Upper Reaches





We have divided the story of the River Dee into three parts:

Upper Reaches
From the source of the river at springs on the slopes of Dduallt above Llanuwchllyn in the mountains of Snowdonia, through Wales, to its emergence from the Vale of Llangollen; here the young river flows swiftly and the majority of erosion takes place, cutting relatively narrow, steep-sided, "V"-shaped valleys, often with interlocking spurs.

Middle Reaches
Through England and the Welsh borders to Chester; the "middle aged" river slows down and the valley becomes broader. Both erosion and deposition of material takes place, leading to the formation of meanders and occasional changes of course which have in cases left pockets of England "stranded" on the Welsh side of the River Dee.

Lower Reaches
Back in Wales, below Chester to Hilbre Islands and the sea; the river is now in "old-age" and while there is little erosion a lot of material is deposited. In the case of the River Dee this deposition has had a significant impact on the economic development of Chester, effectively turning a major port into a relatively quiet backwater. The estuary is important for birdlife and has been designated both as a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" and under the "Ramsar Convention" on "Wetlands of International Importance", especially as waterfowl habitats.

Upper Reaches


In its upper reaches, the Dee flows rapidly and its channels erode deeper rather than wider. The valley is steeped in myth. References to Gwyn ap Nudd, Lord of the Celtic Otherworld, are commonplace in the area, with the name for the Berwyn range perhaps translating to Gwyn's Hill. Others include Nant Gwyn (Gwyn's Valley), Caer Drewyn (Gwyn's Town) - the whole area has been known locally as Gwyn's Land (Gwynedd) for centuries. "Gwyn" means "white" in the Welsh language and is in everyday use as a common noun and adjective with that meaning. "Albion" (Greek: Ἀλβιών) is also one of the oldest known names of the island of Great Britain, and is often taken to mean "the white country", a reference to the white cliffs of Dover or the pale skin of it's inhabitants.

The upper reaches of the river Dee are associated with Arthurian legends - Arthur was said to have grown up at the source of the Dee and the castle of Dinas Bran (lit "Castle of the City of Crows") is supposed by some to be "Corbenic" the home of the Fisher King. The feminine form of Gwyn, Gwen, is the root of "Gwenhwyfar", the original Welsh form of Guinevere. More recent legends include that of the "Welsh Roswell". The upper reaches of the River Dee are highly regulated to maintain a more or less constant supply of water throughout the year.

Willam Camden wrote:


 * The river Dee, called in Latin Dava, in British Dyfyr-dwy , that is, the water of Dwy , breeding very great plenty of Salmons, ariseth out of two fountaines in Wales, and thereof men thinke it tooke the name. For dwy in their tongue signifieth two. Yet others, observing also the signification of the word, interpret it Blac-water , others againe Gods water or divine water. But although Ausonius noteth that a Spring hallowed to the Gods was named Diuvona in the ancient Gaules tongue (which was all one with the British), and in old time all rivers were reputed Διοπετεῖς, that is, Descended from Heaven , yea and our Britans yeelded divine honour unto rivers, as Gildas writeth, yet I see not why they should attribute Divinitie to this river Dwy above all others.

A different world
Early geologists strove to explain how fossil fish and shells could be found on the higher slopes of mountains, as they can still be found today in the mountains around the Dee valley. The first explanation was Noah's Flood and led to the theory of "Catastrophism" where the earth was shaped by sudden and often cataclysmic changes. This was later displaced by "Uniformitarianism" which believed that one should look no further for the causes of geological change than to processes which are still going-on today. The truth is somewhere between the two. Rain still washes mountains slowly to the sea, grouse still swallow small stones to aid digestion and deposit them elsewhere and meandering rivers sort and scour their floodplains, but now and again these processes reach a tipping point as drifting continents collide, volcanic pressures reach bursting point or the climate switches from greenhouse to ice-house. Sometimes there are genuine catastrophes, as wayward comets slam into the earth or when a new species, in the blink of a geological eye, modifies the entire planet in a few hundred years. In order to make sense of the history of the rocks, geologists divided them into three "eras", oldest, middle and youngest. They later added a forth era and started to separate the three eras up into "periods" (as well as adding some previous "eons" of even longer timescale). Nowadays the geological past of the earth is thinly sliced into eons, eras, periods, epochs, ages and "chrons" (and every geologist wants to name a new one).



Our story of the River Dee starts in the deep past, in the period informally known as the "Pre-Cambrian" (literally - "before the Welsh mountains"). It spans from the formation of Earth around 4500 Mya (million years ago) to the evolution of large hard-shelled animals, which marked the beginning of the Cambrian, the first period of the first era of the Phanerozoic eon, some 542 Mya. It is named after the Roman name for Wales - Cambria - where rocks from this period were first studied. Little is known about the Precambrian, despite it making up roughly seven-eighths of the Earth's history. Most of the Earth's landmasses were collected into a single supercontinent around 1000 Mya ("Million Years Ago"), known as Rodinia (from the Russian for "the mother-land"), which broke up around 600 Mya when glacial conditions possibly reached all the way to the equator, resulting in a so-called "Snowball Earth". In those long gone days the Earth was very different from the world we know today - there was no life on land, apart perhaps for some algal scum, and the day was shorter by as much as two hours as the earth rotated more quickly. Such was the birthplace of the Welsh mountains, eventually to become the head of the Dee. The atmosphere of this early Earth is poorly understood, but it is thought to have been reducing gases, containing very little free oxygen. The young planet had a reddish tint, and its seas may have been olive green. Evolving life forms developed photosynthesis, and oxygen began to be produced in large quantities, causing an ecological crisis sometimes called the Oxygen Catastrophe. The oxygen was immediately tied up in chemical reactions, primarily with iron, until the supply of oxidizable surfaces ran out. After that the modern high-oxygen atmosphere developed. Rocks of the subsequent Cambrian period are only preserved in Pembrokeshire to the West and Snowdonia to the North and include the slates of Snowdonia and the hard rocks of the "Harlech Dome", formed when the Caledonian collision compressed the rocks of the Harlech region into large folds, and raised them into a huge dome. Apart from a few outcrops the original Cambrian mountians have long been eroded away or buried deep below subsequent deposits.



Source


When the super-continent of Rodinia split it prduced three pieces: the supercontinent of Proto-Laurasia (North America, Greenland, Europe and the former USSR), the supercontinent of Proto-Gondwana (parts of South Ameica, Antarctica, Madagascar, India, and Australia), and the smaller Congo craton. Next Proto Laurasia split to form the continents of Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica. The Iapetus Ocean formed a wide oceanic basin between the paleocontinents of Laurentia (Scotland, Greenland and North America) to the west and Baltica (Scandinavia and parts of northeastern Europe) to the east. A smaller sub-continent, called "Avalonia" also lay on the south side of the Iapetus Ocean. On the northen side of Avalonia lay a marine basin, termed by geologists the ‘Welsh Basin’. While the extent of the Welsh Basin varied with changes in sea level, it stretched roughly from the English Midlands through Shropshire to Ireland.

The present-day River Dee has its source on the slopes of 662m Dduallt (ðɨæɬt - "Black Hill") above Llanuwchllyn in the mountains of Snowdonia. A peculiar story about this mountain is recounted by George Bolam ("Wild Life In Wales", p387) who was crossing the Dduallt range with a farmer when they came across the material which is known locally as "pwdre ser" (rot from the stars). This "star-jelly" has been suggested as being some kind of mysterious extra-terrestrial goo which fell with meteors, but there are more mundane proposals for it's origin - DNA analysis shows it is possibly formed from the glands in the oviducts of frogs and toads. Birds and mammals will eat the animals but not the oviducts which, when they come into contact with moisture, swell and distort. However this is a good place to start with the geological journey, for the formation of the earth itself is believed to have been completed by an intense period of "falling stars" - the "late heavy bombardment" whose scars we still see on the face of the Moon.



Switching to the human journey, once the headwaters of the Dee was the land of the Ordovices, a tribe that lived here before the Romans came and whose name could be in some way related to the word for "hammer"; Irish 'Ord', Welsh 'Gordd' (with a G- prothetic) and Breton 'Horzh' (with a H- prothetic). They kept sheep, built hillforts and were among the few British tribes that resisted the Roman invasion, apparently organized by the Celtic leader Caratacus, exiled in their lands after his defeat (as the leader of the Catuvellauni) at the Battle of the Medway. Caratacus became a Roman public enemy, but was defeated (~51 AD) at the Battle of Caer Caradoc, by the Roman General Publius Ostorius Scapula. Caratacus fled north to the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, was loyal to the Romans and "handed him over in chains" to Ostorius, and he was dragged off to Rome to be presented to the Emperor Claudius. He made such an impression that he was pardoned and allowed to live in peace in Rome. After his liberation, according to Dio Cassius, Caratacus was so impressed by the city of Rome that he said:


 * "And can you, then, who have got such possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?"

Around 70AD, the Ordovices rebelled again and provoked a somewhat excessive response by Agricola, who, according to Tacitus, "exterminated the whole tribe". No other mention of the tribe appears in the historical records, but in view of the mountainous terrain of the lands of the Ordovices it is questionable whether Agricola could have wiped out the entire population.



The "Ordovician" geologic period was first described and named by Charles Lapworth in 1879 for rocks located in the lands of the Ordovices. The geology of the deep past shapes the land and gives rise to differences in ways of living that are often missed. As we shall see with the Dee, geological boundaries often become human borders. One of the great scientific disputes of the mid-nineteenth century concerned the partitioning of a large part of Wales into younger (Silurian) and older (Cambrian) rocks. It started in the 1830s with the work of two very different men, and the most important British geologists of the time. Revd Professor Adam Sedgwick was the man of genius, and R. I. Murchison, later Sir Roderick, was nothing if not the practical man of method. A 22 year-old Charles Darwin was one of Sedgwick's geology students in 1831, and accompanied him on a field trip to Wales that summer. The two kept up a correspondence while Darwin was on the Beagle expedition, and afterwards. However, Sedgwick never accepted the case for evolution made in "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. By the year 1839 Murchison had mapped and described the four groups that made up his Silurian System, defining each on the basis of fossils he had collected during five years fieldwork in South Wales and the Borders. His then friend Professor Sedgwick had given only a brief lithological description of the Cambrian rocks of North Wales by this date. As it became clear the two great divisions did not lie one on the other but overlapped at their boundary, Murchison extended his Silurian terminology into Sedgwick's domain. Arguments over the limits and validity of these two Systems scarcely abated with the death of the two chief contestants. British geologists remained in opposing camps until the end of the century, when Lapworth's Ordovician System of 1879 was generally accepted as a compromise for the disputed strata.

The Isles of Avalonia


In the Ordovician period, some 450 million years ago, the region that is today the source of the Dee lay under a semi-tropical sea well south of the equator: the Iapetus Ocean - Wales was in a location similar to that of present day Namibia. Present day Scotland was then part of North America on the further, northwestern, shore of Iapetus. Wales lay on the southeastern shore of the ocean. Marine animals were abundant, including brachiopods which lived attached to or buried in the sea floor. Krakatoa-like volcanic activity was rife and Rhobell Fawr, just next to Dduallt, was producing vast quantities of hot ash which killed, buried and eventually fossilised these brachiopods.



