Wales Illustrated Volume 1-2; In a Series of Views, Comprising the Picturesque Scenery, Towns, Castles, Seats of the Nobility & Gentry, Antiquities, &C (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1830 Excerpt: ...of Owen; and Cynric and Meredith, sons of Rhys. According to a paper communicated by John Middleton to the Antiquarian Society, the castle was begun in 1011, and finished in 1013; the repairs of one of the wings, in Cromwell's time, cost nearly 28,000. The front is two hundred and fifty feet long. However, when sir Thomas Middleton, in the civil wars, revolted from the parliament, this castle was besieged, and one side, with three of its towers, were thrown down, but again rebuilt in one year, at the enormous expense of 80,000. For a building T of great extent and antiquity, this castle may be pronounced rather mean than magnificent. The finest specimen of art which the demesne contains is the singularly beautiful iron gates. About two miles from Chirk, on the road to Rhuabon, is a pleasing view down a woody vale, in the bottom of which runs the river Dee; but a little farther, at New Bridge, this is exceeded by another view more interesting. "Out of the road," says Mr. Bingley, (who visited this neighbourhood in September, 1798, ) "about one hundred yards above the bridge, such a scene was presented to me, that had I possessed the pencil of a Claude, I could have painted one of the most exquisite landscapes the eye ever beheld. The river here darted along its rugged bed, and its rocky banks clad with wood, where every varied tint that autumn could afford added to their effect, cast a darkening shade upon the stream. With the green oak, all the different hues of the ash, the elm, and the hazel, were intermingled. Above the bridge arose a few cottages surrounded with foliage. The evening was calm, and the smoke, tinged by the setting sun, descended upon the vale, while the distant mountains wore brightened by his beams into a fine p...