101-458: The Eglwyseg valley is an area to the north east of Llangollen in Denbighshire , Wales ; it is within the boundaries of Llantysilio Community . The name also refers to a widely scattered hamlet in the valley. Formerly the old township of Eglwysegl or Eglwysegle, the area is now best known for its dramatic rock formations and unspoiled historic landscape. The area is best known for
202-590: A Scheduled Ancient Monument . Plas Newydd ("New Mansion" or "New Place") high on the outskirts of the town, was from 1780 the home of the Ladies of Llangollen (the Honourable Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler) and their maid Mary Carryl . They share the same grave memorial in the church. Elevated on the opposite side of the Dee is Castell Dinas Brân, the ruins of a medieval castle built by
303-561: A citizen and Merchant Taylor in London, he rose from his family occupation to accept the task of drawing together and revising the histories, topographies and maps of the Kingdoms of Great Britain as an exposition of the union of their monarchies in the person of King James I and VI . He accomplished this with remarkable success, with the support and assistance of the leading antiquarian scholars of his generation. He drew upon and improved
404-425: A monumental brass , stated to be for the cartographer John Speed, among their collection donated to the city of Glasgow . It is described as a tomb brass representing a full-length male figure, 62.7 cm tall, facing three-quarters to the right [i.e. his left side turned away], his hands joined in prayer. He has short hair with a trimmed beard and moustache, and wears a gown and cape over a buttoned tunic surmounted by
505-512: A Splendid and Admired Theatre of the British Empire ; which, with great Expedition and Labour, he perfected in XIV. years..." In 1611–1612 the first collated edition of Speed's celebrated atlas and history of Great Britain was published, his son perhaps assisting Speed in preparing surveys of English towns. At the same time, with royal consent, his Sacred Genealogies became incorporated into
606-454: A chief or, two swifts volant proper". Crest: "On a wreath or and gules a swift volant proper." His monument, in the escutcheon within the broken pediment above the niche, shows these arms impaling "Azure a chevron Ermine between three estoiles Or." From their funeral monument, it appears that John and Susanna Speed had 12 sons and 6 daughters in all. Speed's descendants included Sir Keith Speed , MP (1934–2018). Richard Newcourt described
707-453: A discursive historical method, while preserving the structure and chronology relating to the seven kingdoms, and illustrating coins and other materials in true antiquarian fashion. James Spedding , noting the limitations in Speed's account of Henry VII , allowed that his Historie "was enriched with some valuable records and digested with a more discriminating judgement than had been brought to
808-416: A family. Most sources state that they had twelve sons and six daughters, of whom the most famous to reach maturity was John Speed, M.D. , who studied at Merchant Taylors' School, London and St John's College, Oxford . It appears that the Speed family was fairly well-to-do. Speed came to the attention of learned individuals, among whom was Sir Fulke Greville : Greville, "perceiving how his wide soul
909-588: A genealogical and heraldic frontispiece to Thomas Speght 's edition of the Works of Geffrey Chaucer , reprinted 1602. "I shall not fear to commend in the first place, that famous Man John Speed", wrote Degory Wheare in 1637. "He having travell'd over all Great Britain, read diligently all our own Historians, and those of our neighbour Nations, together with a diligent search in the Publick Offices, Rolls, Monuments, and Ancient Writings, or Charters, built up
1010-575: A historical king of Powys . It is, however, more likely that the name Eglwysegl was in fact derived from the Latin ecclesicula , a diminutive of ecclesia - a "churchlet or chapel". The relatively remote area continued to be farmed under freehold tenure; Pennant alluded to this when, writing around 1778, he described the valley: Long and narrow, bounded on the right by astonishing precipices, divided into numberless parallel strata of white limestone, often giving birth to vast yew-trees [...] this valley