"Avalonia", located at the southern end of the Iapetus ocean, was an ancient microcontinent which now forms much of the older rocks of Western Europe, Atlantic Canada, and parts of the coastal United States. The name is derived from the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and not directly from the Avalon of Arthurian legends.. The sinking floor of the Iapetus Ocean produced huge volumes of molten magma that erupted to make the backbone of Lleyn, Snowdonia, and Cadair Idris. The Ordovician came to a close (444-447 million years ago) in a series of extinction events that, taken together, comprise the second largest of the five major extinction events in Earth's history in terms of percentage of genera that went extinct (the only larger one was the Permian-Triassic extinction event). More than 60% of marine invertebrates died, including two-thirds of all brachiopod and bryozoan families.

The Iapetus Ocean closed by the end of the Silurian, about 425 million years ago, when Scotland and England, once on the opposite sides of the Iapetus Ocean, finally collided, producing the supercontinent of "Pangaea". This Caledonian collision produced highlands covering most of Scotland and Wales. Eventually, with the break-up of Pangaea and the opening of the Altantic ocean (along a slightly different line to that of the collision - leaving Scotland stuck to Europe rather than North America) the rocks of Avalonia were dispersed over a large portion of the Earth's surface. In the modern world, we see Avalonia as forming the basic structure of the Ardennes of Belgium and north-eastern France, north Germany, north-western Poland, England, Wales, south-eastern Ireland, the south-western edge of the Iberian Peninsula, the Avalon Peninsula, much of Nova Scotia, southern New Brunswick and parts of New England. In many of these regions slate is present as one of the principal rock types.

Inhabitants
More than crows (of which more downstream), the area supports substantial populations of upland birds including raptors, such as the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Merlin (Falco columbarius), and Peregrine (Falco peregrinus). Evidence of activity in this area during the neolithic period between about 5000-2000BC is scarce, although there are large burial mounds that might be of neolithic date in the upper valley of the Dee, one of which at least, Tanycoed, is chambered. A large sub-circular enclosure has been identified on the flood plain of the Dee, at Ty-tandderwen, just east of Llyn Tegid, from aerial photographs and geophysical survey, and this seems likely to be a neolithic settlement or ceremonial enclosure. There are remains of ancient settlements close to the source of the Dee near Rhosdylluan and the modern A494 follows the course of a Roman road. It is here, where the road crosses the river on one of the Dee's many bridges that the stream starts to look like a real river. A little downstream is the village of Pandy, site of a fulling mill and a indication of the mills and industry to be found downriver. There is a large hillfort at Cefn Caer Euni.



Just when people first settled the upper reaches of the Dee is not clear. Early Britons had to cope with extreme changes of climate, and at least seven times they apparently failed to do so and died out completely. The earliest evidence for humans (Boxgrove Man) in the UK dates from around 700,000 years ago, but that was in East Anglia. We know that subsequent glaciation drove mankind out of Britain around 475,000 years ago and that it was re-colonised around 400,000 years ago by Swanscombe Man (Homo heidelbergensis - believed to be the common ancestor of Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans). Shortly after, the glaciers and ice-sheets returned again and mankind was absent for a further period.



Humans returned around 325,000 years ago and possibly remained in Britain until around 200,000 years ago when the Ice Age entered another cold cycle. North Wales appears to have been home to Neanderthal people as this cold period began, but they were either killed-off or driven southwards by the cold. Their remains, the earliest Neanderthal remains in the UK and the furthest north west ever found, were unearthed in north Denbighshire at Bontnewydd in the Elwy Valley. Mankind remained out of Britain for over 100,000 years, only re-colonising the islands around 10,000 years ago. The older view of Mesolithic Britons as being exclusively nomadic is now being replaced with a more complex picture of seasonal occupation or, in some cases, permanent occupation and attendant land and food source management where conditions permitted it. The construction of the earliest earthwork sites in Prehistoric Britain began during the early Neolithic (c. 4400 BC – 3300 BC) in the form of long barrows used for communal burial and the first causewayed enclosures, sites which have parallels on the continent. The former may be derived from the long house although no long house villages have been found in Britain, only individual examples.

sources and links

 * Geology of Rhobell Fawr;
 * Cheshire Trove on geology;

Caer-Gai
Caer-Gai, a Roman fort on the banks of the Dee near Llanuwchllyn, was traditionally known as the home of Cei, the character in the Arthurian legend known in English as "Sir Kay". Legend holds that Arthur grew up and was educated here. The Caer-gai fort is square in plan, each side measuring about 420 feet (c.128m), and covers an area of 4½ acres. The fort was furnished with timber buildings never rebuilt in stone and was occupied from around 75AD until around 130. A spring which probably served the Roman soldiers lies about 200 feet outside the western corner-angle. The Roman name of the fort may have been "Lavobrinta". During the summer of 2001 archaeologists unearthed the central plank of a Roman barrel lid branded LEV at Chester which may have come from Caer-Gai. The "Kay" legend may actually have some truth at the base of it - a stone inscription from Llanfor refers to "Cavo(s) Seniargii (filius)" - Caw, son of Seniargus. Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt (1592-1666) recorded the discovery of an early Christian stone at Caer-gai itself with the inscription: "Hic Jacet Salvianus Burgo Cavi Filius Cupetiani" - and refers to the "fort of Cavi" ("Kay"?). A "vicus", or civilian settlement, is known to exist to the south and also possibly to the east of the fort, while again there is evidence to suggest that the site persisted as a centre of activity and cultural importance in the sub-Roman period. Edmund Spenser (1552–99) in The Faerie Queen, describes how the infant Arthur (109.4) was brought there:


 * Vnto old Timon he me brought byliue, Old Timon, who in youthly yeares hath beene In warlike feates th'expertest man aliue, And is the wisest now on earth I weene; His dwelling is low in a valley greene, Vnder the foot of Rauran mossy hore, From whence the riuer Dee as siluer cleene His tombling billowes rolls with gentle rore: There all my dayes he traind me vp in vertuous lore



The earliest part of the fort is a rectangular turf rampart, much of the earthwork complex associated with the site is extant, and on the south-west side of the fort the rampart stands as a bank 8m wide. Both the south-east and south-west corners are very well-preserved, with the ditch curving around them. The bank is surmounted by a modern field wall, probably partly overlying the foundations of the original Roman stone wall that surrounded the whole area and incorporates a few of its squared stones. In addition to the civilian vicus, a variety of specifically military features were clustered around the fort, including a bathhouse, a parade ground and a possible mansio. A farm/manor house occupies the north corner of the fort and has destroyed most of the north corner-angle. Captain Rowland Vaughan, MP (c. 1590-1667), who was a notable poet and translator (he translated Latin and English books and hymns into Welsh) as well as a staunch Royalist, originally built the manor house in the late 16th -century, though the present structure is largely a product of post-Civil War rebuilding. In 1645 Vaughan and his Company fought at the battle of Naseby and in August of the same year Caer Gai was sacked and burned by General Myddleton's Roundhead troops. In March 1650 Vaughan was captured and imprisoned in Chester Castle for three years, during which time the house was burned down. Curiously William Vaughan, who first attemped to found the colony of Avalon in Newfoundland was related to Captain Roland.

Llanuwchllyn


At Llanuwchllyn, the Dee is joined by the Lliw and the Twrch (means "wild boar" and gives some idea of the character of this river). The countryside hereabouts is eloquently and extensively described by George Bolam in his 1904 book "Wildlife in Wales" (see e-books list). The village of Llanuwchllyn ("the village above the lake") is the headquarters of The Bala Railway (Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid) which runs for 7-kilometres (4.5 miles) along the lake's south east shore and was built on a section of the former Ruabon - Barmouth GWR route which was closed in 1965. Regular trains link the village with the town of Bala. At Llanuwchllyn, visitors can see the steam locomotives being serviced, can view the 1896-built Signal Box in operation and can visit the Station Buffet.

Gold was discovered here (at Carndochan, 52°51'40"N, 3°42'30"W) in the 1860s by a 12 year old boy, although many quartz boulders showing visible gold were scattered on the hillside. A company was formed in Manchester in 1863 to work the mine and operations between 1864-66 produced 1508 ounces of gold from 3158 tons of quartz. However, yields declined by 1866, and the plant was sold in 1876 following a winding-up order. Later revived, the mine worked on a small scale till 1905. Records show 12.5 ounces of gold from 50 tons of quartz in 1889, and 393 ounces of gold from 2638 tons of quartz between 1895-98. The deep adit, north-east of the mine from near the river, was completed about 1901. The metal occurs in a quartz-sulphide vein cutting Middle Ordovician volcanic rocks and its relationship to the mineralization in the nearby "Dolgellau Gold-belt" is the subject of continuing research. The National Waterfront Museum in Swansea houses a ceremonial cup made from gold extracted from the Carndochan mine in the 1860s. It is the largest object known to have ever been made from Welsh gold.



The course of the river Dee here follows the line of the Bala fault - a major geological feature of north Wales. This ancient river was running before the last Ice Age and is thought to be about 3 million years old. As Wales plunged into the last Ice Age about 73,000 years ago, ice from Snowdonia and the Arenig Mountains flowed down the valley to Bala and along the Dee Valley and on to Cheshire. This ice formed glaciers and ice sheets that covered the landscape carving and shaping the landscape. The ice was up to a kilometre thick. The Bala fault is still "active" - on January 23rd 1974 there was a minor earthquake along it. The prominent "Earthquake lights" observed at the time of the shock led to speculation that an aircraft had crashed, and search-and-rescue teams were deployed. Since nothing was discovered, it was concluded that a meteorite was responsible; more imaginative members of the public decided (and still believe) that a UFO had crashed. The scale of geological movements in the deep past can be seen near Llanuwchllyn where the two sides of the fault would have to be slid back for a distance of two miles to get the geology on either side to line up. It is likely that the natural passage through the mountains formed by the Bala fault and the upper valley of the Dee was in use from Neolithic times. From the southern end of fault, near Barmouth, it would have been possible to trade with the mines at Llancynfelin and Nantyrarian where fragments of charcoal in exposed spoil have been radiocarbon dated to the early Bronze Age, around 1400 BC.

sources and links

 * Lippincott's Magazine or "Popular Literature and Science" October 1877;
 * Caer Gai geophysical survey;
 * Caer Gai at British Listed Buildings;
 * Caer Gai Roman Site;
 * The 1974 earthquake and the "lights";
 * More on the "Bala Fault";

Bala Lake


The river broadens into Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid - (map)) - the largest (in terms of volume) natural body of water in Wales. "Y Bala" means "the outlet", describing the exit of the River Dee from Bala. The name of the lake in Welsh can be translated as "Lake of serenity". The predominant lowland rock type is sedimentary principally mudstone, siltstone and grit with some tuff (a rock formed from volcanic ash) and some limestone bands. Many of the upland areas are the result of volcanic action of the Aran Volcanic Group and the Rhobell Fawr Volcanic Complex. The Berwyn mountains were also influenced by volcanic action - Pistyll Rhaeadr often cited as the highest waterfall in Wales is the result of a river (Afon Disgynfa) flowing over a band of harder Silurian volcanic rock (Pistyll Rhaeadr is not a single drop, and both its single drop height and its total height are surpassed by both the Devil's Appendix and Pistyll y Llyn, as well as several other waterfalls).

