Part 11

“We contrived to gain the shore of lake Ogwen unmolested by all the imps and demons, who seemed to have come on the wings of the blast from their modern retreat on the pedestals of Penrhyn Castle, to visit the haunts where they dwelt in days of yore, before every rock was attacked for its mineral wealth as it is now. On the borders of this solemn lake, however, the miner’s hammer is unheard; all is solitary grandeur and gloomy sublimity: mountains are piled on each other, and appear to crowd together round the lake, pressing its dark waters into a small space, deep and generally still, though ruffled when we saw it, by the rushing wind that swept through the hollow of Nant Ffrancon.

“The river Ogwen issues from this lake, and the accumulated waters which its rocky basin is unable to contain force their way through a chasm in the rocks, and fall with tremendous force in three cataracts, called the Falls of Benglog.

“Solemn and silent as Ogwen appears, it is less fearful and solitary than another dark lake situated high up amongst the mountains in the vicinity, called Llyn Idwal, where, in the early times of Welsh history, it is recorded, that Idwal, the infant heir of Prince Owen Gwynedd, was drowned by the hand of his foster-father, when

“‘No human ear but Dunawt’s {87} heard Young Idwal’s dying scream.’

“The cliffs that encircle this lake are split into a thousand fearful shapes, and a mighty chasm yawns between, called Twll dû, which is said to be the abode of the unquiet soul of the murderer and the howling and exulting demon who torments him for his hateful crime—a crime

“‘Most foul, strange, and unnatural.’

“No bird will ever dip his wing in that lake, nor pause near its waters.

“Nothing can exceed the horror of this spot: the breach in the black rock is like that produced by the Sword of Roland in the Pyrenees, but no cheering prospect of far lands opens through: here all is dark, fearful, and tremendously appalling.

“The Twll dû is sometimes called the Devil’s Kitchen; the waters of the lake rush impetuously through its chasm. In memory of the tragedy acted here, the fish, of which there was formerly a profusion, were all deprived, according to received tradition, of one eye, the left being closed: as there are now no fish in the lake, it is impossible to verify the truth of this legend.

“This neighbourhood is the chosen abode of demons and strange monsters; and once upon a time, it is said, that a hunter pursuing the chase in the valleys between these mountains saw suddenly, perched on a rock, an extraordinary animal, such as had never before been beheld. It was hunched like a buffalo, and was covered with tufts of hair which shone like gold. The daring hunter pursued it over every obstacle, till he had nearly reached the Twll dû, when he overtook and slew it; but he gained little by his exploit, for the animal bellowed so loud that the rocks split in all directions; and neither the huntsman nor his prey was seen afterwards.

“The pretty inn at Capel Curig is built of slate, walls and roof and flights of steps, all of a shining grey, contrasting oddly with its gay garden of roses which lies beneath. From this garden is a fine view of Snowdon and its lake, with mountain scenery of great sublimity on all sides. The graceful bridge over Gwyryd is a beautiful object in the distance: while Snowdon, Moel Siabod, and the three sister lakes linked together, which extend along this charming valley, lie all before the eye.”

CERIG-Y-DRUIDION, (_Denbighshire_.)

Cerniogau 3 Corwen 10 Llanrwst 14 Pont-y-Glyn 4½ Ruthin 15

This is a pleasant village, so named from its being supposed to have been the abode of the Druids. In Camden’s time it was famed for some druidical remains. These ancient relics have long since been removed; they consisted of _cromlechs_ and _kist vaens_, or stone chests.

At Pen Gwerwyn, a hill about a mile to the east of the village, are some inconsiderable remains of a castle, of which tradition says that it once belonged to Caractacus. We are told that when he was routed by the Romans, he retreated to this castle for safety; but was, with his whole family, betrayed to the enemy, and sent prisoner to Rome, where he delivered that celebrated speech which is so familiar to all students of British history.

CERNIOGAU MAWR, (_Denbighshire_.)

