once the largest and most respectable town in North Wales. Walking over
the ruins of the castle, in which Edward 1st. kept three Christmases, I
recurred, by a natural association of ideas, to the times, when the
parliament-house, the halls, and courts, echoed with the voices of those,
who have been long since swept from the earth by the unerring hand of
death. One solitary Gothic window is now only remaining to distinguish
the old parliament-house, where King Edward the 1st. instituted that
famous code of laws, under the title of the statute of Rhuddland, from a
neighbouring barn: and what once contained the parliament of England, now
contains nothing but bark for the supply of a tan-yard.
The old castle is built of red stone; it consists of a square area,
strongly fortified with a wall. This court we entered through the grand
gateway, between two round towers: the opposite side corresponds. The
whole is encircled by a deep entrenchment faced with stone on the river
side, with two square towers, one of which still remains.
“The Bishop of St. Asaph,” says Mr. Evans, “distributes among the farmers
of the parish of Rhyddlan, five guineas for the best crop of turnips; and
three guineas for the best crop of wheat upon a fallow, manured only with
lime compost. All the competitors partake of a feast on the day of
decision; and the victors, beside their premiums, have the honourable
distinction of being crowned with the garland of Ceres, by some of the
ladies present.” This stimulus has had great effect in exciting a spirit
of improvement.