There is a local legend that the waters of the Dee pass straight through the lake without mixing, but studies have shown that this is untrue. Michael Drayton mentions both this feature and the outlet in his works:


 * "The pearly Comvaye's head, as that of holy Dee, Renowned Rivers both, their rising have in me : So, Lavern and the Lue, themselves that head-long throw Into the spacious Lake, where Dee unmix'd doth flow. Trnicerriii takes his stream here from a native lin ; Which, out of Plmblemere when Dee himself doth win"

The Dee is not the only river to flow into Bala lake, there is also Afon Llafar and Afon Glyn.

The unique Gwyniad (Coregonus pennantii), a fish left over from the Ice Age, is found only in Llyn Tegid (the population is threatened by deteriorating water quality and by the ruffe, a fish introduced to the lake in the 1980s and now eating the eggs and fry of gwyniad - as a conservation measure, eggs of gwyniad were transferred to Llyn Arenig Fawr, a nearby lake, between 2003 and 2007.). Lake. The lake is also home to the rare Glutinous Snail. Perhaps the lake's most famous resident is "Teggie", the Welsh-dragon version of the "Loch Ness Monster". Though much looked for and even hunted by submarine, no trace of the "monster" has ever been found.

As noted above, the Bala fault has not only directed the flow of the Dee, but also created a natural travel route through the mountains. The presence of three or more Roman forts down the valley, and the concentration of no less than four earthwork castles at the north end of the lake, emphasize the anxiety of rulers to control this area. "Bala castle" (Tomen Y Bala) is the largest of these earthwork castles and can be found in Bala itself. It is little more than a mound, but at 30 feet high it offers panoramic views across the town. Llywelyn the Great is believed to have commandeered Tomen Y Bala in the early 13th century before building the spectacularly situated stone castle Carndochan, not far from Llanuwchllyn. Carndochan Castle is now in ruins.



During the 18th-century, a hosiery industry developed which led to much rebuilding in the town and to an expansion of building beyond the extent of the medieval borough. Until the industrial revolution, Bala’s residents were famed for their knitting with wool products such as socks and Bala stockings bringing in a large percentage of the town’s revenue. In later life, George III always wore socks from Bala. Thomas Pennant in his "Tour Through Wales" describes Bala as follows:


 * REACH Bala, a ſmall town in the pariſh of Llanyekil, noted for its vaſt trade in woollen ſtockings, and its great markets every Saturday morning, when from two to five hundred pounds worth are ſold each day, according to the demand. Round the place, women and children are in full employ, knitting along the roads; and mixed with them Herculean figures appear, aſſiſting their omphales [Page 68] in this effeminate employ. During winter the females, through love of ſociety, often aſſemble at one another's houſes to knit; ſit round a fire, and liſten to ſome old tale, or to ſome antient ſong, or the ſound of a harp; and this is called Cymmorth Gwau, or, the knitting aſſembly. MUCH of the wool is bought at the great fairs at Llanrwſt, in Denbighſhire. CLOSE to the ſouth-eaſt end of the town, is a great artificial mount, called Tommen y Bala, in the ſummer time uſually covered in a pictureſque manner with knitters, of both ſexes, and all ages. From the ſummit is a fine view of Llyn-tegid, and the adjacent mountains. On the right appear the two Arennigs, Vawr and Vach; beyond the farther end, ſoar the lofty Arans, with their two heads, Aran Mowddwy and Penllyn; and beyond all, the great Cader Idris cloſes the view. THIS mount appears to have been Roman, and placed here, with a caſtelet on its ſummit, to ſecure the paſs towards the ſea, and keep our mountaneers in ſubjection. The Welſh, in after time, took advantage of this, as well as other works of the ſame nature. THE town is of a very regular form: the principal ſtreet very ſpacious, and the leſſer fall into it at right angles. I will not deny, but that its origin might have been Roman.

Pennant is wrong about the "Roman street plan" - around 1310, in a move intended to quell the rebellious local community, Bala was given its Royal Charter by Roger De Mortimer of Chirk Castle and the current street plan dates back to this time. By 1310 Roger Mortimer had laid out 53 burgages:


 * ‘for the king’s benefit for the security of those parts and to restrain the malice of evil-doers and robbers in the locality’.

Mary Jones
In 1804 Mary Jones aged 16, walked barefoot along the Bala fault from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to Bala to buy a Bible from Thomas Charles – a journey of over 50 miles there and back. It was not the distance that was impressive, or even the fact that she walked barefoot, but the fact that she had saved the seventeen shillings to buy the book. Unfortunately Charles, had none left. However he took pity on Mary and gave her his own. It is said that Mary Jones’s visit to Thomas Charles made such an impression upon him that he had "no peace of mind" until he had found a way to ensure a regular supply of cheap Bibles for the common people of Wales. In 1800, Charles seemed to be worrying about everything: a frost-bitten thumb gave him "great pain and much fear for his life", his friend, Rev. Philip Oliver of Chester, died, leaving him director and one of three trustees over his chapel at Boughton in Chester and this "added much to his anxiety". In the 19th Century there was a whisky distillery at Frongoch near Bala. Unfortunately, for the Welsh whisky industry, this distillery closed in the later years of the 19th Century. Its closure coincided with the height of religious revival and “chapel building mania” in Wales, which stressed the importance of temperance.



Coch Bach y Bala (the "Little Redhead of Bala) was more properly John Jones, otherwise known as ‘The Welsh Houdini’ best known for his poaching and persistent thievery, both of which brought him into regular and continuous trouble with the Law and for his frequent jail escapes. Jones’s first escape from prison was in November 1879, when he was awaiting trial at Ruthin Gaol, for stealing 15 watches at Bala and Llanfor. Despite his frequent escapes, John Jones spent more than half his life in prison, with over 10 separate convictions for theft, breaking and entering, and on one occasion, for rioting against the Police in Bala. Jones’s activities caught the public’s imagination, and the media of the time sensationalised and publicised his activities.

Bala lake has always been prone to flooding. There is an ages-old belief in the countryside that Bala will continue to grow bigger until it has swallowed up the village of Llanfor (site of another Roman fort), now about a couple of miles from the water's edge. There is a Welsh couplet, still well known in Merionethshire, which, translated into English, runs:


 * "Bala old the lake has had, and Bala new: The lake will have, and Llanfor, too."

According to legend the site of the original town was near the middle of the present lake, at a spot opposite Llangower. There, a peaceful community lived a happy, prosperous life in houses clustering around a well called Ffynnon Gwyer, or "Gower's Well" (note the connection with Gwyn/Gwen and "Gwyniad"). Only one very important thing had these people to remember: that was to cover up their well every night, otherwise, the spirit of the well would grow angry. One night, after much drinking, the guardian of the well forgot his task and the well began to gush forth water. The guardian fled, though it is said the angry waters overtook him and drowned him miserably. When morning broke, instead of fields and houses, the valley contained a great lake three miles long and a mile wide. It is also claimed that on moonlit nights towers and buildings can be seen under the waters of Bala Lake. A further legend states these buildings to be the palace of King Tegid, husband of Ceridwen, the mother of the legendary Welsh bard Taliesin. In this version of the legend the king refused to listen to the warnings of a harpist as regards a coming flood, which promptly drowned him, and his palace. "King Tegid" is an obvious reference to Tylwyth Teg, a common Welsh name for fairies. Almost exactly the same tale is told of Llyn Llech Owen ("the lake of Owain's slab") in Carmarthenshire.



Unfortunately, Bala lake was actually formed by glacial action, but even in comparatively recent times Llyn Tegid has flooded dangerously, especially when whipped up by a south-westerly wind. The 18th century traveller Reverend W Bingley noted that the lake was subject to ‘dreadful’ overflowings, while other sources record a massive torrent in the early 1780s, when the floods rushed over the Vale of Edeirnion to the south, killing several people. The Welsh lawyer Richard Fenton described the catastrophe in Archaeologia Cambrensis (1813):


 * "The Lake of Bala was covered with the wreck of different houses, and one person recovered two feather beds floating on the lake, and one with a looking glass on it as she had left it when she left her house".

Alfred Tennyson also mentions the Dee floods at Bala in his Idylls of the King, using it as a Victorian sexual metaphor for the relationship between Geraint and Enid:


 * "And Enid tended on him there; and there Her constant motion round him, and the breath Of her sweet tendance hovering over him, Filled all the genial courses of his blood With deeper and with ever deeper love, As the south-west that blowing Bala lake Fills all the sacred Dee."

"Ffynnon Gwyer", also said to be named after St Cywair who dwelt at Llangywer in the 5th or 6th century. St Cywair (or Gwyr), a 5th century Irish princess is said to have married king Coel Godhibog of the north Britains. She is reputed to have been the mother of Llywarch Hen, the early Welsh bard, and St Pabo. Ffynnon Gower is sited some 650m south-west of the church and while said to be a "cure-all" is often dried up. The Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments casts some doubt as to whether this is the original well.

Apart from "Ffynnon Gwyer" there are several other "Holy" wells around Bala Lake. "Ffynnon Beuno" in Bala was said to be good for ligaments and bones, for eyes and for the liver, kidneys and bowels depending on whether you bathed in it or drank it. Its fame lasted into the Victorian era when Richard Lloyd Price of Rhiwlas, on whose estate it then lay, jumped into the burgeoning health spas market, bottling and selling "St Beuno’s Table Waters, efficacious for the kidneys" from the old Workhouse Building on the High Street. By the 1980's it was in a sorry state - filled in with builders rubble. In the early 2000's it was excavated to reveal what matched a record from 1913:


 * "... rising in a sunken rectangular enclosure of stone, 12 feet by 9 feet with six steps at one corner. The water is fairly deep and the overflow is copious; where it crossed the main road the roadway was roughly paved, hence the name ‘Pensarn Road.’ There are no traces of buildings over or immediately around the well. The hilly district to the south-west is called Bronydd Beuno."

Unfortunately, health and safety concerns meant that the well could not be left as an open body of water.

St Buenos Church at Llanycil on the west shore of Bala Lake (where the Bible Society has its "Mary Jones World Visitor Centre") was also said to have a Holy Well - another Ffynnon Bueno, but no sign of this remains.

