Nannerch - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849) NANNERCH, a parish, in the union of Holywell, chiefly in the Caerwys division of the hundred of Rhuddlan, county of Flint, and partly in the hundred of Ruthin, county of Denbigh, North Wales, 5 miles (S. by W.) from Holywell; containing 376 inhabitants. This parish, comprising about 2700 acres, is situated on the turnpike-road leading from Denbigh to Mold. Its surface is strikingly undulated, rising into bold and abrupt eminences in various parts; and the lands, which are principally arable, with a portion of meadow and pasture, are in a good state of cultivation: about 400 acres are common or waste. The soil is chiefly gravelly, and well adapted to the growth of corn. Some very extensive veins of rich iron-ore are found in the township of Penbedw, where are also lead-mines that have been worked for many years with considerable success. The surrounding country is boldly varied, displaying good mountain scenery. In the parish are some fine springs; one of them, called "Fynnon Sarah," near the new turnpike-road, is considered to be the source of the river Whieler, which, pursuing a western course, falls into the Clwyd near Pontrufydd.
The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 8. 1½.; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph: the tithes have been commuted for a rentcharge of £324; there is a glebe-house, and the glebe consists of above eighteen acres, valued at £19. 8. per annum. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, a neat plain structure, contains a very handsome monument to the family of Mostyn, of Penbedw, and a mural monument to Watkin Williams, Esq., of the same place, who represented the Flintshire boroughs in forty successive years, and died November 30th, 1808, at the age of sixty-six. There are some places of worship for dissenters, and some Sunday schools. John Edwards, in 1734, bequeathed a rent-charge of £1. 6. to be annually distributed in bread among the poor; and the widow of a late rector, not long since, left a sum of £30 for the promotion of education here. Near the boundary of the parish is Moel Arthur, a very large British encampment, occupying the summit of a lofty eminence; and near it are the remains of Pen-y-Cloddiau, the most extensive British fortification in this part of the principality: they are both situated on the range of the Clwydian mountains, within the limits of Nannerch. Many rare and valuable fossils are found in the lea-mines.
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