seventh, is now ufed as a Sunday-fchool. The blood-fpotted ftones, painful relics of the aflaffi- nation of the faint, are no longer to be feen ; the conftant bathing having difturbed the natural cha- racter of the bafin. Nor is the fpot rendered more piclurefque by the crutches left in the fretted roof, memorials of wondrous cures here effected. Higden, the chronicler of the fourteenth century, mentions the well as then an object of pilgrimage. Its reputation has continued, with fome fluctuations, from that early period to the prefent day. The Reformation appears to have had little effect on the attention paid to it. The holy wells throughout Wales were very much frequented in Elizabeth's time. The writer of a letter, written about 1590, fays, " they doe ftill in heapes goe one pilgrimage 22 North Wales. to the wonted welles and places of fuperftition, and in the nightes after the feaftes when the ould off- ringes weare ufed to be kepte at anie chappell, albeit the church be pulled down, yet doe they come to the place where the church or chappell was by greate jorneys barefoote." Thefe pilgrimages con- tinued in the following century. The authorities of the Government in the year 1617 took "order for the fupprefling of fuperftitious flocking and re- fort unto Holliewell, comonly called Saint Wini- fred's well, and for dailie fervice and praiers there, as alfo for fermons on Sabothes and feftivall daies, and that the oath of fupremacie and allegeance be tendred unto all fuch ftrangers, before they goe to the well, as mail refufe to come to the church ; by reafon whereof the great concurfe of people thither is flopped." Honeft John Taylor, the fculler of the Thames, who vifited Holy well in the year 1652, has left us the following quaint account of it, " Saturday, the laft of July, I left Flint, and went three miles to North Wales. 23 Holy-well, of which place I muft fpeak fomewhat materially. About the length of a furlong, down a very fteep hill, is a well (full of wonder and admiration) ; it comes from a fpring not far from Rudland caftle ; it is and hath been many hundred yeares knowne by the name of Holy-well, but it is more commonly and of moft antiquity called Saint Winifrids well, in memory of the pious and chafte virgin Winifrid, who was there beheaded for refufing to yield her chaftity to the furious luft of a pagan prince : in that very place where her bloud was med, this fpring fprang up ; from it doth ifTue fo forcible a ftream, that within a hundred yards of it, it drives certain mils, and fome do fay that nine corn mils and fulling mils are driven with the ftream of that fpring. It hath a fair chappell creeled over it, called Saint Winifrids chappell, which is now much defaced by the injury of thefe late wars. The well is compafled about with a fine wall of free-ftone ; the wall hath eight angles or corners, and at every angle is a fair ftone piller, 24 North Wales. whereon the weft end of the chappell is fupported. In two feverall places of the wall there are neat ftone ftaires to go into the water that comes from the well, for it is to be noted that the well it felfe doth continually work and bubble with extream violence, like a boiling cauldron or furnace, and within the wall, or into the well, very few do enter. The water is chriftalline, fweet and medicinable ; it is frequented daily by many people of rich and poore, of all difeafes, amongft which great ftore of folkes are cured, divers are eafed, but none made the worfe. The hill defcending is plentifully fur- nifhed (on both fides of the way) with beggers of all ages, fexes, conditions, forts and fizes ; many of them are impotent, but all are impudent, and richly embrodered all over with fuch hexameter poudred ermins (or vermin) as are called lice in England." In 1667, note is taken in the account-book of a churchwarden of one of the midland counties, of fixpence paid " to Katherine Jones, coming with a North Wales. 25 pafs from London to travel to Winifred's well." In 1686, James the Second honoured the well with a pious vifit, receiving in return for his condefcen- fion a prefent of the fhift in which his great grand- mother, Queen Mary of Scotland, was faid to have been executed ; and about the fame time, as appears from the Prologue to Ravenfcroft's alteration of Titus Andronicus, 1687, a pilgrimage to the faint was made by the exceedingly lefs pious actrefles of the Theatre Royal. The town, early in the following century, is defcribed by De Foe as very Catholic, " There is a little town near the well, which may indeed be faid to have rifen from the confluence of people thither ; for almoft all the houfes are either publick houfes, or let into lodgings ; and the priefts who attend here, and are very numerous, appear in difguife. Sometimes they are phyficians, fometimes furgeons, fometimes gentle- men, and fometimes