1111-552: A map-maker, and above all for his atlas, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (1611, 1616, 1623), which attempted a complete set of individual county maps of England and Wales , as well as maps of Ireland and a general map of Scotland . A 21-year royal privilege (franchise) for the printing of Speed's Theatre was granted to George Humble in April 1608. The collection developed cumulatively, together with his History , and
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#17327906408621212-532: A nonconformist (Calvinistic Methodist) chapel, built in 1856, closed in 1930, and now ruinous. Until the early 20th century, when they were culverted , there were many fords across Eglwyseg's numerous streams (the road from Esclusham Mountain still fords the river at World's End), and there are also a number of 18th-century stone bridges. The limestone cliffs were quarried in the past for building stone, and lime kilns were used to convert limestone to lime. This had uses as lime mortar as well as to improve soil. At
1313-474: A ruff. The expression "tomb brass" suggests that this figure may have belonged to a group set into the covering slab of a stone table tomb (as opposed to a floor matrix), an inference supported by the comparatively unworn condition of the engraving. The latten is torn away at the toe, suggesting a forceful detachment, but the rivet-holes by which the brass was originally attached to its stone matrix are neatly preserved, suggesting careful removal. The position of
1414-673: A section navigable only by a horse-drawn excursion boat. Llangollen on the River Dee hosts white water Slalom canoeing and kayaking , being host to International and UK events. The International Canoe Federation (ICF), the European Canoe Union (ECU) and the British Canoe Union (BCU) all hold events in Llangollen. Cricket , football and rugby union teams play at Tower Fields, which overlooks
1515-691: A stronghold of the Princes of Powys . Beyond the castle is the impressive Lower Carboniferous limestone escarpment known as the Eglwyseg Rocks. The outcrop continues north to World's End in Wrexham . The single track road north of the castle forms the Panorama Walk , and a monument to poet I. D. Hooson from the village of Rhosllannerchrugog is located near its easternmost end [Grid Ref: SJ 2459 4287]. The ancient parish of Llangollen
1616-696: A very wide range of sources, were the immediate predecessors to Speed's History , from the historical aspect, as Camden's Britannia in the 1607 edition (with county maps) was his chorographical precedent. Stow announced a (much larger) forthcoming history of Britain, A Historie of this Iland , in 1592, but it never reached publication. Editions of Florence of Worcester , the Flores Historiarum , and of William of Malmesbury , Henry of Huntingdon and others in Sir Henry Savile 's Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam came into print in
1717-580: Is a local fundraising music festival, usually held during May when the town hall is transformed into a music venue. Llangollen was an important coaching stop for the mail coach on the old mail route which is now the A5 from London to Holyhead . Various buses serve the town, including buses to Wrexham (Arriva service 5), Barmouth (TrawsCymru service T3) and the Ceiriog Valley . Services 5 and T3 connect Llangollen to Ruabon and Wrexham, which have
1818-526: Is a popular spot with walkers, cyclists and tourists. The lower end of the valley joins the Vale of Llangollen , the Eglwyseg River flowing into the River Dee near Pentrefelin. The entire valley has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Landscape of Special Historic Interest. The upland moors have several Bronze Age burial mounds , and there is evidence of agricultural use of
1919-643: Is a town and community , situated on the River Dee , in Denbighshire , Wales . Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range , and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , with the easternmost point of the Dee Valley Way being within the town. It had a population of 3,658 at the 2011 census. Llangollen takes its name from
2020-462: Is a waiter's room of the Custom-house fallen in, which she has long determined might be bestowed upon John Speed, who has presented her with divers maps; she therefore desires you will bestow the place upon him, whom she takes to be a very sufficient man to discharge the same. He was by then a scholar with a highly developed pictorial faculty. In 1600 he presented three maps of his own making to
