A Road and Railway Guide-Book. COMPRISING CURIOUS AND INTERESTING HISTORICAL INFORMATION WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE ANCIENT CASTLES AND RUINS OF THE NORTHERN PRINCIPALITY, ITS CHURCHES, TOWNS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, LAKES, RAILWAYS, ETC. BY WILLIAM CATHRALL, AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF NORTH WALES." ILLUSTRATED BY FORTY ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND WOOD; WITH A CORRECT MAP OF NORTH WALES. LONDON: WILLIAM S. ORR AND CO., AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1851. PREFACE. IN submitting to the public the following pages, a practical end has constantly been kept in view. One of the wants most often experienced by the tourist is that of an acquaintance with the traditions and historical associations that attach to the various localities he visits. Every spot seems classic ground which has been the scene of some stirring event, or the home or birth-place of some illustrious man, and is invested with an interest not less fascinating, to the refined and educated mind, than the glowing and picturesque beauties of nature. In both these sources of attraction NORTH WALES is peculiarly affluent, for not only does its scenery rank among the most magnificent in the world, but many a noble and heroic deed has consecrated its soil, and yet lives and breathes in its traditions and historic records. A familiarity with the chief of these cannot be dispensed with by the traveller without infinite loss of pleasure, whilst laboriously to cull them from general history and assign them to their respective localities, would be, in the majority of cases, to pay too costly a price for the best enjoyments of a summer's ramble. It was thought that to furnish such a sketch of the more salient historic incidents and monuments of the Northern Principality, in connection with the places to which they give interest or distinction, as might enable the reader, either in his retirement or in his "wanderings" to and fro, to recall the associations which are suggested by each Cambrian mountain or vale, each hamlet or river, each carnedd or ruin, would be to supply a desideratum, and confer upon the tourist an essential service. |