patients, or anything as occafion prefents. Nobody takes notice of them as to their profeflion, though they know them well enough, D 26 North Wales. no, not the Roman Catholicks themfelves ; but in private, they have their proper oratories in certain places, whither the votaries refort ; and good man- ners has prevail'd fo far that no Proteftant, let him know what he will, takes notice of it, or inquires where one goes, or has been gone." Dr. Johnfon, who parled throuh Holy well in 1774, mentions that the ftream even then turned no fewer than nineteen mills. The worthy moralift with his party vifited the well, but was mocked at the indecency of the devotees, for, " a woman bathed while we all looked on ;" a rather good obfervation, confidering that they need not have f f looked on" unlefs they had liked. The bathing is now con- ducted with ftrict propriety. In fact, the appear- ance of the building is ruined by a number of hideous bathing-boxes erected on the fides. There was, and perhaps ftill is, a fingular cuftom on the Sabbath at Holywell, which deferves notice. It is thus pleafantly defcribed by Warner, " Of local cuftoms there is nothing particular, except an North Wales. 27 unufual mode of fummoning the inhabitants to church. This edifice is fo fituated that when the wind blows from the fouth or the fouth-wefl, the bell cannot be heard in moft parts of the town. The parifhioners, therefore, allow an annual flipend to a poor man to notify the hour of prayer on Sundays and holidays, which he does in the follow- ing fingular manner. A leathern flrap is fufpended round his neck, and a large and heavy bell attached to it, which refts upon a cumion buckled over his knee. Thus accoutred, he traverfes the town, jingling his bell, to the furprife of thofe who are unacquainted with the cuftom. A ridiculous cir- cumftance happened in confequence of this practice a fhort time fince. An honeft Hibernian, who, in paffing through Holywell, fojourned there a day to fee its curiofities, was (landing at the door of the inn when this ecclefiaftical bellman paraded the ftreets in the exercife of his office ; the traveller, aftonifhed at the fight, enquired of a fellow {landing by, who had more fhrewdnefs than good-nature, 28 North Wales. the caufe of it, and received for anfwer that it was to announce the arrival of an oyfter-boat at the well. The credulous Milefian, who was very partial to this mell-fifh, inftantly hurried thither in order to make a firft purchafe ; but found to his confufion, on enquiring for the vefTel, that it was utterly impoflible, from the fituation of the place, any fort of boat mould approach within a mile of it; a difappointment that was rendered ftill more painful by the gibes and jeerings of the attendants at the well." Holywell mould not be left without paying a vifit to the ruins of Bafingwerk Abbey, which are pafled in the way to and from the well. They belong to the large clafs of objects which are worth feeing, but not worth going to fee. The ruins, fituated in a meadow about half-a-mile from the coaft, would be picturefque in themfelves were not the appearance of the locality fpoilt by the require- ments of manufactures. They confift of a fmall portion of the Abbey Church, a fragment of the North Wales. 29 chapter- houfe, the refectory, and fome remnants of the monaftic barn. Our deftination is Rhyl, now a large watering- place fituated in a fterile diftrict of the otherwife beautiful vale of Clwyd. A quarter of a century ago it was little more than an unenclofed common, and at firft fight it feems difficult to account for the caufes of its rapid progrefs. It has no walks, no good drives, no trees, no flowers, nothing of the picturefque, excepting the views of the mountains in the diftance ; it is fituated on a dead flat, and moreover it is half choked with dry and flying fand ; but it has beautiful air, good bathing, fine fands, and has the great advantage of cheap and eafy accefs from Liverpool by fea. Rhyl is a chapelry in the parim of Rhuddlan. In 1 8 1 1, it confifted of a few fcattered dwellings, the population numbering only 252, and it was not until about the year 1828 that the place mowed any fymptoms of profperity. From that time to the prefent it has continued in a rapid courfe of progrefs, until now it takes its place 30 North Wales. as one of the principal towns on the coaft of North Wales. When I faid that there was nothing of the pictu- refque at Rhyl, there fhould have been excepted the fpectacle of fome of the fimerwomen, who with nets on their moulders, blue gowns reaching to their knees, and naked feet, trudging on the fands early on a fummer's morning carolling Welfh fongs, they fhould only have been feen on the continent by fome of our fentimental travellers, and we mould have had a page or two of romantic defcription. I can only obferve that to fee and hear them added a charm to the attractions of the fands of Rhyl. To write eloquently on fuch or any matters is beyond my capacity ; but this is the lefs to be regretted as to the prefent volume, the authors of the well-known local guide-books excel- ling in this difficult fpecies of compofition. From one of thefe I cannot refift the pleafure of extracting the following graphic and powerfully written account of a fun-fet as feen from this more. It will North Wales. 