Craig-y-Fron, just outside Bala to the north-west, provided stone for many buildings in Bala, including Coleg-y-Bala and Bodiwan. The excavations have left a cavern with the roof supported by regular pillars of rock, known locally as “the caves”. The rock type is tuff (a rock formed from volcanic ash), sandwiched between mudstone (above) and siltstone (below). The internal roof (mudstone) has ripples - indicating sedimentary rock. On the east side of Bala Lake, the area was known as Bryniau Golau (The "Lit-up Hills") derived from the fires of lime-kilns lighting up the area at night. The remains of several lime-kilns and a small limestone quarry are still visible over the ridge to the East.

sources and links

 * The Mary Jones walk;
 * Ffynnon Beuno from "Well-hopper";
 * An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: VI - County of Merioneth

Below Bala


To the geological and the human themes we now add a third, the industrial. Thomas Telford constructed sluices at the outlet of Bala Lake to control the flow downstream so that there was always sufficient to supply the Llangollen Canal which starts at Horseshoe Falls. The Llangollen navigable feeder became the primary water source from the River Dee for the central section of the incomplete Ellesmere Canal. Somewhere around the site of the sluices was a motte which has now vanished, one of several in the neighborhood. Pen uchar'r llan Scheduled Ancient Monument earthwork is an oval ringwork enclosure which dominates the northern end of Llanfor. It has been identified as one of a pair of earthworks, the other being Tomen-y-castell (NPRN 406424), located some 1.25km to the north-east. A footpath is depicted on historic (1889) Ordnance Survey mapping, which would have connected Tomen-y-castell to the northern end of Llanfor, and may represent a historic route. Pen uchar'r llan has been identified as a possible medieval commotal structure.

It is thought that Llanfor was once the commote centre of Penllyn, before it was superseded by Bala sometime before the thirteenth century. The customs and tolls of the market and fair of Llanfor were transfered to the new foundation of Bala in 1310-1311. The earthwork overlooks the church from an elevated position some 70m north. The two may have been contemporary and have formed elements of the same settlement. The earthwork is defined by a massive rampart, up to 5.2m high, with traces of an external ditch. The area enclosed measures some 26m by 18m. At Llanfor, yet another "Holy Well" is depicted on historic (1889-1901) Ordnance Survey mapping. The well is associated with the church of Saint Tyneio, the 6th century Patron Saint of the town. The following legend is told of the church:


 * "Llanfor Spirit troubled the neighbourhood of Bala, but he was particularly objectionable and annoying to the inhabitants of Llanfor, for he had taken possession of their Church. At last, the people were determined to get rid of him altogether, but they must procure a mare for this purpose, which they did.  A man riding on the mare entered the Church with a friend, to exorcise the Spirit.  After some time this man emerged from the Church with the Devil seated behind him on the pillion.  An old woman who saw them cried out, “Duw anwyl!  Mochyn yn yr Eglwys”—“Good God!  A pig in the Church.”  On hearing these words the pig became exceedingly fierce, because the silence had been broken and also because God’s name had been used. In his anger he snatched up both the man and the mare and threw them right over the Church to the other side, and there is a mark to this day on a grave stone of the horse’s hoof on the spot where she hit.  But the Spirit’s anger was all in vain, for he was carried by the mare to the river and laid in Llyn-y-Geulan-Goch. But so much did the poor animal perspire whilst carrying him, that, although the distance was only a quarter of a mile, she lost all her hair."

On the floodplain of the Dee, to the east of Bala and to the south of Lanfor, is a remarkable series of early Roman sites. These have been ploughed completely flat and survive only as cropmarks, discovered by Cambridge photographers in 1975. The earliest site is a very large marching camp beyond which can be seen one corner of the triple ditch system of an auxiliary fort. The most prominent feature is a double-ditched polygonal enclosure. The fort is roughly square, with sides running 650 feet along an east-west axis, and 600 feet north to south, enclosing an area of about 9 acres. The site is defended by a rampart and 3 ditches on all sides. The ramparts appear to have been made of simple turf walls. Within the walls are signs of two colonnaded courtyard buildings, set in the centre of the fort. These were probably the principia (the administration building) and praetorium, or general's quarters. To the south stood a granary, and a series of 22 subdivided buildings suggest several barracks. The barracks are larger than usual, at 10m by 60m. The number and size of the barracks suggest that Llanfor was made to hold 4 legionary cohorts. The fort was probably built around 70 AD and was in use for only a short period before it was replaced by a new fort at Caer Gai, 5 miles distant, about 75 AD.

Just below Bala the Dee is joined by the Hirnant and the River Tryweryn, flowing down from Llyn Celyn, created in 1965 to provide water for Liverpool. In the late 1950s the Bala Lake Scheme was promoted to increase the available water for abstraction in the River Dee. Telford's original sluices were by-passed and the natural lake outlet was lowered. New sluice gates were constructed downstream of the confluence with the Tryweryn, Construction of the Celyn reservoir in the 1960's involved inundation of the village of Capel Celyn and adjacent farmland, which was controversial, especially as the village was a strong-hold of Welsh culture and the Welsh language, whilst the reservoir was being built to supply Liverpool and parts of the Wirral, rather than Wales. The legislation enabling the development was passed despite the opposition of 35 out of 36 Welsh Members of Parliament (with the 36th not voting). This led to an increase in support for the Welsh Nationalist party and Welsh devolution. Between Bala and Corwen, the Dee is joined by the Alwen, which is fed by the Alwen Reservoir and Llyn Brenig. Alwen dam was built between 1909 and 1921, originally to supply water to the town of Birkenhead. Construction of Llyn Brenig began in 1973 and was completed in 1976.

Brenig has a capacity of 60 million m³ and was first filled in 1979. Whilst it is not the largest lake in Wales in terms of volume (that is Bala Lake), it is the largest in terms of area covered, around 920 acres (3.7 km2). It has a perimeter of some 14 miles (23 km). When Llyn Brenig is drawn down, it can take several years for it to completely re-fill again so it is only used during droughts when the capacity of Llyn Celyn and Llyn Tegid are not capable of maintaining the flow in the Dee. The Dee Regulation System ensures a residual flow of at least 364 m³/d is maintained over Chester Weir "in all but the most testing of droughts", safeguarding the passage of migratory fish and limiting the passage upstream of salt water over Chester Weir at high tide. Despite efforts to control the Dee, floods still occurred. The Ruabon-Barmouth line was flooded as recently as on 12th December 1964 when the river broke it's banks near Llandderfel. The line never re-opened.

Rhiwaedog, or "The Bloody Brow" was, according to a local tale, the site of a battle between "Llywarch Hên" and the Saxons. There is a historical record of a stone circle, Pabell Llywarch Hen ('The tent of Llywarch the Old'), close to Llanfor, but the circle was unfortunately removed in the 17th century during "agricultural improvement". Llywarch Hen was a 6th-century prince and poet of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a ruling family in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain (modern southern Scotland and northern England). Along with Taliesin, Aneirin, and Myrddin, he is held to be one of the four great bards of early Welsh poetry. Whether he actually wrote the poems attributed to him is unknown, and most of what is known about his life is derived from early medieval poems which may or may not be historically accurate. The Bonedd lists his date of birth c. 534, and his death c. 608, meaning he would have been around 80 years old at the time of his death, in keeping with his reputation as Llywarch "the old." However, some sources list different birth and death dates, with unlikely claims of his age reaching 105, or even 150 years.

Llandderfel


Near Llandderfel was Ffynnon Derfel - a spring attributed to the 6th Century Saint, Derfel. Derfel is said to have had healing powers where animals were concerned, and in particular, for cattle. Visiting the well in 1913, the Royal Commission inspector described it as follows:


 * "There is no well at the present time at the spot where the water gushes forth in which adult bathing could have taken place or to which vaticinatory offerings could have been made; there is merely a stone slab about two feet long, which, with some rude masonry, protects the spring and forms a small reservoir> about four feet wide. The water escapes at one side of the stone, and runs along the east side of the field."

In the porch of Llandderfel church there still survives the mutilated figure of an animal lying down, with its legs tucked neatly beneath its body. It still exhibits faint traces of red paint. With the animal is a substantial portion of a decorated wooded pole. For ages these have been known as the cefifri and ifon of St Derfel, his horse and staff or walking-stick. However a letter to the bishop written 8 November 1626, when the image was more complete, records the presence of "a wooden image of a Redd Stagg as a relique of the image of Dervell Cadarn" on the north side of the sanctuary, which is probably where the cult image stood before the Reformation. Damage began when in 1730 the Rural Dean ordered that the image be decapitated. At the same period, the image was carried in procession to Bryn Sant the "saint's hill", also called Bryn Derfel, annually on Easter Tuesday, where it was made to function as a sort of fairground ride; resulting in yet further damage. This was once accompanied by a statue of Derfel. On 6 April 1538 Thomas Cromwell's Commissary for the St Asaph diocese, Ellis Price, wrote to his master:


 * ..there is an image of Darvel gadarn within the saide diosece, in whome the people have so greate confidence, hope, and truste, that they cumme dayly a pilgramage unto hym, somme with kyne, other with oxen or horsis, and the reste withe money: in so muche that there was fyve or syxe hundrethe pilgrames, to a mans estimacion, that offered to the saide Image the fifte daie of this presente monethe of Aprill [5 April is the feastday of St Derfel]. The innocente people hathe ben sore alured and entised to worshipe the saide Image, in so muche that there is a commyn sayinge as yet amongist them, that who so ever will offer anie thinge to the saide Image of Darvellgadarn, he hathe power to fatche hym or them that so offers oute of Hell when they be dampned.

Cromwell ordered that this statue be confiscated, and taken to London for destruction, and a further letter from Price, dated 28 April, records not only that this had been done, but that such was the local regard for St Derfel's image:


 * ..the person [parson] and the parysheners of the churche wherein the saide Ymage of Dervell stode, profered me fortie powndes that the said Ymage shulde not be convaide to London..

- and warned Cromwell that the parish priest "wythe others" were heading for London to demand the return of their sacred image, and to complain about Price's conduct. Even if they reached London in time, their complaints were of no avail, the image was burned at Smithfield on 22 May 1538 together with John Forest, a Franciscan friar, and the only Catholic martyr to be burned at the stake.

