Ceiriog Valley
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The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the
River Ceiriog The River Ceiriog ( cy, Afon Ceiriog) is an long river in north east Wales, whose name may derive from a term meaning "favoured one". It is a tributary of the River Dee. It rises at an altitude of around on the south east slopes of Moel Ffern ...
in north-east
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of
Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the nort ...
. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough by area and forms a strikingly-shaped salient of the county borough between
Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...
and
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
.


Geography

The valley forms part of the traditional county of Denbighshire, and between 1974 and 1996 was part of the short-lived county of
Clwyd Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...
. Part of the lower end of the valley extends into
Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The Ceiriog Valley is long and runs generally west to east, south of the Vale of
Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
. It is something of a dead end, with the B4500 road terminating at
Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog (; often referred to as Llanarmon DC or locally simply as Llanarmon) is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies on the River Ceiriog and is at the end of the B4500 road, five miles (8 km) south-west of ...
, a village near the
head of the valley The head of the valley or, less commonly, the valley head, refers to the uppermost part of a valley.Leser (2005), p. 935. Description The head of a valley may take widely differing forms; for example, in highland regions the valley often ends i ...
. The -long, -gauge
Glyn Valley Tramway Glyn means "Valley" in Welsh and may refer to: *Glyn (name), including a list of people with the name *Baron Glyn, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom *Glyn baronets, created for members of the Glyn family *Glyn Ceiriog, a former slate ...
used to run through some of the valley; it served various quarries and provided a passenger service between
Chirk Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
and
Glyn Ceiriog Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
. The valley receives relatively few visitors, despite being only a few miles from the
A5 road A5 Road may refer to: ;Africa *A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan * A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Francistown ;Americas * Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada * County Route A5 (California) or Bowm ...
. It was described by British Prime Minister
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
as "a little bit of heaven on earth".


Communities

The Ceiriog Valley is divided into three
communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...
: from west to east,
Ceiriog Ucha Ceiriog Ucha, also spelled as Ceiriog Uchaf (meaning "Upper Ceiriog"), is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The community lies in the Ceiriog Valley and comprises the villages of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog and Tregeiriog as well as ...
("Upper Ceiriog"),
Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
, and
Glyntraian Glyntraian ( cy, Glyntraean) is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The parish of Glyntraian, lying at the mouth of the Ceiriog Valley, was formed when the ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three ''traeanau'' ("traean/tra ...
. The largest village in the Ceiriog Valley is Glyn Ceiriog (also known as Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog). Villages and
hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
in the Ceiriog Valley include:


Ceiriog Ucha

*
Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog (; often referred to as Llanarmon DC or locally simply as Llanarmon) is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies on the River Ceiriog and is at the end of the B4500 road, five miles (8 km) south-west of ...
*
Tregeiriog Tregeiriog (a Welsh name translating roughly as "settlement n theRiver Ceiriog") is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is in the community of Ceiriog Ucha on the B4500 road between Glyn Ceiriog and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog. The ...


Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog

*
Glyn Ceiriog Glyn Ceiriog is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and communit ...
*Nantyr * Pandy


Glyntraian

*Dolywern *Llechrydau *
Llwynmawr Llwynmawr ( cy, Llwyn-mawr) is a village in the Ceiriog Valley in North Wales, about halfway between the villages of Glyn Ceiriog and Pontfadog, in the community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as ...
*
Pontfadog Pontfadog is a village in the Ceiriog Valley west of Chirk in Wrexham County Borough, Wales; it is part of the community of Glyntraian. Like the neighbouring village of Glyn Ceiriog, the growth of Pontfadog is connected to the area's former qu ...


Literary figures

Three notable Welsh poets have connections with the Ceiriog Valley: * John Hughes (1832–1887) was born on a farm near Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, and took the middle name Ceiriog and also used it as his
bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who m ...
; *
Huw Morus Huw Morus or Morys (1622 – 31 August 1709), also known by his bardic name ''Eos Ceiriog'' ("the nightingale of Ceiriog"), was a Welsh poet. One of the most popular and prolific poets of his time, he composed a large number of poems in a variety ...
(1622–1709) was born and lived in Pont Y Meibion Farm near Pandy in the Ceiriog Valley; his bardic name was Eos Ceiriog (the Nightingale of Ceiriog); and * Robert Ellis (Cynddelw) (1812–1875) was a Baptist minister in Glyn Ceiriog from 1838 until 1840. The Ceiriog Memorial Institute in the village of Glyn Ceiriog was built as a memorial to them all, and contains stained glass windows dedicated to each of their memories. The Welsh-language novelist
Islwyn Ffowc Elis Islwyn Ffowc Elis (; 17 November 1924 – 22 January 2004) was one of Wales's most popular Welsh-language writers. Born Islwyn Ffoulkes Ellis in Wrexham and raised in Glyn Ceiriog, Elis was educated at the University of Wales colleges of Bangor ...
was born in
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
, but spent most of his formative childhood years on a hill farm in the Ceiriog Valley.


See also

*
Chirk Chirk ( cy, Y Waun) is a town and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, south of Wrexham, between it and Oswestry. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 4,468. Historically in the traditional county of Denbighshire, and later Clwy ...
*
Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...


Bibliography

*Dewi Parry Jones and Robert Owen Jones, "100 Years in the Valley – Y Glyn a Fu" (1998) *Dewi Parry Jones and Robert Owen Jones, "100 Years in the Valley Volume II – Y Glyn a Fu" (1999)


Further reading

*Gordon Emery – ''Guide to the Maelor Way'' (1991)


References

{{Wrexham Valleys of Wrexham County Borough