31 exprefs the emotions attendant on a fcene we frequently witnefled during our ftay at Rhyl, in language befitting the grandeur of the fubjed: ; and will well make amends for my own mort- comings : " The great object of attraction, however, was the Sun, letting in a flood of golden beauty on his evening throne. How few underftand that the great luminary of the firmament, whofe adtivity daily influences their every moment, is an immoveable orb, actuating the planetary fyftem, and forming the fhadow of a great dial which meafures the thread of life, the exiftence of nations, and the cycle of the world's change ; it is the centre of our folar fyftem, the lamp that lights it, the fire that heats it, and the fceptre that guides and controls it. " Every eye was intenfely fixed upon the Great Light as he gradually fank in the weftern flues. He broadened by degrees, and as he approached the wave, his tinge changed fucceffively to a brilliant red, and became more tolerable, and his form more diftinft, exhibiting the appearance of an immenfe ball of fire, burning like the feal of God upon the clofe of day, putting the iky and the ocean into a perfect blaze of the brighteft rofe colour, which brought to our mind that fine paflage in Revelations, " a fea of glafs mingled with fire," producing one of the moft fplendid fpedlacles we ever faw. As his chariot wheels feemed to hover on the utmoll verge of the Iky, the fliifting clouds, like a richly gorgeous train, aflembled gay in all their pomp to attend his even- 32 North Wales. ing throne ; they were fteeped in the rainbow's richeft dyes ; the beautiful tints of crimfon and flame colour which they difplayed, and which were ftrongly contrafted with the deep blue of the fea, and the brighter, but equally beautiful, blue of the flcy were moft remarkable. More remote, the attendant clouds were faint and fcattered,as though overawed by the glory that beamed upon them, or fearful to intrude on retiring majefty. The King of Day now appeared to reft his refplendent rotundity upon the ocean ; and hiding his face in a paradife of clouds, he gave one bright fmile, then fank in fplendour beyond the myftic weft. " There was in the immediate neighbourhood of the fun foot- prints of glory, entrancingly beautiful. For fome time after his disc had difappeared, large tracts of pale tranflucent green, furpaff- ing every effort of paint, or glafs, or gem. Nature was fenfible of his abfence, heaven and earth put on fackcloth, and creation mourned the monarch of the flcies." During our ftay at Rhyl, the fackcloth was generally thrown off the next morning. In other words, we had beautiful weather, and could well appreciate the really fine vale of Clwyd. This luxuriant valley, appropriately called by the Welm Dyffryn Clwyd, the Vale of the Flat, extends from the fea, its wideft part, to beyond Ruthin, a diftance of twenty-four miles, a range of hills being on each fide of the level country. The moft confpicuous North Wales. 33 object is the mountain of Moel Famma, about twenty miles diftant to the left. It is 1852 feet in height, and is eafily diftinguimed by the jubilee tower erected on the top of.it in 1809, to comme- morate the fiftieth year of the reign of George the Third. The vale for the moft part retains its ancient character for fertility. Thomas Church- yard, nearly three centuries ago, in his Worthines of Wales, 1587, thus fpeaks of it: This vale doth reach fo farre in vewe of man, As he farre of may fee the feas indeede; And who a while for pleafure travayle can Throughout this vale, and thereof take good heede, He fhall delight to fee a foyle fo fine, For ground and grafle a paffing plot devine ; And if the troth thereof a man may tell, This vale alone doth all the reft excell. Our firft excurfion from Rhyl is to the village of Dyferth, where the chief attraction was, ought, and may hereafter be, one of the moft fingular cafcades of the kind in the kingdom. The ftream that rifes at Ffynnon Afaph, afterwards mentioned, falls here 34 North into a perpendicular cylindrical pafTage in the rock, darkened with mofs and ivy ; or, rather, it fhould fall here, but the water is at prefent chiefly diverted into a neighbouring mine. One of my daughters, though me got laughed at for the apparent bull, not inaptly entered it in her diary as cc a waterfall with no water in it." And this is literally the cafe. Inftead of a powerful ftream rufhing over the preci- pice, the appearance now prefents rather that of a dropping-well. It is beautiful, however, even in its defolation of water. Dr. Johnfon does not mention Dyferth by name, but there can be no doubt that this was the fpot he vifited in 1774, which is thus mentioned in his Welm journal, " We then went to fee a Cafcade. I trudged unwillingly, and was not forry to find it dry. The water was, however, turned on, and produced a very ftriking cataract. They are paid an hundred pounds a year for permiffion to divert the ftream to the mines. The river, for fuch it may be termed, rifes from a fingle fpring, which, like North Wales. 