Capel Curig 15 Cerig-y-Druidion 3 Corwen 13 Ruthin 18

Cerniogau Mawr is a hamlet of three or four small houses, in an elevated situation, on the London and Holyhead mail-road. Five miles on the road to Llanrwst is Gallt-y-Gwy, a terrace of more than two miles long. To the east appears the beautiful deep vale of Llanrwst, with Conway in the termination.

CHESTER.

Although this city is not strictly within the cognizance of our publication, yet its close proximity to North Wales, and the advantages which it offers as a starting point from which a tour of the Principality may be commenced, warrant us in devoting to it a passing notice. Chester abounds with objects of interest to the traveller; and its many antique relics of bygone ages never fail to excite the admiration of those who take pleasure in the quaint architecture, or historical memorials of former times.

Its old walls, its antique rows, its curiously carved and gable-ended houses, its venerable cathedral, its solemn towers, its abbey gates, the ruined Priory, and the time-worn church of St. John, may be enumerated among the more prominent vestiges of its antiquities. While its noble castle, its unrivalled Grosvenor Bridge, and the elegant lodge at the entrance of Eaton Park, are among the modern attractions which the tourist will examine with interest and delight; but to the description of which we shall not in this place devote a fuller notice, as they are more particularly alluded to elsewhere.

CHIRK, (_Denbighshire_.)

Llangollen 7 London 176 Oswestry 5 Ruabon 6

Chirk is pleasantly situated on the northern bank of the river Ceiriog, which, flowing through a small vale of great beauty, here separates the counties of Denbigh and Salop, and of course Wales and England. It is a very neat and clean village, and contains some highly respectable houses, and several substantial and well-built cottages, having been greatly improved within the last few years by the late Mrs. Myddelton Biddulph, who, on coming into possession of the Chirk Castle estates, pulled down several dilapidated buildings, and erected others of modest and uniform appearance for her tenants, on more eligible sites. The Holyhead road, on both sides the village, has been widened and altered within the last few years, so as to avoid the irregularities and windings in its course. There are some coal mines in this parish, extensive lime works, and several large iron forges, which employ a great number of hands. The village has a good church, and in the yard are several remarkably old yew trees.

Chirk Aqueduct.

The Ellesmere canal enters this parish from Shropshire, and is conveyed across the vale of Chirk and the river Ceiriog by means of an aqueduct, two hundred and thirty yards long, consisting of ten arches, the piers of which are sixty-five feet high, and then immediately enters a tunnel two hundred and twenty yards long. On emerging from this subterranean passage, it proceeds on its course through the parish, and then enters another tunnel, soon after which it is carried over the vale of the Dee by the stupendous aqueduct of Pont-y-Cyssylltau. About one mile and a half to the west of the village is

CHIRK CASTLE,

proudly situated on an eminence, backed by the Berwyn mountains. It is a venerable quadrangular embattled structure, defended by a low massive tower at each corner, and another in the centre of the north front, where is the principal entrance, under an arched gateway guarded by a portcullis, into a square area of considerable dimensions, round which the various apartments are ranged: on the east side of this area extends a low embattled corridor, leading into the principal apartments, which were greatly altered, modernised, and embellished by the late Mrs. Biddulph, within the last few years; but the old entrance to the hall is by a flight of steps on the north side of the area. The picture gallery, at the south end of which is the chapel, is 100 feet in length by 22 in width, and contains some good portraits and other paintings.

Chirk castle is supposed to have been built in the year 1013, and was an extremely strong fortification. The front is about 250 feet; and two persons abreast may parade the battlements with ease. It was besieged by the parliamentary forces, and considerably battered by the cannon of Cromwell. The repairs cost £80,000.

The park is extensive, and disposed with picturesque effect, the inequalities of its surface, and the declivity of the hill extending behind it and towards the north, having afforded a favourable scope for the arrangement of the trees and plantations. Near New Hall, which is described as an old seat of the Myddeltons, rebuilt many years ago as a farm-house, and surrounded by a moat, at the entrance into the park from Llangollen and Wrexham, stands a pair of iron gates, of the richest, most delicate, and exquisite workmanship, designed and executed by a common blacksmith.

