Tremerchion, or Dymeirchyon (Trê-Meirchion) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849) TREMERCHION, or DYMEIRCHYON (TRÊ-MEIRCHION), a parish, in the union of St. Asaph, Rhuddlan division of the hundred of Rhuddlan, county of Flint, North Wales, 3½ miles (E. S. E.) from St. Asaph; containing 613 inhabitants. The village of Tremerchion is delightfully situated on the brow of a hill, under the Clwydian range of mountains, and commands a rich and luxuriant prospect of that unrivalled vale, of the mountains forming its western boundary, and the lofty chain of Snowdon. Lead-ore has been found in the parish, but the works are discontinued. A little below the church stands the mansion of -y-Bryn; bella, once called Bâchegraig, embosomed in woods, and some time since the property and residence of Signor Piozzi, in right of his wife, previously Mrs. Thrale, widow of Henry Thrale, Esq. She was daughter and heiress of John Salusbury, Esq., to an ancestor of whom, named Roger Salusbury, the ancient house, and certain tithes in Carnarvonshire, were given, as a marriage portion with one of his daughters, by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, by whom the house was erected in the year 1567. The old edifice inclosed a quadrangular area, and was a curious brick mansion, with three sides composed of different buildings, the former six stories high, including the cupola, and forming from the second floor the figure of a pyramid, having probably been erected from the model of buildings in Flanders; the bricks were of a very superior kind, and are supposed to have been made either in Holland, or by a Dutchman on the spot. This edifice was taken down, and the present house erected, about the end of the last century, by Mrs. Thrale. The property now belongs to Sir John S. Piozzi Salusbury, Knt.
The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £5, and in the gift of the Bishop of St. Asaph; the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £539. 14., equally divided between the impropriator and the vicar. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a small neat edifice, and contains an organ, a very unusual appendage to country churches in Wales. Under a finely ornamented arch lies the effigy of Davydd Ddû, or Davydd the Black, of Hiraddug, in ecclesiastical robes. He was incumbent of the parish about the middle of the fourteenth century, and is celebrated throughout Wales for his poetry and prophecies; he translated the Psalms of David into Welsh metre, and assisted greatly in regulating the Welsh prosody. Beneath the figure is inscribed Hic jacit Dafid ap Roderic ap Madog. Here is also a mutilated effigy of Sir Robert Pounderling, constable of Dyserth Castle, represented as a Knight Templar, cross-legged; and the church anciently contained a cross (long since demolished), in great fame for the miracles reputed to have been performed at it, which are described in a poem published about the year 1500, by Grufydd ab Ivan ab Llewelyn Vychan. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.
Margaret Vaughan, in 1707, gave the sum of £100, directing that part of the interest should be annually distributed among the poor, and the remainder appropriated in apprenticing a child. A school was built contiguous to the churchyard, about the year 1765, which is partly supported by an endowment in land by the same lady, producing £4 per annum, partly by the landed proprietors, and partly by payments from the children. It is in connexion with the Established Church, and there is also a Church Sunday school. Divers small sums have been given for the benefit of the poor; among which are a rent-charge of £1. 5., by Edward Mostyn, Esq., in the year 1733, and another of £1. 6., by Mrs. Grace Price, in the year 1741. Mrs. Williams, in 1729, left a house and about two acres of land, increased by a small addition under the Skerring inclosure act, the whole now paying a rent of £6; and Robert Davies, in 1823, bequeathed £30, lodged in the Holywell savings' bank. The produce of all these benefactions is distributed annually.
Sir Richard Clough, the founder of the mansion of Bâchegraig, was the son of poor parents at Denbigh, and became a chorister in Chester Cathedral, whence he was removed to London, and apprenticed to Sir Thomas Gresham, with whom he afterwards became a partner: he is even said to have contributed a few thousand pounds towards founding the Royal Exchange. He lived chiefly at Antwerp, and amassed so much wealth in mercantile pursuits as to render his name proverbial, on the attainment of riches by any person. His descendants are stated to have been deprived of the bulk of his immense estate by virtue of an agreement between him and Sir Thomas Gresham, to the effect that, on the decease of either, the survivor should inherit the whole of his property.
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