RUTHIN-RUTHIN CASTLE.

217

like St. Asaph and Denbigh, is pleasantly situated on an eminence nearly in the middle of the vale of Clwyd. At a little distance behind the town, the mountains seem to close up the end of the vale. From different situations in the outskirts of the town are several fine prospects of the adjacent country. The little river Clwyd runs through the place, and is here scarcely three yards across. Ruthin is a town of considerable size, containing 3376 inhabitants. The county gaol for Denbighshire is here; it is a neat and well constructed building. The church was originally conventual, belonging to a house of Bon-hommes, a species of Augustine monks. It was made collegiate in 1310 by John the son of Reginald de Grey, Lord of Dyffryn Clwyd, who endowed it with upwards of 200 acres of land, granted to it many privileges, and established seven regular priests, one of whom was to serve the chapel of the garrison. In this state it probably continued till the dissolution, although neither Dugdale nor Speed have mentioned its valuation. The apartments of the priests were joined to the church by a cloister, part of which is built up, and now serves as the mansion of the warden. The tower is of a much later date than the rest of the building.

It is believed that there was formerly a house of white friars in this place; but of this there is nothing left except the name.

The assizes for Denbighshire are held in this town.

The principal inns are the White Lion and the Cross Keys.

Ruthin is distant from Denbigh 8 miles, from Mold 8, from Llangollen 13, and from Wrexham 16.

RUTHIN CASTLE

Was situated on the north side of the town. Its present remains consist of a portion of the foundations of the walls, and

the fragments of a tower or two. Some parts of the building appear to have been of vast strength and thickness. The stone of which it was formed was of a brick-red colour, whence the place had the name of Rhudd Ddin, (or Dinas,) the Red Fort. On the area of the castle there is at present a meadow, and in another part a fives court and bowling green. The walls afford a fine prospect of the vale. The following is a description of this fortress during the sixteenth century, previously to its demolition:

This castle stands on rock much like red bricke,
The dykes are cut with tool through stony cragge,
The towers are high, the walls are large and thicke,
The worke itself would shake a subject's bagge,
If he were bent to build the like againe,

It rests on mount, and lookes o'er wood and playne,
It hath great store of chambers finely wrought,
That tyme alone to great decay hath brought.

It shews within by double walls and wayes,
A deep device did first erect the same;

It makes oure worlde to think on elder dayes,
Because one worke was form'd in such a frame.
One tower or waull the other answers right,

As though at call each thing should please the sight;
The rocke wrought round where every tower doth stand
Set forthe full fine by head, by heart, and hand.

History of the Town and Castle.-The town and castle of Ruthin appear to have been founded by Reginald Grey, second son to Lord Grey de Wilton, to whom Edward I. had given nearly the whole of the vale of Clwyd as a reward for his active services against the Welsh. His posterity, who received the title of Earls of Kent, resided here, until Earl Richard, having dissipated his fortune by gambling, sold the whole property to King Henry VII. From this time the castle being unroofed fell into decay, till, along with large revenues in the vale, it was bestowed by the

bounty of Queen Elizabeth on Ambrose Earl of Warwick. By him it was repaired, and again rendered tenable.

During a fair that was holden at Ruthin in the year 1400, the soldiers of Glyndwr suddenly entered the town. They set it on fire in several places, plundered the merchants, and again retired in safety to the mountains.

In the civil wars the castle was retained by the royalist party till February, 1645-6; it was then attacked, and, after a siege of nearly two months, was surrendered to General Mytton. Colonel Mason was made governor; but in the same year it was ordered by the parliament to be dismantled.

Within the ruins of the old castle a stately edifice erected by the Hon. F. R. West now rears its head.

CHAPTER XXIV.*

Wrexham Church and Monuments-Elihu Yale-Wrexham Fair-Holt - Holt Castle― History of Holt Castle-Caergwrle-History of Caergwrle Castle-Mold-History of Mold Castle-Maes Garmen and the "Alleluia Victory"-Ruabon-Church and Monuments-Dr. David Powell Wynnstay, Nant y Bellan-Newbridge-Overton-Bangor Iscoed.

WREXHAM

Is a populous market town, and of such size and consequence as to have occasionally obtained the appellation of the metropolis of North Wales. The streets and buildings are in general good; and the adjacent country is so beautiful, as to have induced many families to fix their residence in its vicinity. The centre street, in which the market is held, is of considerable length, and of unusual width for an ancient town. A few centuries ago it was noted as the resort of buckler or shield makers.

The church was formerly collegiate, and is yet a most elegant structure. On the exterior it is richly ornamented with gothic sculpture. The tower, which is a hundred and

As nothing remarkably interesting occurs on the different roads leading between the several places described in this chapter, and as some of them must, at this distance of time, be interesting to the antiquary alone, Wrexham is here taken as a centre, from whence all these places can be visited, and they are described in succession, and their distances given, in order that the tourist may judge for himself which are worthy of a visit, and to enable him to adapt his route accordingly.

thirty-five feet in height, is particular beautiful. On three of its sides there have been statues as large as life, of no fewer than thirty saints; two of these have been destroyed by falling from their niches. Miss Seward, in her verses on Wrexham, has finely expressed the elegance of this building:

Her hallow'd temple there religion shows,

That erst with beauteous majesty arose,

In ancient days, when Gothic art display'd

Her fanes in airy elegance array'd,

Whose nameless charms the Dorian claims efface,
Corinthian splendor and Ionic grace.

The interior of the church is plain, but exceedingly neat and elegant, being devoid of the load of ornaments common in gothic churches. It contains, among other monuments, two of the elegant workmanship of Roubiliac. One of these, bearing the date of 1747, was erected to the memory of Mary, the daughter of Sir Richard Middleton. A female figure is represented in the act of bursting from the tomb: the countenance is truly angelic, and the mixture of surprise and admiration is delicately, and at the same time firmly, expressed. The sainted maid,

Amid the bursting tomb

Hears the last trumpet shrill its murky gloom,
With smile triumphant over death and time,

Lifts the rapt eye, and rears the form sublime.

Against the wall, an ancient pyramid, a building, from its solidity, calculated to resist the efforts of time, is represented as falling into ruin. The ridiculous little figure blowing the trumpet might have been omitted without any derogation from the merit of the sculpture. On the whole, however, it is so uncommonly beautiful, as to demand the admiration of every lover of the art. The other piece of