Llandegla
Encyclopedia
Llandegla or Llandegla-yn-Iâl is a village
and community
in the county
of Denbighshire
in Wales
. In the 2001 census
, the community had a population of 494.
, the patron saint
of the village and parish church
: Llandegla-yn-Iâl can be translated as "St Tecla's church in [the district of] Yale". Iâl - later the Hundred of Yale - was a district whose name means "the fertile hill country"; it was formerly a lordship (or commote
under the medieval Welsh system of administration) granted by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
, the king of Powys, to Llewelyn Aurdorchog.
The estate of Plas yn Iâl in the village was the seat of the Iâl family, whose most well-known member is Elihu Yale
, a governor of the British East India Company
. Elihu made a substantial gift towards the founding of an educational institution in New Haven, Connecticut
. This led to the college being named Yale College
, now Yale University
.
in the upper valley of the River Alyn
just off the A525 road
between Ruthin
and Wrexham
. The boundaries of the community include both the village of Llandegla itself and the neighbouring village of Pen-y-stryt.
. The fabric of the building was, however, heavily rebuilt in 1866, probably to a design by John Gibson
.
The village was located on one of the main drovers' roads from the north-west coast of Wales to the markets of England, and the cattle trade was central to its economy. Thomas Pennant
wrote that it was "noted for its vast fairs for black cattle
", and there were formerly several inns in the village to cater for the drovers and cattle-dealers. George Borrow
, in his travelogue Wild Wales, recorded meeting a hog-dealer on the road above Eglwyseg
taking a large herd of pigs across the mountain from "Llandeglo" towards Wrexham
.
As the droving trade tailed off in the later 19th century, due to the construction of the railways, many of Llandegla's residents worked in quarrying.
The nineteenth-century folklorist Elias Owen
recorded a tale about a "wicked Ghost" which haunted the rectory at Llandegla and was eventually exorcised by a man named Griffiths from Graianrhyd
. The spirit was said to have been buried in a box under a large stone in the River Alyn
close to Llandegla's bridge.
to the north-west of the village, Llandegla Forest
to the south-east and the Horseshoe Pass
to the south. The Offa's Dyke Path
passes through the village. Llandegla also has a mountain bike
centre located in the forest.
Notable people who have lived in the village include the author Edward Tegla Davies
and the hymn-writer and poet William Jones (Ehedydd Iâl).
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
in the county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
of Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. In the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the community had a population of 494.
Name
The village is named after Saint TeclaThecla
Thecla was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The only known record of her comes from the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, probably composed in the 2nd century.-Biography:...
, the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of the village and parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
: Llandegla-yn-Iâl can be translated as "St Tecla's church in [the district of] Yale". Iâl - later the Hundred of Yale - was a district whose name means "the fertile hill country"; it was formerly a lordship (or commote
Commote
A commote , sometimes spelt in older documents as cymwd, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod...
under the medieval Welsh system of administration) granted by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
, the king of Powys, to Llewelyn Aurdorchog.
The estate of Plas yn Iâl in the village was the seat of the Iâl family, whose most well-known member is Elihu Yale
Elihu Yale
Elihu Yale was a Welsh merchant and philanthropist, governor of the East India Company, and a benefactor of the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which in 1718 was named Yale College in his honour.- Life :...
, a governor of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. Elihu made a substantial gift towards the founding of an educational institution in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. This led to the college being named Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, now Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Location
Llandegla is located 253 metres above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
in the upper valley of the River Alyn
River Alyn
The River Alyn is a tributary of the River Dee. The River Alyn rises at the southern end of the Clwydian hills and the Alyn Valley forms part of the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
just off the A525 road
A525 road
The A525 is major route from Rhyl in North Wales to Newcastle-under-Lyme in England. On the way, it passes near to Denbigh, through Ruthin, through Wrexham and near Whitchurch.It is dual carriageway just south of Rhyl...
between Ruthin
Ruthin
Ruthin is a community and the county town of Denbighshire in north Wales. Located around a hill in the southern part of the Vale of Clwyd - the older part of the town, the castle and Saint Peter's Square are located on top of the hill, while many newer parts of the town are on the floodplain of...
and Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
. The boundaries of the community include both the village of Llandegla itself and the neighbouring village of Pen-y-stryt.