The summit of the castle commands a wide expanse of great beauty and magnificence, offering to the naked eye an uninterrupted view into seventeen different counties. The river Ceiriog runs on the west side of the castle, through a deep and picturesque valley, remarkable in history as the scene of a sanguinary conflict in 1165, between the forces under Henry the Second and those of the Welsh under their brave Prince Owen Gwynedd, when the latter obtained a decisive victory, and compelled the Saxon monarch to seek safety in a retreat to his own territories.

In this neighbourhood are many ancient fortifications, the most noticeable of which is part of Offa’s dyke, thrown up as the boundary between the ancient Britons and the Saxons in 763.

This fine estate has been in possession of the Myddelton family since the beginning of the seventeenth century; the present possessor is Colonel Robert Myddelton Biddulph, Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire, paternally descended from the Biddulphs of Ledbury, in Herefordshire.

One mile below the village of Chirk is also

BRYN KINALLT,

the elegant seat of Lord Dungannon. It is delightfully situated on an elevation, and surrounded by extensive and beautiful plantations.

CLYNOG, (_Caernarvonshire_.)

Caernarvon 10 Llanllyfni 6 Pwllheli 10

This beautiful village is situated on the turnpike-road, about equidistant between Caernarvon and Pwllheli. It has a remarkably fine gothic church, the tower of which rises very beautifully from among a verdant cluster of noble trees.

St. Beuno, the reputed uncle of St. Winifred, erected the church and a grand mausoleum, now called St. Beuno’s chapel, which communicates with the church through a dark vaulted passage of six yards. In this chapel the remains of the pious founder, who lived in the seventh century, were deposited, and here also was his saintly niece interred. Her effigy in stone, mutilated like an Egyptian mummy, is still to be seen at this sacred edifice.

About a hundred yards from the church, adjoining the turnpike-road, is St. Beuno’s well, eight feet square, inclosed by a wall eight feet high. This well was much famed for healing the sick, and particularly for curing the rickets in children. Within the last fifty years, however, the well has ceased to attract so many devotees, though no doubt can exist as to the sanative virtues of its waters.

In the south-east corner of the church, near the altar-table there is an old wooden chest, belted with iron, and fastened to the floor, called “Cŷff Beuno” (Beuno’s chest), which was originally placed there to receive the offerings of money from the devotees of the saint, who repaired there for comfort and healing.

Between Clynog and Caernarvon is Glynllifon, the seat of Lord Newborough. It was recently destroyed by fire, and is now rebuilt.—Near the coast is Dinas Dinlle, a Roman station, 30 acres in extent, supposed to have been artificially raised by the soldiers of Agricola.

Rhaiadr Dibyn Mawr is a waterfall among the mountains, distant about two miles from Clynog.

CONWAY, (_Caernarvonshire_.)

Aber 9 Abergele 12 Bangor 14½ Caernarvon 24 Llandulas 9 Llanrwst 12 London 236 Penmaen Mawr 6

This is one of the most interesting and picturesque towns in North Wales. The approach to the town from the Denbighshire side of the river is remarkably interesting, and presents a fine view of the noble castle and the beautiful suspension bridge, with the adjacent mountain scenery, forming a glorious panorama of surpassing loveliness and sublimity. The pearl fishery of the Conway, which even yet, though shorn of its former importance, affords employment to several poor families, was celebrated in the time of the Romans. Pliny says that Julius Cæsar dedicated in one of the temples of Rome a breastplate set with British pearls, probably from this fishery. And in comparatively modern days, one of these pearls, presented to the Queen of Charles the Second by Sir R. Wynne, was honoured with a place in the royal crown, where probably it yet shines, in testimony of the loyalty of the Welshman. The British pearls are found in a shell-fish, called by Linnæus _myd margaritefera_, the pearl muscle, peculiar to stony and rapid rivers.