35 that of Winifred's, is covered with a building." The "they" the Doctor alludes to were the owners of a water-mill to the right hand of the cafcade, to turn which a fmall portion of the ftream is artifi- cially carried down the fide of the hill. About a mile from the village, on a high rock amidft the hills near the road to Newmarket, are the remains of Dyferth Caftle. Leland thus alludes to it, giving it a derivation that may fuit the village, but not the caftle, " Thifarte, or Difarte, caftelle yn Flyntmire, by the name yn Walfche is thus expounded : I'M is, not ; Sarte is, ftepe up. Not ftepe or clining up, that is to fay, playne." This caftle was deftroyed as early as 1261, and what now remains of it is very infignificant. The views from this fpot over the vale of Clwyd are very fine. In a field a little to the fouth is an old ruined building called Siambre Wen, the White Chamber, of the hiftory of which nothing appears to be known. There is a pleafant walk after patting Dyferth Caftle to St. Afaph's well and Newmarket. The 36 North Wales. former is reached by taking a turning to the right a little before arriving at Newmarket, keeping ftill to the right along pretty winding country lanes, and a finely wooded dell, near the laft of which, on the brow of a fmall hill to the right, is Ffynnon Afaph. This well ranks next to that of Holywell in its volume of water, throwing up no lefs than feven tons every minute. It is enclofed with ftone, in a rectangular form, and, according to Pennant, had formerly its votaries, like that of St. Winifred. The ftream of water is of fingtilar clearnefs and purity, and, when an adjacent mill is not at work, it forms a pretty inclined cafcade, about forty yards from its fource. This is the fame ftream which is feen at the waterfall at Dyferth, whence it runs through the vale joining the Elwy at a fhort diftance below Rhuddlan. There is little of intereft in the neighbouring village of Newmarket. An ancient ornamented crofs in the churchyard, of the fourteenth century, is worthy of notice. The church itfelf is a modern North Wales. 37 ftructure. There are two fmall inns, one of them, although modernized, being probably of fome anti- quity. It has the only fpecimen I have feen in this part of the country of thofe old polimed, dark, and flippery ftaircafes fo common at Antwerp and at fome other places on the continent. The other tavern is a good example of the one-parloured houfe of entertainment once fo univerfal in the country, and now fo rapidly being fuperfeded. Here we had all the refources of the houfe placed in requifition for refrefhment, which refulted in a difplay of excel- lent bread and butter and cheefe, exceedingly acceptable after a long walk, and which I believe we all enjoyed far more than we mould have done a fet luncheon at any of the grand hotels which are now fpringing up in North Wales, bringing the very efTence of expenfive cockneydom down into localities which mould breathe only of pure air and humble fare. Moreover, we were furrounded by treafures of art. In the corner, {helves of china elaborately difplayed ; on the walls, famplers adorned with 38 North Wales. ufeful and really well-felected fentences from Scrip- ture ; and incongruous in its juxta-pofition a large oil painting of Venus rifing from the fea, her nudity only relieved by the introduction of two large modern ear-rings. It may be truly affirmed that one might fearch all the galleries of Europe without meeting with fuch a picture as that. There was a fafcination in its very ftupidity and grotefque- nefs, which rivetted my attention in a fimilar man- ner, but perhaps in a greater degree, than a fight of thofe fputters of red paint they mow at Kenfington for high works of art by Turner. Near the village, on the fummit of a hill called Gop, is an enormous tumulus, upwards of eight hundred feet in circumference. Part of the brow of the hill is cally Bryn y Saethan, or the hill of arrows, poflibly from a battle fought near this fpot. Near this is Bryn y Lladdfa, the hill of flaughter ; and Pant y Gwae, the hollow of woe. The locality was, at fome very ancient period, one immenfe cemetery, as is proved by the large number of North Wales. 