DENBIGHSHIRE, a co. of North Wales, ou the Irish sea, and between the Dee and the Conway. It is 41 in. long, with an average breadth of 17; contains 603 sq.m., has 8 in. of coast, and is the sixth in size of the Welsh counties. The surface is partly rugged and mountainous, with some beautiful and fertile vales, as the vale of the Clwyd, 20 m. by 7. In the n., is a horse-shoe range of hills, 65 m. long, and convex to the coast. The highest hill is Cutler Fromwen, 2,563 ft. ; and many others rise above 1500 feet. The rocks are chiefly Silurian clay and graywacke slates, with some granite and trap, and bands of Devonian, carboniferous, and permian strata. There occur coal, iron, slates, flags, millstones, limestone, lead, and copper. The chief rivers are the Dee, Con way, Elwy, and Clwyd. The Rhaiadr waterfall is 200 ft. high in two parts. Llangol len vale is famed for romantic beauty and verdure, amid hills of savage grandeur. The climate is mild in the lower parts, but cold and bleak among the hills, where small hardy sheep and ponies are reared. About two thirds of D. are under cultivation; its corn, cheese, butter, and live-stock are greatly esteemed. It is also well timbered. Salmon
are caught in the rivers. D. is divided into 6 hundreds, 3 poor-law unions, and 64 par ishes, in the diocese of Bangor and St. Asaph. The chief towns are Denbigh, Wrex ham, Ruthin, Holt, Llangollen, Llanrwst, Abergele, and Ruabon. Pop. '71, 105,102, showing an increase of 74 per cent since the first census in 1801. D. returns three mem bers to parliament—two for the county and one for Denbigh. D. was anciently occu pied by the Ordovices, a powerful tribe, not entirely subdued by the Romans till the time of Agricola. Of British or pre-Roman remains there still exist tumuli, two cistva ens or stone cells, barrows, and forts. To the times of the Welsh and Saxon struggles are referable the Pillar of Eliseg, near Llangollen, and the dikes of Offa and Watt. Offa's, the king of Mercia's dike, to keep out the Welsh, was a ditch, with small fort on mounds at intervals, and ran from Herefordshire to the estuary of the Dee; Watt's dike ran on the e. side of Offa's dike and parallel to it. Wrexham church is one of the seven wonders of Wales. Chirk castle is a fine Norman stronghold, lately restored.