The port of Conway is a dry harbour, frequented by a few coasting vessels; and the river is navigable up to the village of Trefriw, which is about twelve miles from its mouth. A quay extends along the east side of the town wall. The principal inns are the Castle and the Newborough Arms.

The castle, built in 1284, under the eye of Edward the First, by the architect, it is supposed, whom he employed in the erection of Caernarvon, is very justly regarded as one of the most beautiful fortresses in a country distinguished for the splendour and magnificence of its military structures. Though more extensive and better preserved, it somewhat resembles the castle of Falaise, in Normandy. Its base, however, is less wooded, and there is no brawling streamlet leaping, as there, from rock to rock, at its foot; but instead, a broad, majestic river, and a creek full at high water, swoop round two of its sides. The other two face the town. Within the walls are two spacious courts; and the external line of the fortifications contains eight lofty towers, each with a slender turret, singularly graceful and elegant in form, springing from its summit.

The great hall on the right measures 130 feet long and 30 broad, and is lighted by six lancet-shaped windows, opening out upon the creek, and three pointed windows, of exquisite tracery, looking towards the ample court. Eight Gothic arches, four of which remain entire, supported the roof of this magnificent apartment. A lofty Norman arched window at each end, and two broad carved fire-places, completed the architectural decorations and appearances of the hall. The spacious hall was the scene of the Christmas revelries to which Edward and his queen invited the English nobility and their high-spirited dames, while the monarch was forging the chain that was for ever to enslave the prostrate Principality. The walls, on all sides, are covered with a green drapery of luxuriant ivy, and a meadow of grass lies in the open area of the courts. The warder’s duty is supplied by a whole tribe of crows, whose solemn parley is heard the instant a stranger’s foot approaches the domain they have usurped; and the ivied walls are nearly alive with blackbirds, and birds of all colour, whose notes resound for the live-long day throughout these otherwise deserted ruins. Two entrances, both contrived for security, led into the fortress; one by winding narrow stairs, up a steep rock, from the Conway, and terminating in a small advanced work before one of the castle-gates, covered by two round towers—the other towards the town, protected by similar works, with the addition of a drawbridge over a broad moat.

Notwithstanding its grandeur and importance, this castle makes no great figure in history. Soon after its erection, the royal founder was besieged in it by the Welsh, and the garrison nearly reduced to an unconditional surrender by famine. Finally, however, they were extricated from their perilous situation by the arrival of a fleet with reinforcements and provisions. In 1399, Richard the Second, then in Ireland, commanded the troops, raised in his behalf against the haughty Bolingbroke, to assemble at Conway, and their numbers were considerable; but the vacillation and feebleness of purpose of that monarch induced many of them to abandon him on his arrival; yet the remainder was still sufficient to have made head against the usurper, had not the king, who feared to fight his own battles, basely abandoned his followers, and rushed blindly into the snare laid for him by his enemies. During the civil wars, Conway Castle was at first held by Archbishop Williams for the king; but the warlike churchman, being superseded by the fiery Rupert in the command of North Wales, went over in dudgeon to the republican party, and personally assisted the gallant General Mytton in the reduction of the castle. While the republic flourished, this noble fortress was suffered to retain all its ancient grandeur undiminished; but on the restoration, a grant having been made of it, by the Stuart, to the Earl of Conway, its new possessor ordered his agent to remove the timber, iron, lead, and other valuable materials, and send them to Ireland, ostensibly for his master’s service, though it is generally supposed they were intended for his own use. A suitable fate attended this desecration of one of the finest structures of antiquity, the vessels which conveyed the materials being wrecked, and the whole of the property entirely lost.

This ancient castle is the fictitious scene of the drama of the _Castle Spectre_, and of _The Bard_ of Gray.

The suspension bridge, by Mr. Telford, is constructed on the same principle as that of the Menai, though on a smaller scale, and presents an appearance singularly elegant, lying at the foot of the antique castle, and surrounded by scenery of the most picturesque description. It is 320 feet in length between the supporting towers, and 18 feet above high-water mark. The chains on the western side pass upwards of 50 feet under the castle, and are fastened in the granite foundations on which it is built. On the farther side they are bolted into an insular rock, which rises in the bed of the river, and forms the strait through which the gushing waters pass on their way to the sea.

