“On scenes like these the eye delights to dwell,
Here loud cascades, and there the silent dell;
The lofty mountains, bleak and barren, rise,
And spread their ample bosoms to the skies;
While still the rushing river rolls along,
The theme of many a humble shepherd’s song,
And as it rolls, the trout, in speckled pride,
Springs playful in the smooth translucent tide.”

The river Dee forms a beautiful and interesting feature in all the most picturesque views around Llangollen. Passing from Glyndyfrdwy down the river, it successively assumes the appearance of the brawling brook over beds of pebbles; the deep tranquil character of the gliding lake, reflecting on its pure bosom the woods and mountains that surround it; the rushing cascade or rapids, over beds of rocks, or through chasms of stone.

“The current that with gentle murmur glides,
Opposed by rocks impatiently doth rage;
But when his fair course is not hindered,
He makes sweet music with the enamelled stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;
And so by many winding nooks he strays
With willing sport to the wild ocean.”

It rises a few miles beyond Bala, a town about twenty miles from Llangollen, on the west, and runs through a pool now called Bala pool, some say without mingling its stream. [138] There is no river in England which has been so much celebrated by our poets for its sanctity as the Dee; and Camden describes it as “riseing on the east sideof Merionethshire, and forthwith passeth entire and whole through Lhintegid, in English, Pimble Meare, or Plenlin Meare, [139a] a lake spreding far in length and bredth; and so runneth out of it with as great a streame as it entred in; for neither shal a man see in the Dee the fishes called guiniad, which are peculiar to the Meare, nor yet salmons in the Meare, which neverthelesse are commonly taken in the river.” [139b]

The mazy windings of the Dee, embellished as its banks are with the fresh green shrubs and plants which flourish there in great luxuriance, afford a very delightful walk, independent of the great amusement to anglers for which this river has ever been so famous. The trout are as fine as any in the kingdom, and are very plentiful. Many men obtain a livelihood during the season, by fishing in this beautiful river, which they contrive to manage in their little coracles, a large kind of round basket, covered with skins or tarpawling, and with a board across the centre for a seat. It is amusing to see them waft themselves where they please, with a little paddle in one hand, and a fly-rod in the other, fishing every corner of the deep pool; and when tired, rowing to land, throwing their boats on their shoulders, and walking with them to another deep pool, where they again commence operations.

Salmon come up the river to spawn; and although so many do not reach Llangollen as in former times, owing to the new inventions erected on the river to entrap them in their way from the sea, yet many of them overcome all impediments, and reach their usual haunts. I saw last summer, at the season when the salmon fray, or fry, seek their way to the sea from the river where they have been bred, large shoals of these fish, and at one time more than forty fishing rods successfully employed in a small space of water near the water-mill just above the bridge. This fishery continued in great activity for many days; the bait used being a common ground-worm, or a straw-worm, here called corbet. A little fresh in the river at length came, of which the fish took advantage, and proceeded on their way, after having lost some thousands of their numbers at Llangollen.

The otter is found in this river, and, owing to the many fastnesses, can seldom be destroyed. There are also numerous and various aquatic birds. The rock-ousel, the kingfisher, the sand-piper, the crane, and a duck-like bird, with black and white plumeage, which the inhabitants term a cormorant, are very common.

About a mile above the bridge is a deep chasm in the rocky bed, through which the whole river, when not swollen, rushes. It is six yards across, and bears the name of Llam Y Lleidr, i.e. Thief’s Leap, from the circumstance of a robber, who was pursued closely, having possessed sufficient agility to clear this space, while his unfortunate pursuer fell short, and was engulphed in the roaring torrent, narrowly escaping the loss of life, as well as of property. There is another chasm nearer the bridge, still deeper and narrower, called the Cow’s Leap.

The river runs over a bed of dark-coloured silicious rock, which is sometimes got by the inhabitants for the use of building. The bed of the river is consequently very uneven, which causes it to foam and rush very impetuously along.

The Bridge

Is a plain gothic structure at the west end of Llangollen, and consists of four irregularly formed pointed arches, with projecting angular buttresses. The bridge was built across the Dee by John Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Chancellor of Chester, A.D. 1346, and was accounted one of the wonders of Wales. The arches are of various dimensions, but the only wonder I can discover seems to be the foundation, which is laid upon the rock that forms the bed of the river, and is fastened thereto with iron clamps. The bridge is built of hewn stone, and is, like most other old bridges, very narrow and ill-paved.

Many wonderful tales are related of the sudden rise of this river, and it certainly is a very inconstant stream; but I cannot conceive it possible that the water should ever have risen, as reported, so high as the base of the parapet. There is another little bridge called the Chain Bridge, about two miles up the river.

I will now cross the bridge to the south side of the river.