There are very large trees.
The Hall at Lleweney is forty feet long, and twenty-eight broad. The gallery one hundred and twenty feet long, (all paved.) The Library forty-two feet long, and twenty-eight broad. The Dining-parlours thirty-six feet long, and twenty-six broad.
It is partly sashed, and partly has casements.
JULY 30.
We went to Bach y Graig, where we found an old house, built 1567, in an uncommon and incommodious form. My Mistress[1188] chattered about tiring, but I prevailed on her to go to the top. The floors have been stolen: the windows are stopped.
The house was less than I seemed to expect; the river Clwyd is a brook with a bridge of one arch, about one third of a mile.
The woods[1189] have many trees, generally young; but some which seem to decay. They have been lopped. The house never had a garden. The addition of another story would make an useful house, but it cannot be great. Some buildings which Clough, the founder, intended for warehouses, would make store-chambers and servants' rooms[1190]. The ground seems to be good. I wish it well.
JULY 31. We went to church at St. Asaph. The Cathedral, though not large, has something of dignity and grandeur. The cross aisle is very short. It has scarcely any monuments. The Quire has, I think, thirty-two stalls of antique workmanship. On the backs were CANONICUS, PREBEND, CANCELLARIUS, THESAURARIUS, PRAECENTOR. The constitution I do not know, but it has all the usual titles and dignities. The service was sung only in the Psalms and Hymns.
The Bishop was very civil[1191]. We went to his palace, which is but mean. They have a library, and design a room. There lived Lloyd[1192] and Dodwell[1193].
AUGUST 1.
We visited Denbigh, and the remains of its Castle.
The town consists of one main street, and some that cross it, which I have not seen. The chief street ascends with a quick rise for a great length: the houses are built, some with rough stone, some with brick, and a few are of timber.
The Castle, with its whole enclosure, has been a prodigious pile; it is now so ruined, that the form of the inhabited part cannot easily be traced.
There are, as in all old buildings, said to be extensive vaults, which the ruins of the upper works cover and conceal, but into which boys sometimes find a way. To clear all passages, and trace the whole of what remains, would require much labour and expense. We saw a Church, which was once the Chapel of the Castle, but is used by the town: it is dedicated to St. Hilary, and has an income of about--
At a small distance is the ruin of a Church said to have been begun by the great Earl of Leicester[1194], and left unfinished at his death. One side, and I think the east end, are yet standing. There was a stone in the wall, over the door-way, which it was said would fall and crush the best scholar in the diocese. One Price would not pass under it[1195]. They have taken it down.
We then saw the Chapel of Lleweney, founded by one of the Salusburies: it is very compleat: the monumental stones lie in the ground. A chimney has been added to it, but it is otherwise not much injured, and might be easily repaired.
We went to the parish Church of Denbigh, which, being near a mile from the town, is only used when the parish officers are chosen.
In the Chapel, on Sundays, the service is read thrice, the second time only in English, the first and third in Welsh. The Bishop came to survey the Castle, and visited likewise St. Hilary's Chapel, which is that which the town uses. The hay-barn, built with brick pillars from space to space, and covered with a roof. A more[1196] elegant and lofty Hovel.
The rivers here, are mere torrents which are suddenly swelled by the rain to great breadth and great violence, but have very little constant stream; such are the Clwyd and the Elwy. There are yet no mountains. The ground is beautifully embellished with woods, and diversified by inequalities.
In the parish church of Denbigh is a bas relief of Lloyd the antiquary, who was before Camden. He is kneeling at his prayers[1197].
AUGUST 2.
We rode to a summer-house of Mr. Cotton, which has a very extensive prospect; it is meanly built, and unskilfully disposed.
We went to Dymerchion Church, where the old clerk acknowledged his Mistress. It is the parish church of Bach y Graig. A mean fabrick: Mr. Salusbury[1198] was buried in it. Bach y Graig has fourteen seats in it.
As we rode by, I looked at the house again. We saw Llannerch, a house not mean, with a small park very well watered. There was an avenue of oaks, which, in a foolish compliance with the present mode, has been cut down[1199]. A few are yet standing. The owner's name is Davies.
The way lay through pleasant lanes, and overlooked a region beautifully diversified with trees and grass[1200].
At Dymerchion Church there is English service only once a month. This is about twenty miles from the English border.
The old clerk had great appearance of joy at the sight of his Mistress, and foolishly said, that he was now willing to die.