The piers of the bridge, and the toll-house at the western extremity, are built in strict keeping with the architecture of the castle. An embankment, formed of hard clay, faced with solid masonry of stone, and stretching from the insular rock to the western shore of the county of Denbigh, a length of 671 yards, with a breadth of 30 feet, and an extreme elevation of 54 feet, exhibits one of the finest and firmest _chaussées_ in the world.

The church, though ancient, contains scarcely anything worthy of notice, except the following inscription, engraved on a stone in the nave of the building, which, though found in Pennant and other tourists, is so curious as to deserve repetition: “Here lyeth the body of Nicholas Hookes, of Convey, gentleman, (who was the forty-first child of his father, Wm. Hookes Esq. by Alice, his wife,) the father of twenty-seven children, who died the 27th day of March, 1637.” In the market-place is an old building called Plâs Mawr, which was erected more than two centuries ago. It is deserving the notice of the antiquarian. The town is surrounded by a very thick wall, strengthened by twenty-four towers, most of which remain in tolerable preservation.

Miss Costello seems to have been thoroughly enraptured with Conway, of which she says, “I think no description, however enthusiastic, can do justice to one of the most romantic and interesting spots that exists perhaps in Europe. Although the modern bridge, which carries the road across the river to the castle walls, looks, as it is of course, of a very different date from the antique structure, yet there is something so singular, so beautiful, and so aërial in a suspension bridge, that it can scarcely be thought out of character with the Moorish-looking towers and turrets to which it leads, which are as light and graceful as itself, in spite of their immense strength and power. With all the legends of supernatural buildings with which Wales abounds, it would not be difficult for the imagination to conceive that the Genii threw these delicate chains over the wide space that divides the castle from the opposite rocks, and thus obtained a triumph over the giant who kept the fortress. Both near and at a distance it has a beautiful effect, and is even more graceful than the surprising work over the Menai Straits.

“The castle, although on the shore of the broad river, which is here, at high water, half a mile wide, stands on a lofty rock, which forms the strong foundation of the fabric, and defends the town, which must however have been well capable of defence in itself, to judge by the huge walls which surround it, and which are still entire, and the enormous towers placed from distance to distance along their whole extent. The shape of the town is fancifully said to resemble a Welsh harp, to the form of which it really has much affinity; and as there are no suburbs nor a single straggling house beyond the allotted precincts, it is plainly defined and has a peculiarly striking aspect, quite unlike that of any other town I ever saw.

“In all lights and from all points the castle looks well: but the best view of it is perhaps from the opposite shore, where all its towers, and battlements, and minaret turrets, come out in great relief, particularly with a sunset sky behind them, when they stand forth most gorgeously. With the river full of water, and the sun going down red and glowing, as we saw it the first evening we arrived, nothing can be conceived more magnificent than the scene:

“‘Seem’d all on fire that castle proud,’

“with crimson and golden flames issuing from the lofty, dark walls. But when we beheld it in the morning, shining white, with the blue sky for its background, we could not decide at which hour it was most admirable; and again, whether by the light of a brilliant moon the mighty fortress, whose rents and defacements the favouring shade concealed, did not appear after all to the greatest advantage. * * *

“We were so delighted with the extreme beauty of the castle, and the quiet of this simple place, that we remained there ten days, in order to enjoy frequent strolls amongst the ruins, and visit some of the most interesting places near.”

We fully concur in the glowing encomiums which have been passed by the most intelligent tourists on the locality of Conway, which is doubtless one of the most attractive and interesting spots in the Principality.

From Conway, Mr. Bingley, the celebrated author, made an excursion round

Creiddin,

a commot or hundred of Caernarvonshire, situated upon the side of the river opposite to Conway, and forming a considerable promontory into the Irish Sea. After crossing the river, and proceeding along the shore for about half a mile, the first object of attraction is

Diganwy,