THE largest, most wealthy, and populous shire in North Wales. Its form
is irregular; the greatest length from north to south extends forty
miles, and the mean breadth is calculated at twenty-three. The area
occupies a surface exceeding four hundred thousand acres. It presents a
front of a few miles length to the Irish sea. Parts of Flint, Cheshire,
and Shropshire form the eastern boundary; Merioneth and Montgomeryshires
the south; and it is joined on the west by the county of Caernarvon. The
surface presents an endless variety, and may be illustrated by the idea
of an island whose shores are peopled and cultivated, while the interior
is comparatively in a state of natural wildness. The vales of Llanrwst,
the Abergelle line of coast, the fertile vale of Clwyd, represent the
fringe of cultivation which surrounds an elevated though improvable
district of many thousand acres. With the exception of the Dee and
Conway, which form natural county bounds on the east and west, the rivers
of Denbigh are inconsiderable. The mean elevation of the interior
district, extending from Bettws-Abergele to Derwen, and from Denbigh to
the Gwytherin hills; is about eight hundred feet above sea level.
Several small pools are found amongst the hills, possessing neither great
extent nor much natural beauty; and, being collected in the highest
regions, they are devoid of those accompaniments which give such
picturesque effects to those lakes that are deposited in deep and hollow
valleys. Cairn y Brain, between Llangollen and Llandegle, is the highest
point in Denbighshire, reaching one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight feet above the sea; and Llyn Conway is the largest assemblage
of waters. The county of Denbigh, under the late Reform Bill, sends two
members to parliament; the united boroughs of Denbigh, Rhuthyn, Holt, and
Wrexham return one.
[Picture: Denbigh; Aber waterfall; Llyn Gwynant. London. Published by
T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]