Soil and Agriculture.— On the uplands the soil is too cold and poor, and the seasons too uncongenial, to admit of good corn crops; but a more profitable investment is made in the rearing of mountain ponies and of sheep and black cattle, which are sold in great numbers to be fattened in the Midland Counties of England, for the London market. Less than a third of the surface is under cultivation; and the agricultural acreage was thus distributed in the years 1873 and 1876 :— [table]

Of the corn crops, oats occupy much the largest amount of acreage, and of green crops, turnips.

The live stock of the county in the same years was distributed thus:— [table]

In the valleys, and indeed far up the sunny slopes of the hills, the latest improvements in agriculture may be observed, and the reaping hook and the flail are fast disappearing before the reaping and the thrashing machines. This progress has been largely due to several Farmers’ Clubs, such as the Denbighshire and Flintshire, the Vale of Conway, and the Cerrigydrudion. But the railways have done still more. The Vale of Llanrwst, the Vale of Clwyd, and the Denbigh and Chester lines have linked their respective districts to the great trunk line of the London and North Western; whilst the Denbigh, Ruthin, and Corwen, the Corwen and Rhuabon, the Wrexham and Connah’s Quay, and yet again the Rhos-llanerchrugog and the Glyn Ceiriog tramways, have done the same for the Great Western,—thus opening all the main arteries of the county alike to external and internal communication, and vastly developing its resources. Down the picturesque Vale of Llangollen also runs the great Holyhead Road—in its day the principal means of communication between London and Ireland, and for engineering skill, excellency of workmanship, and beauty of scenery probably still unsurpassed in the United Kingdom,

The geology of the county is full of interest, as it develops all the principal strata that intervene between the Lower Silurian and the Triassic series. In the Lower Silurian district, which extends from the southern boundary to the Ceiriog, the Llandeilo formation of the eastern slopes of the Berwyn and the Bala beds of shelly sandstone are traversed east and west by bands of intrusive felspathic porphyry and ashes; northwards from the Ceiriog to the limestone fringe at Llandrillo, the Wenlock shale òf the Upper Silurian covers the entire mass of the Hiraethog and Clwydian hills, but verging on its western slopes into the Denbighshire grit, which may be traced southward in a continuous line from the mouth of the Conway as far a Llanddewi Ystrad Enni in Radnorshire. On its eastern slope a narrow broken band of the Old Red crops up along the Vale of Clwyd and in Eglwyseg. Resting upon this the Carboniferous Limestone extends from Llanymynach, its extreme southern point, to the Cyrnybrain fault, and there forks into two divisions that terminate respectively in the Great Orme’s Head and in Talargoch, and are separated from each other by the denuded shales of the Moel Famma range. In the Vale of Clwyd the limestone underlies the New Red Sandstone, and in the eastern division it is itself overlaid by the millstone grit of Rhuabon and Minera, and by a long reach of the coal measures which near Wrexham are 4J miles in breadth. Eastward of these a broad strip of the Permian succeeds, and yet again between this and the Dee the ground is occupied—as in the Vale of Clwyd—by the New Red.

The mineral resources of the county under these conditions are naturally considerable. Paving flags are raised at Nantglyn; slates and slabs for ornamental purposes, on a large scale, on Rhiwfelen, near Llangollen; and slates at Glyn Ceiriog. The limestone is used largely, and exported extensively for building, fluxing, and agricultural purposes; and at Brymbo there is a fine layer of China stone. The sandstones of Cefn Rhuabon are wrought into grindstones, and the grit is used for millstones. The coal measures at Chirk, Rhuabon, and Brymbo are very productive, the number of collieries in 1875 being 61, and the quantity raised annually estimated at 1,379,560 tons. In close contiguity to the coal seams, ironstone is found; and the six furnaces in blast at Rhuabon and at Brymbo (where John Wilkinson was the first to introduce the industry) produced (together with one in Flintshire) in the same year 55,099 tons of pig iron, valued at £232,000. Lead ore is another and still more important item; the most productive mine has been the Great Minera, which yields profits of about £30,000 a year. The seven mines in the county produced, in 1875, 2600 tons of lead ore, 1954 tons of lead, and 10,873 ounces of silver. One of the latest industries introduced has been the manufacture of dynamite in the valley of the Ceiriog. At the village of Llansantffraid, and at Llangollen, there are woollen factories.

The principal towns are Wrexham (population 8576), the centre of the mining district, noted for its beautiful church tower, and recently selected as the military centre for North Wales; Denbigh, the nominal capital (4276), notable for its castle ruins and Howell’s female orphan school; Ruthin (3298), where the assizes are held, famous for its grammar school and its fine castle lately rebuilt; Llangollen, with its beautiful scenery; Llanrwst, with its church monuments and rood-loft, its bridge, and salmon fishing; and Holt, with its ancient ruined castle.

