The London Welshman

il IN LOVELY WALES. Rhuddian Castle, near Rhyl. XIII.-RHYL AND THE VALE OF CLWYD. There are probably very few Welsh watering places that have grown so rapidly as Rhyl. Three or four decades ago it was a mere village —to-day it is a large town, where thousands of tourists and health-seekers resort every summer. It is somewhat difficult to say what makes it so attractive. Its situation is flat, there are no rocks and no hills within miles of the place. Yet it draws, and there must be reasons for its popularity. For one thing it is easily accessible, being within less than an hour's run of the English border. Then the place is noted for the purity of its air, which is considered by doctors to be the most health-giving air on the North Wales coast. But, chiefly, the attractive- ness of Rhyl is due to the fact that it is backed up by the Vale of Clwyd, the garden of North Wales, so full of loveliness and historical associations. Leaving the broad sands, the long promenade, and the newly-constructed Marine Lake to those who come to Rhyl in search of health only, let us turn our faces southwards. The first thing we see is a long stretch of marshy land through which the River Clwyd runs. This is the famous "Morfa Rhuddlan" where the great battle between the Cymry, under Caradog, and the Saxons was fought in 795, and which has been immortalised in Welsh song. On that fatal day the Cymry were defeated and the Welsh leader killed. There are no traces of blood on that Morfa" to-day, but to mention the disaster is enough to bring the blood into the cheeks of every true Welshman. Three miles from Rhyl we reach Rhuddlan Castle, an edifice of the nth century, with ivy-covered towers that gives it so picturesque an appearance. This Castle has bad an eventful history. Henry II. strengthened it, Owain Gwynedd knocked it to pieces Edward I. stayed in it for a while, and during those days promised the Welsh a prince who could not speak a word of English; Richard II. was here a prisoner; it was taken by Mytton in the Cromwellian wars, and in the end dismantled. On the opposite side of the Valley from Rhuddlan stands Bodelwyddan Church, considered the most beautiful ecclesiastical edifice in the Principality. It is built of white stone, at a cost of ^"60,000, and has a most graceful spire of 202 feet high. Three miles further south we come to St. Asaph, one of the four cathedral towns in Wales. The cathedral is the smallest in the kingdom. This religious establishment can be traced to Cyndeyrn (Kentigern), in the sixth century, Cyndeyrn being exiled from Strath Clyde in the north and founded a mission in the lovelier valley of the same name. He was succeeded by Asaph, in whose time the monastery was elevated into a cathedral founda- tion by Maelgwn Gwynedd. Among the bishops that held the see were Dr. William Morgan, the translator of the Bible into Welsh, and Dr. Lloyd, one of the seven bishops imprisoned by James II. In the Cathedral there is a tablet to Mrs. Hemans, the poetess, who spent the grealer part of her life in this village-city. And on the south side of the Parish Church is the grave of that famous but eccentric Welsh linguist, Die Aberdaron. On Marine Lake, Rhyl.