2121-519: Is among the most famous of English mapmakers. According to his daughter Sarah Blackmore, John Speed was born in the Cheshire village of Farndon in c. 1551/52. Various families of Speed dwelt in that neighbourhood, but John's relation to them is not precisely established. His father John Speed gained the freedom of the Company of Merchant Taylors of London in April 1556, and is supposed to be
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#17327906408622222-639: Is an independent arts festival, usually held in mid July in the town hall. The Fringe includes music, comedy, theatre, dance and workshops. Artists who have taken part in the Llangollen Fringe include Clement Freud , Rhys Ifans , the Damned , Cerys Matthews , Tracey Emin , Damien Hirst , Juan Martín , the Black Seeds , John Cooper Clarke , Will Self , Gang of Four , Lee Scratch Perry , Victoria Coren Mitchell and Gruff Rhys . Dee Rocks
2323-538: Is based at Llangollen Town Hall . Today Llangollen relies heavily on the tourist industry , but still gains substantial income from farming . Most of the farms in the hills around the town were sheep farms , and the domestic wool industry , both spinning and weaving, was important in the area for centuries. Several factories were later built along the banks of the River Dee, where both wool and cotton were processed. The water mill opposite Llangollen railway station
2424-586: Is chiefly inhabited (happily) by an independent race of warm and wealthy yeomanry , undevoured as yet by the great men of the country. A medieval church, perhaps the chapel referred to in the name Eglwysegl, was marked on Speed and Saxton 's 17th-century maps of the valley, but it had disappeared by 1808. The school church of St Mary's, built on land donated by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn , was opened in 1871; it held its last service in 1985 and has now been converted to residential use. The valley also contained
2525-620: Is over 600 years old, and was originally used to grind flour for local farmers. In the late 19th century, Llangollen had a weekly newspaper, the Llangollen Advertiser . Llangollen hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1908. The Gorsedd ceremony was held on the Hermitage Field, next to Plas Newydd, and the circle of stones was later moved into the grounds of the hall. The eisteddfod itself took place on
2626-457: Is said to have admitted, for this reason, that "Mr Broughton was a means under God of great Blessings to him, and his Children, for worldly comforts": he also reputedly confessed to having burned a great quantity of Broughton's manuscripts. This work was not merely an ornamental adjunct to the Bible, but had the serious intellectual purpose of expounding a resolution (or at least an explanation) of
2727-667: The British Library reprinted this collection of maps of the British Isles with an introduction by Nigel Nicolson and commentaries by Alasdair Hawkyard. Speed represented Wales as a separate province from England but not as an independent entity . In 1627, two years before his death, was published Speed's A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World , printed by John Dawson for George Humble. This
2828-559: The Farne Islands , the Channel Islands ). 99, Wales (General); 101, Pembrokeshire ; 103, Carmarthenshire ; 105, Glamorganshire ; 109, Radnorshire ; 111, Cardiganshire ; 113, Montgomeryshire ; 115, Merionethshire ; 117, Denbighshire ; 119, Flintshire ; 121, Carnarvonshire ; 123, Anglesey . 131, Scotland (General). 137, Ireland (General); 139, Munster ; 141, Leinster ; 143, Connaught ; 145, Ulster . In 2016,
2929-640: The History is Speed's "Catalogue of the Religious Houses, Colledges, and Hospitals Sometimes in England and Wales", appended to the reign of Henry VIII, said to have been compiled by the elder William Burton . The list was published in Latin in 1622 as "Catalogus ex Anglico Ioannis Speed, Latinus", as appendix to Nicholas Harpsfield 's Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica . Speed is now best-known as
3030-674: The Llangollen Railway , a tourist attraction. In 2002, the Rainhill locomotive trials were re-staged on the line. The Ellesmere Canal was intended to connect the coal mines and ironworks at Ruabon and Wrexham to the canal network and thence to the sea via the River Mersey and the River Severn . The plans were altered, and instead of connecting Trevor northwards to the sea via the River Dee and southwards to