As regards the ownership of the land, the county (in 1873) was divided among 5708 separate proprietors, whose total rental was estimated at £450,421. Of the owners 3436, or 60 per cent., held less than 1 acre, about the same proportion as in the neighbouring county of Flint; while the average of small proprietors in all England was 71 per cent. The average property amounted to 61 acres, while that of all England was 34, and the average value per acre was £1, 5s. 3d., as against £3, 0s. 2d. for all England.

The following proprietors held more than 5000 acres in the above year—viz., Sir Watkin W. Wynn, 33,998 acres; J. L. Wynne, Coed Côch, 10,197; Lord Bagot, Pool Park, 9385; H. R. Hughes, Kinmel, 8561; C. W. Finch, Pentrefoelas, 8025; B. W. Wynne, Garthewin, 6435; C. S. Main waring, Galltfaenan, 6428; R. Μ. Biddulph, Chirk Castle, 5513; W. C. West, Ruthin Castle, 5457; and Sir Hugh Williams, Bodelwyddan, 5360.

For civil purposes, the county is divided into 6 hundreds, 9 petty sessional divisions, 3 police districts, 5 highway districts, and 9 lieutenancy subdivisions; and it forms a part of the North Wales circuit, with a winter assize. For parliamentary purposes the county is an undivided constituency, returningtwo representatives to Parliament, while the contributory boroughs of Denbigh, Ruthin, Wrexham, and Holt return one member. Ecclesiastically the county lies entirely within the diocese of St Asaph; the number of parishes and ecclesiastical districts is 61, comprised under 6 deaneries within the archdeaconry of St Asaph. In educational matters, the Latin or second-grade schools comprise the endowed grammar schools of Holt, founded in 1661; Denbigh, in 1726; Wrexham, in 1603; Rhuabon, by Vicar Robinson, in 1703; and Llanrwst, by Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, in 1610. The Greek, or highest grade, is supplied by that of Ruthin, founded in 1574 by Dr Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster, a native of the town and the refounder of its Christ’s Hospital. This school has been the nursery of many eminent Welshmen.

Antiquities,— Of prehistoric remains, the caves in the limestone escarpments of Cefn, that overhang the valley of the Elwy, yield a noteworthy supply. They contain remains of the hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros, lion, hyena, bear, reindeer, <fcc. The glutton was found in the neighbouring cave of Plas He'aton, felstone implements in the adjoining Bout Newydd cave, and a polished stone-axe in a similar one at Rhosdigre,—all in the same range. Near Cefn, too, was discovered in 1869, on the opening of a carnedd in Tyddyn Bleiddya, a chambered tomb containing skeletons, which, on comparison with a similar type found at Perthi Chwareu, gave rise to the title of the “Platycnémie Men of Denbighshire.”

A writer in the Archaeologia Cambr ensis, 1855, p. 270, has given a summary of the antiquities of the county, most of which may be put down as British or at least Celtic. Traces of the Romans exist at Clawdd Coch (Mediolanum ?), Penygaer, Bwlch, Penbarras; and their roads passed from Deva (Chester) to Segcntium (Carnarvon) and to Mons Heriri (Tomen-y-Mur) respectively. To the Romano-British period belong the inscribed stones at Gwytherin and Pentrevoelas. The Pillar of “Eliseg,” near Valle Crucis, tells of Brochmael and the struggle against the invading Northumbrians under Ethelfrith, 613 a.d. ; whilst the Dyke of “Offa” hands down the memory of the Mercian advance. Adjoining this last, and running side by side with it, is the similar but shorter earthwork called “Watt’s Dyke,” of debateable origin and purpose.

Of the earliest castles the ruins of “Dinas Bran” still crown the conical hill that overhangs Llangollen. Denbigh, which has been compared to Stirling for site and beauty—built in the time of Edward I. and destroyed in the civil wars—overlooks the Vale of Clwyd; Holt, on the banks of the Dee, probably the Caerlegion of Beda, shared the same fate. Ruthin, overthrown at the same time, has been twice rebuilt within this century. Chirk alone has weathered the storms of time and war, and is still occupied as a family residence.

Among the early ecclesiastical buildings and remains we may name the Cistercian abbey of Valle Crucis and the Carmelite chapel at Denbigh, both now in decay; the cloisters at Ruthin, and the old house of Brynyffynnon, sometimes called the nunnery at Wrexham; the collegiate churches of Wrexham and Ruthin; the beautiful rood-lofts and screens of Llanrwst, Gresford, and Derwen; the portrait brasses and monuments in the Gwydir Chapel, Llanrwst, and at Whitchurch, Denbigh; the churchyard cross at Derwen; and the stained glass at Gresford and Llanrhaiadr in Dyffryn Clwyd.