Thomas Pennant in his "Tour Through Wales" tells the story as follows:


 * "A LITTLE beyond the extremity of this romantic part, in an opening on the right, ſtand the church and village of Llan-Dderfel: the firſt was dedicated to St. Derfel Gadarn, and was remarkable for a vaſt wooden image of the ſaint, the ſubject of [Page 65] much ſuperſtition in ancient times. The Welſh had a prophecy, that it ſhould ſet a whole foreſt on fire. Whether to complete it, or whether to take away from the people the cauſe of idolatry, I cannot ſay; but it was brought to London in the year 1538, and was uſed as part of the fuel which conſumed poor frier Foreſt to aſhes, in Smithfield, for denying the king's ſupremacy. This unhappy man was hanged in chains round his middle to a gallows, over which was placed this inſcription, alluſive to our image: "David Darvel Gutheren, As ſayth the Welſhman, Fetched outlawes out of Hell. Now is he come with ſpere and ſheld, In harnes to burne in Smithfeld, For in Wales he may not dwel. And Foreeſt the freer. That obſtinate lyer, That wylfully ſhal be dead. In his contumacye, The goſpel doeth deny, The kyng to be ſupreme heade.". THE prophecy was fulfilled, the image burnt, and the Foreſt conſumed, to the great content of the lord mayor, the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, the lord admiral, and lord privy ſeal, and divers others of the nobility, who honored this auto de fe with their preſence†; but unfortunately, the frier not having the inſenſibility of our wooden ſaint, on the touch of the flames ſhewed the natural horrors at approach of an agonizing death, and payed very little reſpect to the arguments of the pious Latimer, who was placed oppoſite to the ſufferer, in a pulpit, to preach him into a ſenſe of the crime of differing in opinion with his ſovereign in religious matters; for which the prelate himſelf ſuffered in a ſucceeding reign. Foreſt thought fit to deny that Henry was head of the church; and Latimer would force that honor upon Mary, who choſe to cede it to the Pope."

The valley of the River Dee between Bala and Corwen is filled with earthworks, stone-circles and other prehistoric remains. Many have been the subject of "robbing", and some have been completely destroyed. At Cefnddwysarn there is a sizeable enclosure not using a naturally good defensive location but with a double wall (bivallate), so clearly not just a settlement or stock enclosure. The inner rampart was apparently unfinished. There is a much larger hillfort at Cefn Caer Euni. This is a strongly-defended bivallate fort with evidence of numerous houses and probable extension and refortification. This fort, significantly, overlooks the major route between the coast and inland that was eventually taken by a Roman road, rather than overlooking the Dee Valley, and the river crossing at the east end of Bala Lake was clearly an important point on this route. That, and the proximity of the hillfort, may have influenced the siting of the early Roman fort at Llanfor.

sources and links

 * Cefnddwysarn - remains of camp;
 * Derfel and his well;
 * Llanfor Roman Cap at Britain Express;
 * Llanfor Roman Cap at Snowdonia National Park Authority website;

Llandrillo


Here we find St Trillo's well. Trillo was nobly born, in Brittany, and came to Wales as a disciple and student of Saint Cadfan (the 6th century founder-abbot of Tywyn and Bardsey), who later admitted Trillo to the religious life. St Trillo's Church stands on a mound next to the Ceidiog stream close to its confluence with the River Dee. Above the Ceidiog valley, to the west are numerous cairns and a rather well defended hillfort.



At Tyfos, half way between Cynwyd and Llandrillo, stands a "stone circle" some 50yds in diameter with thirteen to twenty stones (depending on what you count) each standing just one or two feet tall. This may be the remains of a cairn or barrow in which the stones formed a "kerb" around the outside, rather than a true "Stonehenge" type of monument. In just a six kilometer stretch of the Dee valley are the circles of Tyfos Uchaf and Moel ty Uchaf, and the remains of three chambered tombs including that of Branas Uchaf chambered cairn. The chamber remains at Branas Uchaf consist of two large erect aligned slabs and several smaller stones which together seem to form a "passageway".

An ancient trackway known as "Ffordd Gam Elin" runs from the earthworks at Caer Bont to the cairn/circle on the summit of Cader Bronwen, passing a further stone circle on the way. A round funerary cairn, 23m in diameter and 1.6m high, surmounted by a small recent cairn sits on top of Cader Bronwen. 9m to the SSW is a large natural boulder, 3.0m by 2.0m by 1.1m high, set on the county border. The name 'Arthur's Table' (Bwrdo Arthur) attaches to either cairn or stone. "Ffordd Gam Elin" is a clear reference to St "Elen of the Hosts" a legendary builder of Roman Roads in Wales. The road heads in the general direction of Viroconium (Wroxeter) probably via the copper mines which lie along its direction.



Thomas Pennant in his "Tour Through Wales" describes the then quite prominent earthworks at Caer Bont as follows:


 * "PURSUE the journey to Bala. Go by the little church of Llangar. Obſerve ſomewhat farther on the left, in a field called Caer Bont, a ſmall circular entrenchment, conſiſting of a foſs and rampart, with two entrances, meant probably as a guard to this paſs. My fellow-traveller, the reverend Mr. Lloyd, informed me, that in another tour he had aſcended a hill, above this place, called Y Foel, on whoſe ſummit was a circular coronet, of rude pebbly ſtones, none above three feet in height; with an entrance to the eaſt, or riſing ſun. The diameter of the circle is ten yards. Within was a circular cell, about ſix feet in diameter, ſunk a very little below the ſurface; and about a hundred yards diſtance, facing this, are the reliques of a great Carnedd, ſurrounded by large ſtones. The whole of this formed a place of worſhip among the antient Britons, and probably was ſurrounded with a grove. But what I have to ſay on the ſubject of Druidiſm, is reſerved till I reach Angleſea, its principal ſeat."



Prior to the advent of the first settled communities of farmers in about 4000 BC (the start of the "Neolithic" or "New Stone Age") there appear to have been no monumental structures such as these, but with the advent of farming - the so-called "Neolithic Revolution" - came a concern with permanence and continuity which found expression in the large stone or earth constructions which we know today as megalithic chambered tombs or long barrows. This interest continued into the Bronze Age (starting about 4000 years ago), though the form of burial monuments and the new ceremonial circles changed - some say that this was under the pressures of an increasingly personalised and hierarchical society in which individuals held power, and every local ruler wanted his own memorial. However, in the eleventh century BC many traditions, notably the building of burial monuments and stone circles, were abandoned. This was the time of the "Late Bronze Age collapse" - between 1206 and 1150 BC, there was a widespread cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the New Kingdom of Egypt in Syria and Canaan. Theories as to the cause of this collapse have included: that the previously benign climate deteriorated, leading to crop failures in multiple consecutive years. This could have been due to the Hekla 3 eruption, the most severe eruption of that Icelandic volcano Hekla during the Holocene. The disruption of trade, making supplies of tin (of which there are few if any deposits in Wales) and therefore bronze scarce, may have then issued in the Iron Age.

sources and links

 * Tyfos stone circle;
 * Coed y Bedo Standing Stone;
 * Moel ty Uchaf stone circle;
 * Branas Uchaf chambered cairn;
 * Cerrig Bwlch Y Fedw stone circle;
 * Cefn Caer Euni Ring Cairn;
 * Craig yr Arian Chambered Cairn;
 * Caer Euni Hillfort;

Corwen


The cliffs behind Corwen were formed when Wales lay deep in the southern hemisphere about 425 million years ago. This part of Wales was a deep sea called the Denbigh Trough, which over time filled with grit, sand and occasional tiny fossils of sea creatures called crinoids. This rock is called the Denbigh Grits and is also the rock of Caer Drewyn on the northern side of the valley. Iron Age people used this rock to build the impressive ramparts of the hillfort.

Gwerclas ia a circular mound set on the edge of a river terrace, 14m in diameter and 2.0m high, with kerbing noted on the east side. Despite having been lately identified as a Bronze Age Barrow, it displays all the features of having been constructed at some time during the Neolithic period. The chambers of the barrows were often covered by capstones and burials were deposited over a period sometimes over a thousand years. They sometimes show evidence of ceremonial and ritual use. Excavations elsewhere have shown that fires were lit outside the tombs at certain times of year (Halloween/Bonfire Night) and deposits of animal and human bone have been discovered in a ‘ritual’ context. The location of the Gwerclas tomb is interesting in that the monument lies near to the River Dee and a historic crossing point. Views to the river from the cairn indicate that the River was possibly a focal point for the tomb builders.



Llangar church sits on the east bank of the River Dee near its confluence with the River Alwen about a mile south of Corwen and probably dates from the twelfth or early thirteenth century. Earthworks have been recorded in the past in the bracken-covered field to the north of the church and in pasture just to the east of the main road. The former may be no more than a medieval or later lynchet and perhaps a quarry, while the significance of the others is uncertain - according to Samuel Lewis in the earlier part of the 19th century, the name of Corwen was derived from:


 * "an ancient fortification which formerly occupied the summit of a hill called Caer Wern, in the immediate vicinity of the church, and of which there are still some vestiges".

The track leading to the church from the south is certainly of some antiquity and is edged by flattish ground suitable for occupation. The church closed after it was replaced in 1854 and remained empty until 1967 and was opened to the public in 1991. Its original name of 'Llan Garw Gwyn' (The Church of The White Deer). According to legend, when builders came to build the church, it was at a site down the valley. Every night the work they had done during the day was mysteriously destroyed (or their tools stolen). In despair, the builders turned to a local hermit, or holy man, who told them to hunt for a white stag, and build the church where they first found it. Then they would need to track and kill the deer, and mix its blood with the mortar used to build the church. A series of noted wall-paintings cover most of the interior.

One cannot help but note the regularity with which the story of the hunting of an animal being associated with the establishment of a church which is in turn associated with a holy spring or well turns up along the Dee. Here at 'Llan Garw Gwyn' it is a white deer. Upstream at Llandderfel a stag appears to have been hunted by Derfel, and downstream we have St Johns at Chester. For the ancient Celts, the white hart was a harbinger of doom, a living symbol that some taboo has been transgressed or a moral law broken - to come across a white hart was to realise that some terrible evil or judgment was imminent. The white hart's reputation improved in Arthurian legends, where its appearance was a sign to Arthur and his knights that it was time to embark on a quest - it was considered the one animal that could never be caught so it came to symbolise humanity's never-ending pursuit of knowledge and the unattainable. It was not long before Christianity managed to appropriate the white hart for its own purposes: the white stag came to symbolise Christ and his presence on earth. It has been suggested that horned animals were associated with the totems of the Cornovii and may be cognate with the Gaulish Cernunnos or the unnamed horned god of the Brigantes.

Rhug is about two miles outside of Corwen. About 1150, it was ruled by the Maer Du or "Black Mayor of Rhug" and later became part of the lands of the later barons of the ancient cantref of Edeirnion who ruled from Gwerclas Castle. It was at Rhug that Gruffudd ap Cynan was staying when he was betrayed by Meirion Goch of Llŷn, in 1080. Hugh of Avranches, Earl of Chester and Hugh, Earl of Salop, learned that the prince was at Rhug and came with a group of soldiers under the pretence of visiting him. Gruffudd was taken and carried off to Chester Castle and kept there for twelve years in chain and irons. The guards that accompanied Gruffudd were likewise taken prisoners, and after having been barbarously treated (their right-hand thumbs were cut off, making them useless as soldiers) they were then allowed to go free. Capel Rûg was built by William Salesbury (c. 1520 - c. 1584) the leading Welsh scholar of the Renaissance and the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh New Testament. The chapel is highly decorated with much carving and a recumbent skeleton to serve a reminder of mortality. Architect Edwin Lutyens wrote that the chapel influenced his work, including his most spectacular commission, the Viceroy's House in New Delhi, built 1912-30. In 1547, Salesbury produced an English-Welsh dictionary called "A dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe", and in 1550 added "A brief an a playne introduction teaching how to pronounce the letters in the British tong (now com'enly called Welsh)": in those days spelling was not consistent.