3131-498: The "chiefest garnishments" of this work, such as antique altars and trophies, and ancient coins, seals and medals: that the books and collections of John Barkham were similarly brought to his assistance; and that William Smith, Rouge Dragon, had particularly helped in matters of heraldry. From the first page of the Histories a fresh approach is afoot. Speed dispenses with the full list of pseudo-historic rulers stemming from Brutus
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3232-551: The 1580s together formed the Elizabethan College of Antiquaries , predecessor of the London Society of Antiquaries . Their interests were rooted in early-medieval English antiquities. But (after the abolition of that college by James I in 1607) Speed's work came together, Cum Privilegio , as an instrument of the unification of British kingship in the person of King James, much as the "Authorized Version" of
3333-546: The 1970s and 1980s, the route, roughly parallel to the river Dee and across the Dee Valley on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct , is an important part of Llangollen's attraction as a holiday destination. Moorings at Llangollen Wharf and additional moorings in a marina are built at the end of the generally-navigable section, allowing visitors arriving by narrowboat to moor overnight in Llangollen. The canal then extends 1.7 miles, north and then west, to Horseshoe Falls in
3434-603: The A539 Ruabon-Llangollen main road either via Tower Hill in Acrefair or Garth Road, Trevor . From Blackwood Road the Walk (or drive) proceeds SSE to the sharp right turn to head westwards along the Vale of Llangollen. Approximately 100m beyond the cattle grid is a small parking area from which a pathway leads to the stone memorial [Grid reference SJ 24589 42874 ] erected for local Welsh poet, I. D. Hooson . At
3535-565: The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, a subject previously attempted (probably by Laurence Nowell ) for William Lambarde 's Archaionomia published in 1568. The "Gardner copies" in the Cambridge University Library are a collection of proof impressions from the engraved copper plates, taken during the process of checking the detail before the publication of 1611. In describing his intentions Speed admitted
3636-534: The Authorised Version, and it was reprinted for that purpose many times during the 17th century. It contained some now-famous illustrations, including an image of Adam and Eve taking fruit from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden , and a tree of the nations of the world arising out of Noah's Ark . The royal patent enabled Speed to have the profit of it in reward for his various great labours. Speed
3737-540: The County and Kingdom maps from the Theatre , corresponding to the third edition of that work, together with a New and Accurat Map of the World in a double hemisphere projection. A facsimile edition was published in 1966. At 40 shillings , its circulation was limited to wealthier sort of customers, and to libraries, where many copies are nowadays preserved. The pedigree for "Speed of Southampton", as prepared by
3838-778: The English Bible to which Speed contributed his sacred genealogies. This English Bible was promulgated in the same year of 1611. The chronicler John Stow (died 1605, also a Merchant Taylor), Speed's elder contemporary, from 1562 sought to disentangle the confused order of the English Chronicles, finding much fault in "the ignorant handling of ancient affairs" by Richard Grafton : Stow's Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles (and its abridgement) of 1566/67, several times republished, his Chronicles of England from Brute unto this present yeare of Christ, 1580 , and his The Annales of England (1592, 1601, 1605), which itself lists
3939-648: The Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, though it is now known as the Llangollen Canal . The canal supplied enough Dee water to supply Crewe and Nantwich , and when commercial traffic failed in the 1940s, it was its function as a water supply which kept it open. The canal is unusual amongst Britain's artificial waterways in having a strong flow (up to 2 miles per hour). Since the use of canals for leisure took off in
4040-714: The Llangollen Slab and Slate Company was wound up with closure of its quarries and the Pentrefelin slate and slab mill. Eglwyseg was the setting for a popular legend of St. Collen , who was supposed to have killed a giantess called Cares y Bwlch, despite her call for aid from Arthur, another giant who had made his home in the Eglwyseg Rocks. The legend, related by Sabine Baring-Gould , was recorded at Corwen , amongst other localities. The manor house of Plas Uchaf yn Eglwyseg [Grid reference SJ 22828 47942 ]