The principal gentlemen's seats of Tudor date comprise Gwydir (Lady Willoughby d’Eresby), Brynkinallt (Lord A. E. Hill-Trevor), Trefalyn (B. T. Boscawen Griffith), Llwyn Ynn (Colonel Heygarth), Cadwgan (in decay). Those of later erection include Llangedwyn and Wynnstay (Sir W. Williams Wynn, Bart.), Kinmel (H. R. Hughes), Pool Park (Lord Bagot), Havodunos (H. R. Sandbach), Voelas (Colonel Wynne Finch), Llanerch (Whitehall Do<l), Gwrych Castle (R. B. Hesketh), Plas Power (T. Fitzhugh), Llandy-silio Hall (C. F. Beyer), Acton Park (Sir R. H. Cunliffe, Bart.),Galltfaenan(T. Mainwaring),Eriviatt(J.J. Ffoulkes), Glanywern (P. S. Humberston), Gelligynan (J. Carstairs Jones).

Among the books bearing upon the history of the county are the following :— Cac Archaeologia Cambrensis, or Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association; Pennant’s Tours in Wales; Lewis, Topographical Dictionary; Thomas, History of the Diocese of St Asaph; Annals of Counties and County Families of Wales, by Dr. Nicholas; Yorke’s Royal Tribes of Wales; Memoirs of the Gwydir Family, by Sir John Wynne; Memoirs of the Goodmans, by R. Newcome; Accounts of Denbigh and of Ruthin, by the same; A ìicient and Modem Denbigh, by John Williams; Records of the Lordship of Denbigh, by the same; Handbook of the Vale of Clwyd, by Davies; Wrexham and its Neighbourhood, by J ones. The village churches of the county have been well illustrated by Lloyd Williams and Underwood, architects, of Denbigh.

The name Denderah, in Coptic Tentore, and in Greek Tentyra or Tentyris, used to be regarded as equivalent to Thy-n Athor, “the abode of Athor;” but, according to an hypothesis started by Brugsch, and since proved by the investigations of Dümichen, it is now explained as “the Land of the Hippopotamus” (Tan-ta-rer), in allusion to the use of this animal as a symbol of the goddess Isis, who is regularly identified with Athor in the Denderah inscriptions. The sacred name was An, and a list is still extant of 136 substitutes or epitheta ornantia, such as the house of enlightened souls, the house of gladness, the house of the weeping and laughing of the sun-god Ra. Though, as already indicated, the present temples of Denderah belong to the latest period of Egyptian art, the original occupation oî the site for sacred buildings dates from the earliest times. According to an inscription discovered and published by Dümichen, who spent three months in personal exploration of the ruins, a restoration of the temple w as effected by I both mes III. of the 18 th dynasty, in keeping with an ancient plan belonging to the reign of Chufu, which had been found, in the time of Pheops, “in the interior of a wall of the Southern House.”

The people of Tentyra were remarkable for their hostility to the crocodile and its worshippers; and in their attacks on the reptile they displayed so much audacity and skill that the Romans in the time of Strabo brought a number of them over to Italy as a new attraction for the amphitheatre. In modern times the name of Denderah has become especially famous on account of the two designs known respectively as the circular and the quadrangular zodiac, which have been the subject of the most elaborate discussion among Egyptologists. The former was discovered by General Desaix about the end of last century, and at length in 1820 removed by Μ. Lelorrain to Paris, where it was purchased by the Government for 150,000 francs, and deposited in the Bibliothèque Impériale ; the latter, first observed by Μ. Dupuis, a member of the French commission, is still in its original position, as, instead of occupying a comparatively small and portable disk, it forms, as already indicated, the decoration of two extremities of the temple portico, and thus consists of two corresponding halves. Copies of both the zodiacs have frequently been made, and are easily accessible in F. C. Lauth’s Les Zodiaques de Denderah, Munich, 1865, a memoir in which he maintains that both designs are commemorative calendars of the Greco-Roman period.

See also Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians ; Letronne, Observations sur l’objet des représentations zodiacales de l'antiquité, Paris, 1824; Halma, Examen et explications des Zodiaques Égyptiennes, 1822; Lepsius’s Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, passim; Chabas, Sur l’antiquité de Denderah; and especially Dümichen’s Neueste Mittheilungen aus Aegypten, and Bauùrkunde der Tempelanlagen von Denderah, 1864.