Just before Corwen (map) the Dee passes under the A5. The "original" London to Holyhead road was built to improve communication between London and Dublin, following the 1800 Act of Union. A number of existing turnpikes between London and Shrewsbury were purchased by the government and, where necessary, new roads were built to connect the turnpikes together. The section of what is now the "A5" between London and Shrewsbury is roughly contiguous with one of the principal Roman roads in Britain: that between Londinium and Deva (Chester), which diverges from the present-day A5 corridor at Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) near Shrewsbury. Beyond Shrewsbury, the engineer Thomas Telford constructed the "new" road (linking existing sections of road where possible) up to Holyhead, where ships would take mail and cargo over to Ireland. The project was completed with the opening of the Menai Bridge in 1826. For the next 15 miles the Dee and the A5 will be almost inseparable companions. The building of the A5 had repercussions downstream at Chester: in 1815 when Telford was apported to the new road project it was seen as a threat to Chester's trade which had to pass over the narrow Old Dee Bridge. As a consequence a committee was set up which led to the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge over the Dee in Chester.

Corwen most probably takes its name from Caer Drewyn a nearby hillfort. The hillfort would appear to have two main phases of construction, the earliest comprising a small earthen enclosure on the summit of the hill, only the eastern part of which is now readily identifiable. The main hillfort is considerably larger, cutting across the earlier enclosure and extending downslope to the west, defended by impressive stone-revetted ramparts. There are two inturned entrances, the more impressive of which is located at the north-east corner, with a second, smaller entrance on the west side. A later small enclosure has been constructed on the east side of the hillfort, in the angle between the ramparts and the earlier enclosure embankment, within which one or two hut circles are visible. It is thought that this may be Romano British, or later, in date. There is also evidence for Medieval occupation inside the western entrance, where a long hut is clearly visible. In around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from southern Europe. Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze, and its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age. Iron working revolutionised many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Iron tipped ploughs could churn up land far more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones, and iron axes could clear forest land far more efficiently for agriculture. However at the same time the climate became considerably wetter, forcing the Bronze Age farmsteads which had grown on lowland areas relocate to upland sites. The presence of hill forts may indicate greater tension between better structured and better armed iron-age groups, although there are suggestions that in the latter phases of the Iron Age they existed simply to indicate wealth. Alternatively, they may have served as centres used for markets and social contact. Corwen also has the motte of a Norman castle, probably from one of the many expeditions of Hugh of Avranches.

The Roman road that has followed the Bala fault up from Dolgellau would here have contined north-east towards Chester, while the course of the River Dee turns east towards Llangollen. At the turn, the well of "Ffynnon Sulien" seeps down into the Dee. Traditionally Corwen was the venue for a great fair held on May 13th, the feast day of SS Sulien and Mael. The earliest reference to the present church in Corwen dates from around 1222 although the site is believed to be much older. An ancient pre-Christian standing stone has been built into the porch: it is known in Welsh as ‘Carreg y big yn y fach rhewllyd’ or “the pointed stone in the icy corner” and the remains of a later Christian cross, dating from around 1000 stands on a prehistoric cup marked stone in the churchyard. Water from the well used to be carried to the church in Corwen and/or Rhug for use in baptisms.

This stretch of the river can be explored via the Dee Valley Way a 15 mile footpath from Corwen through Carrog, Glyndyfrdwy, Rhewl and Berwyn to Llangollen. For those who prefer not to walk, Carrog marks the present terminus of the Llangollen Steam Railway. The Flint and Deeside Preservation Society (later the Llangollen Railway Trust) was formed in July 1975 with the objective of reopening the 10 miles of line of the original Llangollen and Corwen Railway Company. The Society proceeded to reopen the line in stages commencing with Llangollen Station followed by the track and stations westward. The village which was originally called Llansantffraid-Glyn-Dyfrdwy (from this Owain Glyndwr took his name) until the Railway came in 1860 (it was reopened in 1996 as part of the preserved Llangollen Railway - the plans are to extend it back to Corwen). It was renamed "Carrog", from the name of a local manor-house "to avoid confusion".

The River Dee left it's mark on Carrog in 1601 when the church was washed away in a flood: the replacement was completed in 1615. According to an Englyn by a local contemporary poet, Thomas Evans of Hendreforfydd;


 * Dyfrdwy, Dyfrdwy fawr ei naid; Aeth at Eglwys Llansanffraid, Y Llyfrau bendigedig A'r Gwppan Arian hefyd. (The Dee of the great leaps, Took Llansanffraid church, The sacred books and the Silver Chalice also.)

In 1730 the Rural Dean recorded a report on the parish and describes the churchyard as follows:


 * ..pretty large and much excpos'd, the church standing on a great eminence above the river Dee. The church that now is has not been built many years. and was plac'd on this eminence as likely to be here secure from the fate of the former church. The old church stood on a level with the river and one night swam along towards Chester. It spar'd nor the churchyard but consumd and quite eat it up. The same ungodly and impious river pursues the church even hither, and undermines the wall of the church yard apace. Were the pulpit not sacred, it wd. be no matter of grief if it and the lining were washd and made to swim.

sources and links

 * Llangar Church at Mysterious Britain and Ireland;
 * Llangar Church at Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust;
 * Llangar Church at Britain Express;
 * Llangar Church by Prof. Howard M. R. Williams;
 * Gwerclas burial mound;
 * The Clwydian hillforts condition survey - includes Caer Drewyn;
 * A short guide to Caer Drewyn Hillfort;
 * Caer Drewyn and its environs a detailed report;

Glyndyfrdwy


At Glyndyfrdwy (approximately "glin-DUVR-dooy"), a much neglected tree-covered mound on the banks of the River Dee marks the site of Owain Glyndŵr's fortification. It was also the spot where Owain was proclaimed Prince of Wales by his followers on September 16 1400. Glyndŵr was a descendant of the Princes of Powys through his father Gruffydd Fychan II, hereditary Tywysog of Powys Fadog and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, and of those of Deheubarth through his mother Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn. The site was devastated by Harry of Monmouth, English Prince of Wales (later to become King Henry V) and his forces, in 1403. Henry's actions are set out in his own words, he wrote to his father King Henry IV on May 15th 1403 that:


 * "we took our people and went to a place of the said Oweyn, well built, which was his principal mansion called Saghern, where we supposed that we should have found him if he had been willing to have fought in the manner as he said, but upon our arrival we found no one; hence we caused the whole place and many of his other houses of his tenants in the neighbourhood to be burnt and then went directly to his other place of Glyndourdy (Glyndyfrdwy) to seek for him there. We caused a fine lodge in his park to be burned and all the country therabout and we lodged at rest there all that night..."

At the same time Sir Henry Percy ('Hotspur'), lately justice of Chester, raised the standard of revolt in Chester and formed an alliance with the Welsh rebel. Before they could join forces, Hotspur was defeated and killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury as he raised his visor to get some air (he was wearing full plate) and was hit in the mouth with an arrow. After Percy's defeat one of the quarters of his body was sent to Chester, together with the heads of Sir Richard Venables and Sir Richard Vernon. Chester was not wholly on the side of the rebels as the mayor and the constable of Chester Castle were present at Shrewsbury in the king's retinue (see Shoot the Welsh!). There is a small collection of artefacts associated with Owain in the Owain Glyndŵr Memorial Hall at Glyndyfrdwy. Although initially successful, the Welsh uprising was eventually put down — Glyndŵr was last seen in 1412 and was never captured, nor tempted by Royal Pardons and never betrayed. His final years are a mystery and the location of his grave was long thought unknown, until 2006 when it was revealed to be at Mornington Straddle, in Herefordshire.



Glyndyfrdwy was also the terminus of the Deeside Tramway, a narrow gauge railway built to serve the local slate quarries. These slates were formed from deposits collected in the Welsh Basin during the Silurian (444 - 416 million years ago), and folded during the collision between Eastern Avalonia and North America during the late Silurian and Devonian. Continental collision started in the Mid Silurian and by the start of the Devonian period, the Welsh Basin was at an end. The landmasses formerly separated by the Iapetus Ocean had collided, and the earth movements this collision caused forced the remains of the Welsh Basin into a new range of mountains - the Welsh Caledonides - by an uprising long before that of Glyndŵr. As the marine sediments of the Welsh Basin were being deformed, every grain of sediment was compressed under phenomenal pressure and the rocks developed a grain - a cleavage, making it easy to split them into thin sheets. Thus were the foundations of the Welsh slate industry laid. The local land climate was arid, with occasional rainfall eroding the mountains away and generating new sediments. However at sea the story was different - the Devonian period has been called the "age of fishes" - it marked the major evolutionary burst which evolved the first amphibians to crawl onto the land, where the colonisation by plants was already well underway.

The scholar T. Gwynn Jones suggested that a possible origin of the term "Berwyn" was "Bryn(iau) Gwyn (ap Nudd)", where the Middle Welsh word "bre" (hill) had mutated to Ber + Gwyn, Gwyn ap Nudd being the mythological King of the Tylwyth teg (Fair Folk, or fairies). Gwyn means "fair, bright, white", cognate with the Irish fionn. As such, he has some connection to the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail, whose maternal great-grandfather was Nuada. The name of Gwyn's father, Nudd, appears like Nuada to be cognate with the Brythonic deity Nodens.

Below Glyndyfrdwy the Dee is rejuvenated, changing its character from a meandering river on a flood plain to a series of "incised meanders" where it cuts deeply into the underlying rock. The path of the river trends generally east-south-east as it descends off the Ordovician Denbigh moors, over the man-made Horseshoe Falls and towards Llangollen, generally skirting the outcropping Karstic limestone exposures north of Llangollen. At Gafaeliau a distinctive loop in the river isolates it from the major east-west lines of communication. The river rejoins the railway and A5 at Llantysilio, once the home of Colonel John Jones, Cromwell's brother-in law and a signatory of the death-warrant of Charles I. Jones made no attempt to escape at the Restoration. He was arrested as a regicide in June 1660 and confessed his complicity in the execution of Charles I when brought to trial. He was hanged, drawn and quartered on 17 October 1660, "conducting himself bravely at his execution".

