Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog (; often referred to as Llanarmon DC or locally simply as Llanarmon) is a village in

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 ...

, Wales. It lies on 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 ...

and is at the end of the B4500 road, five miles (8 km) south-west of

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 commun ...

and ten miles (16 km) north-west of Oswestry. It is within the

Ceiriog Valley The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough ...

ward, Clwyd South Senedd constituency and Clwyd South UK parliamentary constituency. It is in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

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").

Name

The name ''Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog'' roughly translates into English as ''"the church of St Garmon in the valley of the river Ceiriog"''. Although known locally simply as 'Llanarmon', the addition of 'Dyffryn Ceiriog' or 'DC' is necessary to distinguish it from other villages named Llanarmon, such as

Llanarmon-yn-Iâl Llanarmon-yn-Iâl is a village, and local government community, in Denbighshire, Wales, lying in limestone country in the valley of the River Alyn. The community is part of an electoral ward called Llanarmon-yn-Iâl/Llandegla. The population o ...

, which was also in

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 ...

, and the remote rural parish of

Llanarmon Mynydd Mawr Llanarmon Mynydd Mawr, occasionally referred to as Llanarmon Fach, is an isolated rural parish in Powys, Wales. It was formerly in Denbighshire, and from 1974 to 1996 was in the county of Clwyd. It measures and has a population of 40. The scat ...

, around 5 miles to the south on the high slopes of the Tanat Valley.St Garmon, Llanarmon Mynydd Mawr
/ref>

History and landscape

The village grew up at the intersection of several

drovers' road A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; ot ...

s which forded the

. It still has two inns, the ''Hand'' and the ''West Arms'', which originally served drovers taking their flocks to market: the inns' names are a reference to the armorial bearings of two prominent landowning families, the Myddletons of

Chirk Castle Chirk Castle ( cy, Castell y Waun) is a Grade I listed castle located in Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. History The castle was built in 1295 by Roger Mortimer de Chirk, uncle of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March as part of King Ed ...

and the Wests of

Ruthin Castle Ruthin Castle ( cy, Castell Rhuthun) is a medieval castle fortification in Wales, near the town of Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd. It was constructed during the late 13th century by Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the brother of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ...

. It also has an ancient

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious orga ...

, now converted into a dwelling house. The village church of St Garmon was possibly named after Germanus of Auxerre, though there have been suggestions of an alternative St Garmon. The original church was reputedly founded in the 5th century, and rebuilt in the medieval period. It was, however, largely demolished and rebuilt in 1846, and nothing remains of its earlier fabric.Church of St Garmon
Clwyd-Powys Archeological Trust A hoard of coins of the reign of Edward IV was found during the demolition. The churchyard contains a mound, the ''Tomen Garmon'', which may be of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

origin, accompanied by ancient yew trees. Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog is situated in the upper

, which is known both for its high landscape value, being extremely scenic and dominated by traditional agricultural use, and as a strong centre of Welsh culture.Ceiriog Valley Landscape Character
Wrexham County Borough Council] In the 2001 census of neighbourhood Wrexham 019B, containing the village, 55.1% of residents were found to have knowledge of the Welsh language, against 28.4% in Wales as a whole.Neighbourhood Statistics Wrexham 019B
Office for National Statistics

Administration

Civic history

From the mid-16th century until 1974, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog was governed by the then

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

, which was divided into various rural districts. From 1895 to 1935, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog was in the

Llansillin Rural District Llansillin (anglicisation of the original Welsh '' Llansilin'') was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 to 1935. The rural district was formed from parts of Corwen, Llanfyllin and Oswestry Rural Sanitary Dist ...

, which merged in 1935 with

Chirk Rural District Chirk was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1894 to 1935. The rural district was formed from parts of Oswestry and Corwen Rural Sanitary Districts. The district contained three civil parishes: *Chirk * Glyntrae ...

to form the

Ceiriog Rural District Ceiriog was a rural district in the administrative county of Denbighshire from 1935 to 1974. The rural district was formed by a County Review Order in 1935 from the merger of Chirk and Llansillin Rural districts. The district was named after th ...

. Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog was in the Ceiriog Rural District from 1935 to 1974. In 1974, Denbighshire was abolished as an

, and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog was incorporated into the Glyndŵr District of the new county of Clwyd. Clwyd and Glyndŵr District were dissolved in 1996, and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog became a part of the new

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, in which it remains to the present day.

Political representation

Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog is in the

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 Council, and has an Independent councillor. Since 2011, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog has been represented at the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Go ...

Ken Skates Kenneth Christian Skates MS (born 2 April 1976) is a Welsh Labour politician. Skates has represented the constituency of Clwyd South in the Senedd since the election of 2011. He is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, and worked as a j ...

, the Labour Party Assembly Member for Clwyd South National Assembly for Wales constituency. Since 2019, it has been represented at the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

Simon Baynes Simon Robert Maurice Baynes (born 21 April 1960) is a British Conservative politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration from July to September 2022. He was elected as the Member o ...

, the Conservative Party MP for Clwyd South parliamentary constituency.

Notable residents

The Welsh poet

John Ceiriog Hughes John Ceiriog Hughes (25 September 1832 – 23 April 1887) was a Welsh poet and collector of Welsh folk tunes, sometimes termed a Robert Burns of Wales. He was born at Penybryn Farm, overlooking the village of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in the Ce ...

was born at Pen-y-Bryn Farm at Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in 1832, and spent his childhood there. Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 33.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 18.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 29.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 21.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 03.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 09.JPG Eglwys Sant Garmon Church of St Garmon, Ceiriog Ucha Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Wrecsam Wrexham Cymru Wales 12.JPG

References

{{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough