Nantglyn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nantglyn is a small village in Denbighshire, North Wales. It is situated in a rural, picturesque location about 4.5 miles away from the nearest town, Denbigh. There are several other small villages in the area.
While there are now no shops remaining in the village, it had previously maintained a blacksmith's forge, Post office, pub and a Leather Craft shop that also sold candles (located in the old smithy). A memorial to the fallen of the two world wars sits at the center of the village.
The parish church is dedicated to St. James It is probably quite old but was extensively renovated in 1777 and again in Victorian times. A notable feature of its churchyard is the famous 'pulpit in a tree' built into an ancient yew tree. Tradition has it that it was used by minister John Wesley during the 18th century to preach from, although it would seem unlikely that a Methodist minister would be allowed to preach in an Anglican church yard. There were also several non-conformist chapels in the village, including Capel-y-Waen, Capel Soar and Capel Salem. Waen Nantglyn is a secondary settlement about 1 mile NW of the main village.
The village is located on a small river, the Lliwen. This river and its tributary, the Ystrad, provided the water to power several corn and fulling mills in the parish. One of the corn mills, Segrwyd Mill, served the neighborhood farmers until 1960.
The small junior school opened in 1859 and closed down in the late 1990s owing to declining pupil numbers. Despite this closure there remains a strong sense of community within the village. There remains in the village a park, which was refurbished at the end of 2005 with a climbing frame and other small equipment as well as football goals. The village also has its own football team who have had marked success as champions of local competitions in recent years. The team plays on their own pitch, which outside of the football season is used for sheep grazing.
A bus service serves the village three times a day (not including Sundays) to and from Denbigh.
Nantglyn has seen it's fair share of famous residents over the centuries including David Samwell(1751-1798), the surgeon aboard Captain Cook's ship "Discovery". Samwell kept a journal, and witnessed Cook being murdered by hostile natives in Hawaii in 1779. Dr. William Owen Pughe (1759-1835), a well known literary figure who compiled a Welsh-English dictionary and a Welsh Grammar among other works, lived in the village for the last 10 years of his life, although he was not born there.