39 fepulchral tumuli that have been opened at various times in this neighbourhood. The tumulus above mentioned is probably the largeft in North Wales. From the fummit there is a magnificent view of the neighbouring counties, extending over the eftuaries of the Dee and Merfey to a large portion of Chefhire and the coaft of Lancafhire. Every vifitor to Rhyl goes to St. Afaph, Den- bigh, and other fet places for excurfions. We are on the look out for the picturefque and the curious, fo, inftead of following in the herd, take the rail to Trefnant, whence there is a fliort and charming walk to the comparatively little known Ffynnon Vair, or St. Mary's Well. The moft agreeable path is by the banks of the river turning to the left im- mediately after pafling over the bridge that fpans the Elwy about a mile from Trefnant. At a farm-yard, where a turn in the river forms a pool in which the trout are difporting themfelves by dozens, turn through the fields to the right, and, fhortly regain- ing the road, pafs on one fide of a wooded valley, 40 North Wales. turning again on reaching a mill, and, in a few minutes, Ffynnon Vair, feated in a luxuriant meadow on the brow of a hill, appears in fight. This holy well pours forth a fmall ftream of water that runs down into the Elwy. The mrine-work which covered it has difappeared, but a fmall portion of the adjacent cruciform chapel, although a mere ruin, ftill remains, nearly covered with ivy, and embofomed in trees, the whole in a moft fecluded fpot. The ruins appear to belong to a building of the fifteenth century. It is curious that, fome time after the Reformation, this place mould have been a kind of Gretna Green. Here runaway couples were married. In a regifter ftill preferved may be remarked feveral entries fimilar to the following: " 1611. Mem. thatt upon Fridaye at night, hap- pening upon vij. daye of Februarie, one Pyers Gryffith ab Inn Gryffydd, my brother in lawe, was married clandeftinely with one Jane vch Thomas hys fecond wiefF at the chappel at Wicwer called Capel Fynnon Vair." North Wales. 41 There is a charming walk, after pafling this ruin, along the high banks that overhang the ftream, the channel of which generally appears in fummer fo much wider than the body of water requires. No doubt in floods here is a powerful river, covering all that ufually appears ftrand ; but, in all feafons, this part of the Elwy, darning by the fide of lofty wooded rocks, is romantic and beautiful. We con- tinued our walk fome diftance beyond the bend of the river, pafled a ruftic wooden bridge creeled at a confiderable elevation over the ftream, purfuing our path through a thickly wooded dingle by the river fide. This upper courfe of the Elwy is well worth following. Another day's walk to Rhuddlan Caftle. This is the great antiquarian attraction to the Rhyl vifitors, being the only ruin of any importance in its immediate neighbourhood. It is fo well known, and has been fo often defcribed, that, as I am not writing a guide-book, it is unneceflary to enter into its hiftory or prefent condition. It was of great F 42 North Wales. ftrength, as fufficiently appears from the veftiges of it ftill remaining. A writer of the time of Richard the Second obferves that " it is very ftrong, becaufe the fea comes into the fofles, and on the other fide it is pofted very loftily upon a rock ; its walls are ftrong and thick, well provided with large towers." Some of thefe towers ftill remain. This caftle was taken by the Parliament forces in 1 646, and ordered to be difmantled. Taylor, the water-poet, who vifited it in 1652, (peaks of it then as "an old, ruined, winde, and war-fhaken caftle." In Rhyl itfelf there is nothing that has the ap- pearance of antiquity. A new town in the far weft of America could hardly exhibit a more exclufively modern appearance. I looked in vain for a remnant of what Rhyl once was ; and yet it feems there was one if I had only followed my nofe a little way out of the town. This is defcribed as Ty-yn-Rhyl, " the houfe of Mifs Lloyd, part of which was built in the latter portion of the feventeenth century, and, within the memory of the prefent generation, North Wales. 