Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LLANGOLLEN

LLANGOLLEN, a small town, a vale, and a parish, in the district of Corwen and county of Denbigh. The town stands on the river Dee, on a branch of the Ellesniere canal, and on the Llangollen railway, 2 miles E of the boundary with Merioneth, 6 NW of Chirk, and 26 NW of Shrewsbury; is a pleasant place, amid remarkably beautiful eirvirous; presents a.clean, well arranged, and prosperous appearance; is much frequented by tourists, both for sake of the scenery around it, and as a starting centre for great part of North Wales; is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place; and has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, a bankingoffice, two good hotels, a town hall, a large nanket-hall, a remarkable bridge, water-works, two churches, six dissenting chapels, several public schools, and charities, £90. Its.streets are good, though generally edificed with small houses; and several new building operations were projected or begun in 1865. The town hall and market-hall were erected in that year. The bridge was built about 1345, by Bishop Trevor; figures, in popular estimation, as one of the seven wonders of North Wales; and is a singular structure, with four pointed arches,- the two middle ones smaller than the two end ones. The water-works were constructed, under the direction of a local board, in 1865-6. The church is dedicated to St. Collen; has a good carved oak roof of late perpendicular English date, said to have been brought from the abbey of Valle Crucis; and was enlarged, by the addition of chancel and S aisle, in 1865, at a cost of £2,500. The churchyard contains a monument to Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby, who resided in the neighbouring cottage ornée of Plas Newydd, acquired great local repuration at the ''maids of Llangollen, ''and died in 1829 and 1 831. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs are held on the last Friday of Jan., 17 March, 31 May, 21 Aug., and 22 Nov.; and brewing, flannelmaking, and woollen-cloth-making, are carried on. Pop. of the town, about 3,000.

The vale extends about 8 miles E and W from Eglwyseg vale to Wynnstay, the seat of Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart.; bears the alternative name of Glyndwrdwy; is richly diversified in its own features along both sides, and flanked or overhung by mountains; has long been noted, among tourists, as presenting the loveliest and most romantic series of views in Wales; but disappoints the expectation of some travellers, when seen in unpropitious weather, under disadvantageous lights, or from ill-chosen stand-points. Two objects of great interest in it are a canal aqueduct, 2,600 feet long and 126 feet high, constructed in 1795-1805, by Telford, at a cost of £47,018, -and a railway viaduct 1,531 feet long; and other objects of interest are Eliseg pillar, 8 feet high, Valle Crucis abbey ruins, Llandyssilio Hall, a tower near Crow castle, the ruin of Rhydydris, the Eglwyseg rocks, the Castell-Dinas ancient British camp, perched on an eminence 610 feet above the river., Trevor Hall, Pengwern, Plas-y-Pentre, and the Waterloo tower, erected to commemorate the victory of Waterloo.

The parish is cut into the divisions of LlangollenTraian and Glyn-Traian. The L. T. div. comprises the townships of Llangollen-Abbots, Llangollen-Fawr, Llangollan-Fechan, Bache, Cysyllte, Dinbren, EglynysEagle, Pengwern, Rhysgog, Trevor-Issa, Trevor-Ucha, and Vivod; and the G. T. div. comprises those of Cilcochwin, Crogen-Iddon, Croggen-w-Ladies, Erwallo, Havodgynfawr, Nantygwryd, and Talygarth. Acres, 20,176. Real property, £19,876; of which £2041 are in quarries, £285 in railways, and £50 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,5,260; in 1861,5,799. Houses, 1,296. The property is subdivided. Sychnaint, or Sycharth, is said to have been the seat of Owen Glendower. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. Asaph. Valne, £350. * Patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph. The p. curacies of Pontfadog and Trevor are separate benefices.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a vale, and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Llangollen CP/AP       Llangollen Urban CP       Denbighshire AncC
Place names: GLYNDWRDWY     |     LLANGOLLEN
Place: Llangollen

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