At Rhewl is a 14th-century drovers’ inn - the "Sun Inn". For centuries, drovers herded cattle and sheep across the hills to the lowland markets of England. Drovers’ roads developed, avoiding towns and toll roads. Inns along these remote routes provided welcome shelter and food for the drovers overnight, with secure pens alongside for their animals.

sources and links

 * The Brenig Way - from Corwan to Llyn Brenig;
 * The Dee Valley Way - from Corwen to Langollen;
 * Colonel John Jones - Welsh Parliamentarian army officer and "regicide", he was executed after the Restoration;

Llangollen


By Carboniferous times 358.9 ± 0.4 million years ago, Wales had drifted northwards to the equator and the remains of the Caledonian massif had eroded to a low plain. Warm, shallow, seas invaded the edges of the landmass, and thick layers of limestone accumulated as sea shells settled on the sea floor. There are fine examples of this limestone at Llangollen. Eventually, the marine transgression of the Carboniferous covered most of North Wales with only the highest mountains remaining unsubmerged. By the Upper Carboniferous, extensive coastal deltas and swamps dominated the landscape. These were dense with tree-sized club mosses while ferns, seed-ferns, and other plant life lived on the raised river levees. Great thicknesses of peaty matter accumulated in these swamps, which, under the higher pressures and temperatures of deeper and deeper burial, were slowly converted into coal seams. At this time, the landmasses which are now Africa, South America, India and Australia were joined together as a supercontinent, By about 290 million years ago, during the Permian this huge land-mass, which is known posthumously as Gondwanaland, had collided with the Laurasian block of Laurentia (North America), Baltica (Europe) and Siberia (Northern Asia) to form a single supercontinent - Pangaea.

The formation of Pangaea had a major effect on life globally - sea-levels dropped, bringing changes in marine salinity. The Permian Dee valley would have been an equatorial desert with expanses of sand dunes dotted with salt lagoons where areas of former sea had been cut off as global sea levels fell. On either side of modern-day Wales, great sedimentary basins developed. One was in the Irish Sea, and the another was to become Cheshire. By the start of the Jurassic (c.200 million years ago), the land was widely subsiding and in, once again, came the sea, submerging all but the mountain areas. Important mineral deposits were formed as high heat-gradients generated metalliferous brines which migrated into older rocks. The limestone of the Lower Carboniferous were a particularly favourable host for mineralisation, and so the "Pennine-type" lead-zinc-fluorite-baryte orefields were formed, including the Halkyn-Minera district. The unique copper deposits of the Great Orme, near Llandudno, are thought to have been formed at this time too, and have been mined since the Bronze-age. In the Jurassic, Pangaea split into Laurasia and Gondwana, with Avalonia as part of Laurasia. In the Cretaceous (starting about 145 million years ago), Laurasia broke up into North America and Eurasia with Avalonia split between them. If there was a River Dee in deep prehistory it's banks are scattered oceans wide.

The present day Cambrian mountains, are one of the high Welsh plateaux that began as a Permian erosional surface then rose to its present height in the past 50 million years. Geologists do not agree on the cause of this uplift. Some believe it to be the result of distant rumblings of the Alpine collision to the south. Others believe light granite intruded near the base of the crust, made the crust lighter so it rose. At Llangollen the Dee cuts through the hills which bound the ruins of these ancient mountains. The dramatic topography of the Vale of Llangollen has inspired a long tradition of literary and artistic associations since early medieval times.

Chainbridge and Horseshoe Falls


Just downstream of the Horseshoe Falls, at Berwyn (map), is an excellent example of a chain-bridge. There has been a river crossing near here since at least Roman times, when their original road forded the Dee just below Llantysilio Hall, some 300 yards up-steam. This crossing was later used by the Cistercian Monks of the nearby Valle Crucis Abbey (dissolved 1536). The crucis ("of the cross") in the name of the Abbey refers to the Pillar of Eliseg which had stood nearby for nearly four centuries when the abbey was established in 1201. The first chain bridge was built by the ironmaster Exuperius Pickering in 1814, to transport coal and slate to the new A5 and save himself the hefty toll to cross Llangollen Bridge. By 1870 the bridge was badly rusted and Henry Robertson replaced it with a new construction. Robertson's bridge was repaired in 1909 following the heavy floods of that year but eventually succumbed to the Dee on 16th February 1928 after an exceptionally heavy flood, dammed fallen trees against the upstream side. That evening, the structure failed and was swept downstream with parts reaching as far as Chester. The current bridge was constructed in 1929, but was closed in the 1980's due to it's dangerous state, and not re-opened until 2015. The River Dee below the Chain Bridge Hotel follows a geological fault line and cuts through a deep and narrow slot. Canoeists know this testing section as the "Serpent's Tail". This is also the site of a dramatic escape, where the river rushes through a narrow gorge about 18 feet wide: it is said that a thief once leapt the river at this point to escape pursuit and is has been known as the "Thief's Leap" or "Robber's Leap" since then.

The present-day Llangollen Canal was originally the centre section of the Ellesmere Canal. The canal was intended to link the River Mersey at Netherpool (now known as Ellesmere Port) with the River Dee, and from there run via Overton (south of Wrexham) to the River Severn at Shrewsbury. With it's aqueducts and scenery, it is the most popular canal for holidaymakers in Britain. The upper section was built as a navigable feeder and is both shallow and narrow. Thomas Telford's Horseshoe Falls is the "filling point" for the canal. Construction work on the canal running through the Vale of Llangollen began in 1795 and was completed in 1808. The canal was not only intended to supply a means of transport but also to provide a supply of water (to Crewe and Nantwich) and so it is known for it's marked current. The volumes of water abstracted from the Dee led to problems - when the sluices were opened the level downstream fell significantly and water-powered mills suffered a loss of flow. In 1811 the canal company admitted liability and paid £312 in compensation, but problems continued. The Ellesmere Canal merged with the rival Chester Canal in 1813. In 1830 an Act allowed the canal company to buy the Dee Mills at Chester, which were sub-let. Before long the new tenants were claiming compensation for the reduced flow of the river. A merger with the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal in 1845 was followed in 1846 by the formation of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company, making the canal part of the Shropshire Union Canal network. Following litigation in the 1880's the canal company entered into an agreement to pay compensation for the next 21 years. It is not known to what extent the diversion of water from the Dee accelerated the silting of the estuary, which was already well underway, but the abstraction of such a volume of water must have reduced the scouring action of the river.

Vale of Eglwyseg
The ruined Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis lies near the confluence of the Eglwyseg and the Dee north of Llangollen, and was founded by Madog ap Gruffydd in 1201 as a colony of Strata Marcella near Welshpool. The now ruined abbey buildings are typical of many Cistercian foundations, lying in a secluded river valley surrounded by farmland. The Pillar of Eliseg, the base of a stone "cross" prominently sited in the Eglwyseg valley, was erected in the first half of the 9th century by Cyngen in honour of his great-grandfather Eliseg. In 1696 the antiquarian Edward Lhuyd recorded the original inscription, before it had deteriorated to its now largely illegible state. The inscription traced the legendary descent of the royal house of Powys from the early 5th-century king Gwrtheyrn (Vortigern), the late 4th century Macsen Wledig (Magnus Maximus), and a religious blessing from St Germanus of Auxerre, thus laying down political and territorial claims reaching back to the late Roman world - see the Dark Ages article on the Romano-British for more. According to tradition, Magnus married Elen Luyddog - "Elen of the Hosts", who is associated with the building of many Roman Roads in Wales.

sources and links

 * Chainbridge geology;
 * Chainbridge re-opens;
 * Geological Guide to Llangollen;
 * Llangollen fossils and fossil collecting;
 * Early British Kingdoms on Magnus;
 * Mabinogion on Magnus;
 * More on Macsen's dream;
 * Saint Elen Magnus' wife (Welsh: Elen Luyddog, lit. "Helen of the Hosts");
 * "Goddess, Saint and Ancestor - Elen of the Hosts" analysis of the Elen/Magnus tradition.

Dinas Bran


Dinas Bran (lit "Castle of the City of Crows") supposed by some to be the legendary Corbenic towers above Llangollen and features in a number of literary works in the later 13th and 14th centuries, including "Fouke le Fitz Waryn", based on a now missing late 13th-century verse romance. Also dating from the 14th century is the only extant work of the Welsh poet Hywel ab Einion, a love-poem to Myfanwy Fychan of Dinas Bran. The poem, said to have been left in the cleft of an oak tree on the slopes of the hill, was first published in an English translation by Thomas Pennant in his Tour in Wales. It includes the following memorable metaphor alluding to the impregnability of the hilltop:


 * Though hard the steep ascent to gain, Thy smiles were harder to obtain

John Leland, the King's Antiquary, visiting some time after 1534, mentioned:


 * the castle of Dinas Brane was never a bygge thing, but sette al for strength in a place half inaccessible for enemies.

Early Romantic images of the ruined castle were conjured up in an englyn by the Denbighshire poet Roger Cyffyn in the late 16th or early 17th century, given in translation in George Borrow's "Wild Wales":


 * Gone, gone are thy gates, Dinas Bran on the height! Thy warders are blood-crows and ravens, I trow; Now no one will wend from the field of the fight To the fortress on high, save the raven and crow.

Wordsworth visited Dinas Bran, lamenting the castle's fate as follows:


 * "Relics of kings, wreck of forgotten wars, To the winds abandoned and the prying stars."

The "Fisher King" is associated with Dinas Bran. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own. When he is injured, his kingdom suffers as he does, his impotence affecting the fertility of the land and reducing it to a barren Wasteland. Little is left for him to do but fish in the river near his castle Corbenic. He may be derived more or less directly from the figure of Bran the Blessed in the Mabinogion, Bran had a cauldron that could resurrect the dead (albeit imperfectly; those thus revived could not speak after they were resurrected). The title has several possible origins, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive: in Celtic mythology: there is an Irish myth about the Salmon of Wisdom which is remarkably similar to the story of Taliesin - spilt fluid and a licked thumb lead the wrong person to wisdom. Another theory says that the origin is a play on words or mistranslation: the French words for "fisher" and "sinner" are almost identical (pêcheur and pécheur respectively) - perhaps a reference to all those "rebels" who found their home in the headwaters of the Dee.

Or could the story of the Fisher King's "wounded land" have some basis in truth? Many lead mines can be found in this part of Wales and the Romans extracted vast quantities from the hills. Lead production, is often allied with silver production, hence the presence of a mint and the tradition of silver-working in Chester. "Cupellation" is the oldest and was once the most widely known method of separating and recovering gold and silver from lead. The silver-lead bullion is charged to a cupellation furnace. After the charge has melted, air is blown across the top of the molten bath, causing oxidation of the lead and other impurities which separate as in impure litharge slag, leaving behind the silver and gold as a doré alloy. However, loss of lead to the larger atmosphere creates a significant environmental hazard. Analysis of a Greenland ice core covering the period from 3000 to 500 years ago — the Greek, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance times — shows that lead is present at four times the background level from about 2500 to 1700 years ago (500 B.C. to 300 A.D.). Is it possible that the "wounded land" of the Fisher King legend is a folk-memory of the local effects of toxic waste from early industry? Could people have realised that while crops raised on the land and any animals which were fed upon them would be toxic, the fish of the river would be relatively free of lead? And as for the grail, which a hero must come seeking for the curse to be lifted, could this be a reference to a cupellation crucible, capable of turning base metal into silver (or even gold), but itself the source of the scourge.