43 the only dwelling-houfe in the place." This means, I prefume, the only fubftantial houfe. There were no doubt fcattered fifhermen's huts and the like, fuch as are ftill to be feen on the eaft fide of Rhyl. The carved wood-work of the mantel-piece in the entrance-hall was made out of the bedftead of Griffith, the Gentleman-ufher to Catharine of Aragon. Abergele is the next watering-place to Rhyl. This fmall town is fituated on a gently rifing ground three quarters of a mile from the more. Near the beach is the rifing bathing hamlet of Penfarn, this name implying that it was the head of a Roman road. Pen is head in Welm, and the termfarn, a caufeway, is generally connected with traces of a Roman road. It is fituated on a dead flat, and with the inconvenience of being compelled to crofs the railway line on a level in order to reach the fea. Penfarn at prefent confifts of a few terraces and rows of houfes. Fifteen years ago there were only two cottages here. One of thefe, Penfarn Cottage, 44 North Wales. may thus be confidered the antiquity of the place. There are fcarcely any mops, the vifitors being fupplied chiefly from perambulating wooden fheds. The fands here are very fine and good, and a walk along them of three miles to Foryd is unequalled in its way. The land, at fome diftant period, ex- tended far beyond the prefent beach. An epitaph at Abergele, of uncertain antiquity, records the burial of a man "who lived three miles to the north." It is difficult to believe that any one lived three miles to the north of Abergele at any time within the probable era of a recorded epitaph. At the fame time, traces of a fubmerged foreft are dif- tinctly to be traced in the long tract of hard loam exhibited on this beach at low water. There are mafTes of decayed wood and leaves ; and in one fpot we obferved the remains of a tree of twenty- five feet in height, the trunk and branches being traceable very clearly. The wood was fufficiently foft to be eafily cut with a knife. Abergele feems to have been an uncouth place North Whales. 45 fome century ago. An old failor, who vifited it in September, 1769, gives the following quaint account of the reception he met with, " We came to an anchor in the very midft of the harbour of Abergele about 2 o'clock p. M. At a diftance it made a tolerable appearance, from whence we all expected better anchorage than was to be found in that place ; in fhort, it was by much the worft part we had on the whole cruize. If ever I mould by chance be driven by ftrefs of weather upon any part of the coaft, I mail endeavour to avoid coming to an anchor if poflible in that harbour, yet the natives have as much politenefs as them who are bred up in Peru or Nova Zembla. We dined at one of the principal taverns, which had for a fign a man upon a goat, with fome kind of an animal under its belly, they faid it was a dragon ; what I thought had been the goat I found they called a horfe, and the man that rode thereon was St. George. Ay, ay, they faid, that was St. George, indeed truth it was, and that he did kill a great dragon. By this time our 46 North Wales. appetites began to be uneafy, and certainly would have proclaimed war againft the bowels, had not a large detachment of eggs and bacon appeared on the table. I mould not call it a detachment ; it was the whole body that could be muttered in that quarter, and a very formidable appearance they made ; they were drawn up, not in rank and file, but in the form of a pyramid upon a large piece of clay (an earthen dim), in the form of a circle, but in fuch a confufed heap, there was no diftinguiming one from the other, the whole having the appear- ance of nothing but a rotten carcafe. To tell you the plain truth, they were tumbled together in fuch a hotch-potch manner, that, and the afpect of the cook, which was by no means inviting, curbed my appetite pretty much, fo I did not fall in amongft them however, fome of my comrades made terrible havock amongft them, in particular our commodore, who after he had demolimed them in a very furprifing manner, would have made you or any one elfe to have laughed at him, to fee how he North Wales. 47 tipped them about the difti with his fork, declaring they were not fit to be eat. I am ftill of his opinion, for I firmly believe moft of the eggs were rotten. I dined upon bread and butter, as they called it, for cheefe there was not any ; what butter I eat might have been dug out of the fait mines at Northwich, for its relifti, befide it had a very fine aromatic fmell and flavour, too, which, I fuppofe, might be owing to the cleanlinefs of the dairymaid, moft of the females all upon this coaft bearing a very near refemblance to the people called Hotten- tots. Finding no better accommodation in this harbour, you may be fure our ft ay was not long." Five years later, in 1774, Dr. Johnfon defcribes Abergele as ff a mean town, in which little but Welm. is fpoken, and divine fervice feldom per- formed in Englifh." It could not have been many years after this before it came into repute as a wa- tering-place, for Aikin, in 1797, fays that it was then " much frequented in the bathing feafon, though people of fafhion in general prefer Park-gate." 48 North Wales. Abergele itfelf is a fmall old rambling town, fituated on a little rivulet, though one unfortunately of fmall beauty. It mould be called the river Gele, but it does not appear to be fufficiently important to deferve a name ; and Leland fo conjectured fome four centuries ago, when, fpeaking of this town, he adds,