Meliden - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
MELIDEN, a parish, in the union of St. Asaph, hundred of Prestatyn, county of Flint, North Wales, 5 miles (N. by E.) from St. Asaph; containing 844 inhabitants, of whom 440 are in the township of Meliden. This parish, which is supposed to derive its name from the dedication of its church, is situated on the north-western extremity of the county, on the shore of the Irish Sea; and comprises an extensive tract of rich arable and pasture land, in a high state of cultivation. The surface is in general flat, and nearly the whole district, extending to Rhuddlan, is remarkably fertile; the soil is favourable for the growth of all kinds of grain, but more especially for wheat, the quality of which is not excelled in any other part of the principality. The total area is 1607 acres, of which 200 are common or waste land. The great Talar Gôch lead-mine is partly in Meliden, and partly in the parish of Dyserth, which see. Among the more respectable houses is Nant, an ancient mansion of a branch of the Conways of Bryn Euryn, near Llandrillo-yn-Rhôs. The scenery, though pleasing, is not distinguished by any peculiar features; and the only views possessing interest are those which extend over the Irish Sea, at the time of flood-tide, when vessels are proceeding towards the river Dee; at ebb-tide many sand-banks appear, and the coast is in general low and sandy. The Chester and Holyhead railway runs parallel with the sea-shore.

The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £400 royal bounty, and £400 parliamentary grant; total net income, £120; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph: the tithes have been commuted for £368, and there is an impropriate glebe of six acres. The church, dedicated to St. Melid, is not remarkable for any peculiarity of architectural detail. A day and Sunday National school is held; and there are two places of worship for dissenters in the hamlet of Prestatyn, in each of which a Sunday school is also conducted. A noble donation was bequeathed to the curate in 1783, by the Rev. Gilbert Bouchery, who directed that the interest of £1000, three per cent. Bank annuities, should be for ever paid in augmentation of the income of the curacy. He also left a sum of £1400, in the same stock, the dividends to be appropriated after the decease of his wife, who died in 1807, to the augmentation, in equal portions, of the livings of four resident incumbents in the diocese of St. Asaph, who should have the most scanty incomes, and be the most remarkable for the diligent and conscientious discharge of their ministry, the selection to rest with the bishop. The dividend on the first bequest is regularly received by the curate; and that on the second, amounting to £75 annually, is divided among four poor beneficed clergymen, giving a sum of £18. 10. to each. In the hamlet of Prestatyn are some vestiges of an ancient castle.