St Collen
Llangollen is named after St Collen, the seventh century saint (there are no other churches in Wales dedicated to St Collen). Indeed, there has been a church (now St Collen's) in Llangollen since at least the sixth century. The carved oak ceiling of which was built in 1450 by craftsmen employed by the Abbot of Valle Crucis Abbey. St Collen's Well lies in a field at the top of the Horseshoe Pass. The associated legend goes that there was a giantess that was terrorising the people of Pentredwr. Hearing of this, St Collen took up his sword and went to do battle with the giantess. After much struggle St Collen killed the giantess and washed the blood from his sword in a nearby spring, which afterwards became known as St Collen's Well. In an alternative version St Collen was a 6th century character of Welsh royal blood, who, during his youth is said to have killed the mighty pagan chieftain Bras and then gone off to become Abbot of Glastonbury before returning to build the church. Both Bras (or Byras) and the giantess are probably symbols of the displacement of pagan beliefs by Christianity. An Oak Chest in the church is dated 1748 and has three keyholes. It dates back to the days when the Parish comprised of three districts, each of which selected its own Warden and all three had to be present to open the churchwarden's chest.

On Ruabon Mountain, the vast area of moorland to the east of Llangollen, was once home to hundreds of burial chambers dating from as far back as 2000 B.C. Unfortunately, many of these, with the exception of those on the very edges of the Escarpment, were destroyed by German bombs during WWII. Some stories state that fires were lit here at night and used as a decoy to protect Liverpool. However the bombing appears to have been an error. On the night of 30th/31st August 1940 a German aircraft jettisoned incendiary bombs onto Minera Mountain, which in turn started a large fire within the mountains' gorse and bracken. Over the following two nights further aircraft of the Luftwaffe on their way to bomb Liverpool were attracted by the blaze over the mountain in the belief it was a strategic target, and in turn dropped their bombs. The fire was allowed to burn until 28 square miles of mountain were alight. The Germans thought they had hit a very important inflammable target and continued to bomb the area heavily.

Branch Lines
At Llangollen, it is difficult to tell a simple tale of the river Dee, for there are many interesting sidelines. A bridge across the river at Llangollen has been in existence since at least the 13th century, there being documentary evidence for the repair of the bridge here in 1284. A subsequent bridge is said to have been built by John Trevor in the mid 14th century, but the present bridge is probably originally of about 1500, with major repairs in 1656, with an additional span being added in 1863 across the railway. Thomas Pennant's "Tour in Wales" published in 1783 noted that it was considered one of the "Tri Thlws Cymru", or three beauties of Wales, and it is listed in the anonymous verse "The Seven Wonders of Wales":


 * Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham Steeple, Snowdon's mountain without its people, Overton yew trees, Gresford Bells, Llangollen bridge and St Winifred's well.

Of these "seven wonders", three are located on the River Dee (the yews, bridge and well) and a further two (Steeple and Bells) are close to the Dee valley. Just upstream of the bridge the historic cornmill has been converted into a riverside pub with a terrace overlooking the river.

Llangollen hosted the Eisteddfod in 1908 and has since become it's permanent home. The Eisteddfod itself took place on the old Vicarage Field at Fronhyfyd and was visited by David Lloyd George, accompanied by Winston Churchill. The Gorsedd ceremony (in which the community of Bards "chair" one of their number) was first held on the Hermitage Field, next to Plas Newydd, (the circle of stones were later moved into the grounds of the hall). Three Gorsedd ceremonies are held during the Eisteddfod week:


 * the Crowning (Coroni) of the Bard (awarded to the poet judged best in the competitions in free meter)
 * the Awarding of the Prose Medal (for the winner of the Prose competitions)
 * the Chairing (Cadeirio) of the Bard (for the best long poem).

During these ceremonies the Archdruid and the members of the Gorsedd of Bards gather on the Eisteddfod stage in their ceremonial robes. When the Archdruid reveals the identity of the winning poet, the 'Corn Gwlad' (a trumpet) calls the people together and the Gorsedd Prayer is chanted. The Archdruid withdraws a sword from its sheath three times. He cries 'Is there peace?', to which the assembly reply 'Peace'. Then the Horn of Plenty is presented to the Archdruid by a young local married woman, who urges him to drink the 'wine of welcome'. A young girl presents him with a basket of 'flowers from the land and soil of Wales' and a floral dance is performed, based on a pattern of flower gathering from the fields.

Plas Newydd, mentioned above, was the home of the "Ladies of Llangollen" - Lady Eleanor Butler (1739-1829) and The Honourable Sarah Ponsonby (1755–1831). Their house became a haven for all manner of visitors, mostly writers such as Robert Southey, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Scott, but also the Duke of Wellington and industrialist Josiah Wedgwood; aristocratic novelist Caroline Lamb (who was born a Ponsonby), came to visit too. They are often said to have been a pair of Lesbians - but does it matter? For the tale of the Dee, all that matters is that the house is still the home to the base of the High Cross of Chester - part of the circle of stones once used by the Druids to enthrone their best poet. The Pengwern Vale, south of Plas Newydd is a relict meander of the Dee, which marks the original path of the river

The nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" is frequently, linked with Llangollen. Mary Thomas (born in 1842 at Ty Issa Farm, Llangollen) attended the "British School" with her pet lamb Billy. She is buried in Worthing but comemmorated on a grave in Llangollen, along with her father, John Thomas. One face of the tombstone is inscribed in memory of John, but the other side bears the inscription:


 * Also in affectionate remembrance of his daughter Mrs Mary Hughes who died in Worthing in 1931, aged 89 years old. Heroine of the nursery rhyme Mary had a little lamb.

However Mary Thomas of Llangollen was not the heroine of the nursery rhyme. The Mary of the rhyme was Mary Sawyer. The original nursery rhyme was written in America in 1815 by John Roulstone, and was first published in a magazine called Juvenile Miscellany in 1830, 12 years before Mary Thomas of Llangollen was born.

One final mystery of Llangollen is Guinevere's Cross, mentioned by the antiquarian Edward Llwyd in the 1690's and whose location is now lost. W.T. Simpson in his account of Llangollen in 1827 remarks that "On the north side of the river, nearly opposite the place where the wooden bridge stood, was another pilliar, called Croes Gwen Hwyfr. It stood on the road to Wrexham and has been removed only a few years". The Welsh form Gwenhwyfar can be translated as The White Fay or White Ghost (Proto-Celtic *Uindā Seibrā, "white phantom" or "white fairy").

Below Llangollen
The delights of Llangollen tempt the traveller to halt awhile, but the River hurries on.

In the late 1840s / early 1850s a number of schemes were proposed to connect Llangollen to the rail network. One scheme, proposed by the LNWR, even included the Llangollen Canal being turned into a railway. These were all rejected. Further plans were put forwards and the Vale of Llangollen Railway opened to freight traffic on the 1st December 1861 and then to passengers on the 2nd June 1862. Sun Bank Halt between Trevor and Llangollen opened some 40 years later. The tempestuous waters of the Dee are no less deadly when confined by the canal. At Sun Bank a railway disaster occurred one dark night in September 1945 when the canal breached, flushing away the earthworks of the railway (the tracks remained suspended in the air). The telegraph poles were unharmed, so signalmen knew nothing of the damage. Unaware that anything was amiss the engine driver and guard of the Ruabon to Barmouth Mail train perished when their train plunged into the abyss with the engine fireman being the sole survivor.

East of Llangolen, Thomas Telford's 1000 foot long Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, of 1805, carries the Shropshire Union Canal 120 feet above the Dee. It consists of a nine foot cast iron trough supported by nineteen hollow masonry piers. Each span is 53 ft (16 m) wide. Mortar used in the construction comprised lime, water and oxen blood. The thin iron plates making up the troughs were cast locally and dovetailed into each other. They were caulked by a mixture of pure Welsh linen and boiled sugar before the joints were sealed over by lead. Crossing the aqueduct is not advised for anyone with a morbid fear of heights. The towpath is cantilevered out from the east side of the trough, which is the full width of the aqueduct. While walkers on the towpath are "protected" by railings on the outside edge, the holes to fit railings on the other side of the aqueduct were never used. As the edge of the trough is only a few inches above the water level, the narrowboat crew have nothing between them and a fatal drop. The aqueduct cost the then considerable sum of £47,000. This resulted in the project running out of money and the canal never reached Ellesmere Port, it's intended destination, but in this phase only reached a quarter of a mile beyond the aqueduct.

Less than one mile east of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct the Dee is crossed by the Shrewsbury-Chester railway at Cefn Mawr. This area was formerly heavily industrialised, with large deposits of coal, iron and sandstone, of which was exported by canal, until the railway reached Ruabon in 1855. In 1867 Robert Ferdinand Graesser, an industrial chemist from Obermosel in Saxony, Germany established a chemical works at Plas Kynaston to extract paraffin oil and wax from the local shale which later expanded into the production of coal tar, carbolic acid and phenol. The site soon became the world's leading phenol producer. In 1919 the US chemical company Monsanto entered into a partnership with Graesser's chemical works to produce vanillin, salicylic acid, aspirin and later rubber. The works is now operated by Flexsys, a subsidiary of Solutia. The Cefn Viaduct is only slightly less spectacular than the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and was built by Thomas Brassey in 1848.



The most famous exports of this part of the Dee valley are the Ruabon brick and the quarry tile. The famous red bricks have been used in many buildings - in Liverpool they gave the name to the original "Red Brick University". In Chester they, and other architectural terracotta products were extensively used by architect John Douglas. The Dennis factory is still operating. In the traditional method for the making of clay floor tiles, the processed Triassic marl clay was forced under pressure through a die into strips of suitable width and thickness, then wirecut into the required size; mostly 6"x6" and 9"x9". After cutting, the tiles were loaded onto barrows and wheeled to the tile presses. The pressed tiles were hand finished and taken to drying sheds. After drying the bricks were loaded into a kiln and fired. Bricks are glazed by the introuduction of salt, which vaporises in the kiln to give a "salt-glaze". These hard, dense bricks are not only waterproof but also were not subject to staining by industrial air-pollution.

Chirk
The border town of Chirk stands on the escarpment above the point at which the rivers Ceiriog and Dee meet. The name Chirk is thought to be an English corruption of the name Church, however it's Welsh name 'Y Waun' means 'the moor'. Chirk castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Edward I's chain of fortresses across the north of Wales. It guards the entrance to the Ceiriog Valley. It was the administrative centre for the Marcher Lordship of Chirkland. The castle was bought by Thomas Myddelton in 1595 for £5,000. His son, Thomas Myddelton of Chirk Castle was a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, but became a Royalist during the Cheshire Rising of 1659. Following the Restoration, his son became Sir Thomas Myddelton, 1st Baronet of Chirk Castle. Presently in the ownership of the National Trust the castle is open to the public between February and October. The state rooms are staffed by well informed guides.

sources and links

 * Vale of Llangollen: Ruabon Mountain;
 * Vale of Llangollen and Eglwyseg Historic Landscape;

Reference
See River Dee Reference


 * Middle Reaches from the Welsh borders to Chester;
 * Lower Reaches below Chester to Hilbre Islands and the sea;