History
St Tecla's church is likely to have been an early-mediaeval foundation, and by the 13th century was recorded as a chapelry of Valle Crucis AbbeyValle Crucis Abbey
Valle Crucis Abbey is a Cistercian abbey located in Llantysilio in Denbighshire, Wales. More formally the Abbey Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Valle Crucis it is known in Welsh both as Abaty Glyn Egwestl and Abaty Glyn y Groes.The abbey was built in 1201 by Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, Prince of...
. The fabric of the building was, however, heavily rebuilt in 1866, probably to a design by John Gibson
John Gibson (architect)
John Gibson was an English architect born in Warwickshire.Gibson was an assistant to Sir Charles Barry and assisted him in the drawings of the Houses of Parliament....
.
The village was located on one of the main drovers' roads from the north-west coast of Wales to the markets of England, and the cattle trade was central to its economy. Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
wrote that it was "noted for its vast fairs for black cattle
Welsh Black
The Welsh Black is a dual-purpose breed of cattle native to Wales.-History:Commercial exploitation of the breed meant that drovers would herd them to English markets. Herds from south west Wales travelled towards Hereford and Gloucester up the Tywi Valley to Llandovery. Herds from South...
", and there were formerly several inns in the village to cater for the drovers and cattle-dealers. George Borrow
George Borrow
George Henry Borrow was an English author who wrote novels and travelogues based on his own experiences around Europe. Over the course of his wanderings, he developed a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe. They figure prominently in his work...
, in his travelogue Wild Wales, recorded meeting a hog-dealer on the road above Eglwyseg
Eglwyseg
The Eglwyseg valley is an area to the north east of Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales; it is within the boundaries of Llantysilio Community. The name also refers to a widely-scattered hamlet in the valley....
taking a large herd of pigs across the mountain from "Llandeglo" towards Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
.
As the droving trade tailed off in the later 19th century, due to the construction of the railways, many of Llandegla's residents worked in quarrying.
Local customs and traditions
Pennant recorded an odd tradition connected with St Tecla's Well, a spring in a field close to the church. Sufferers of what were known as Clwyf Tecla, "St Tecla's disease", washed themselves in the well after sunset and walked round it three times, leaving an offering of fourpence, afterwards spending the night in the church.The nineteenth-century folklorist Elias Owen
Elias Owen (Welsh cleric)
Rev. Elias Owen was a Welsh cleric and antiquarian whose works include The Old Stone Crosses of the Vale of Clwyd, 1886 and Welsh Folk-Lore, 1896.-Family:...
recorded a tale about a "wicked Ghost" which haunted the rectory at Llandegla and was eventually exorcised by a man named Griffiths from Graianrhyd
Graianrhyd
Graianrhyd, also spelt Graeanrhyd, is a small, scattered village in the community of Llanarmon-yn-Ial, Denbighshire, Wales, lying in hilly limestone country around to the east of Lanarmon-yn-Ial village, and just to the south of Eryrys....
. The spirit was said to have been buried in a box under a large stone in the River Alyn
River Alyn
The River Alyn is a tributary of the River Dee. The River Alyn rises at the southern end of the Clwydian hills and the Alyn Valley forms part of the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
close to Llandegla's bridge.
Amenities
Natural features in the area include the Clwydian RangeClwydian Range
The Clwydian Range is a series of hills and mountains in north east Wales that runs from Llandegla in the south to Prestatyn in the north, with the highest point being the popular Moel Famau...
to the north-west of the village, Llandegla Forest
Llandegla Forest
Llandegla Forest is a forest of planted conifers covering 6.5 square kilometres in Denbighshire, north-east Wales. It is situated to the south-east of the village of Llandegla at the north-western edge of Ruabon Moors. The forest is owned by UPM Tilhill and planting began in the early 1970s...
to the south-east and the Horseshoe Pass
Horseshoe Pass
The Horseshoe Pass is a mountain pass in Denbighshire, northeast Wales. It separates Llantysilio Mountain to the west from Cyrn-y-Brain to the east. The A542 road from Llandegla to Llangollen runs through the pass, reaching a maximum height of...
to the south. The Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path is a long distance footpath along the Welsh-English border. Opened in 1971, it is one of Britain's premier National Trails and draws walkers from throughout the world...
passes through the village. Llandegla also has a mountain bike
Mountain bike
A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...
centre located in the forest.
Notable people who have lived in the village include the author Edward Tegla Davies
Edward Tegla Davies
Edward Tegla Davies was a Methodist minister and a popular Welsh language writer, born at Llandegla-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, north Wales....
and the hymn-writer and poet William Jones (Ehedydd Iâl).