4141-667: The Merchant Taylors, who hung them in their Hall or Parlour and made provision for them to be protected by curtains. This gift was remembered in 1601 when Speed sought a lease from the company on a property in Fenchurch Street, a request which failed owing to a higher claim: he is a man of very rare and ingenious capacitie in drawing and setting forthe of mapps and genealogies and other very excellent inventions... three severall mappes of his own invention, which he freely gave unto this Companie... In 1598 he contributed
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4242-503: The Most Famous Parts of the World in 1627. He continued to maintain his annals, though by April 1626 he had become blind and suffered from the stone . John Speed died in July 1629 at the age of 77 or 78. He was buried alongside his wife (who had died in the previous year) in London's St Giles-without-Cripplegate church on Fore Street . According to Fuller, his funeral sermon was delivered by Josias Shute . A monument to John Speed
4343-841: The Panorama walk officially ends; the Offa's Dyke Path continues onwards to World's End and beyond. [Note: Grid References may also be accurately pinpointed by use of ‘UK Grid Reference Finder']. Eglwyseg is one of the few sites where the Whitebeam Sorbus anglica is known to grow, and one of only three sites where the Welsh Hawkweed ( Heiracium cambricum ) has been recorded. The rare Limestone Oak Fern Gymnocarpium robertianum and Rigid Buckler-Fern Dryopteris submontana have also been recorded here. Llangollen Llangollen ( Welsh: [ɬaŋˈɡɔɬɛn] )
4444-634: The Pious Memory of Most Beloved Parents" – [that is to say,] of John Speed, Citizen of London of the Brethren of Merchant Taylors, a very faithful servant of their Devout Majesties Elizabeth, James and Charles that now is: the accurate Geographer of our Lands, reliable Historiographer of the Antiquity of Britain, and most elegant delineator of the sacred Genealogies, who, after he had lived 77 years, not so much defeated by illness as wearied out by
4545-417: The Princes of Powys Fadog . The Pillar of Eliseg [Grid Ref: SJ 20267 44528] is another ancient monument located 400m NNW of Valle Crucis Abbey. Llangollen Community Hospital was completed in 1876. There is an electoral ward of Denbighshire County Council of the same name. This ward includes Llantysilio community and has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,079. Llangollen Town Council
4646-616: The Severn, the canal ran eastwards to join the national network at Hurleston Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal near Nantwich . A feeder canal, navigable to Llangollen, was constructed from Trevor to tap water from the River Dee at Llantysilio (at the weir called " Horseshoe Falls "). After company mergers, the canal became part of the Shropshire Union System. Until recently it was properly called
4747-628: The Welsh llan meaning "a religious settlement" and Saint Collen , a 7th-century monk who founded a church beside the river. St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle . St Collen’s Church is the only church in Wales dedicated to St Collen, and he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall and with Langolen in Brittany . Above the town to the north is Castell Dinas Brân ,
4848-482: The antiquary Benjamin Wyatt Greenfield in 1896, has the marriage of John Speed and Susanna daughter of Thomas Draper, Esq., of London, at its head, and shows the descendants of their son John. Although stating that Speed was born in 1542, and giving other dates which conflict with variant sources, it presents the names of six children. They are shown as: His arms, granted by William Camden , are: "Gules, on
4949-531: The area from the Bronze Age onwards, with the higher pastures being used for summer grazing and the valleys for winter grazing and as arable land, the latter indicated by remaining lynchets . Historically, the crags have been quarried for limestone, and there are also several disused lead mines; the land use is currently a mixture of heather moorland managed for Black Grouse , improved sheep pasture and oak woodland, with conifer plantations dating from
5050-1025: The burden of Mortality, arose from the Body on 28 July 1629, and, being borne aloft in the joyous desire of his Redeemer, he laid down his flesh here in keeping, to be received anew when Christ shall come. ) Susannae suae suavissimae, quae postquam duodecim illi filios, & sex filias pepererat quinquaginta septem annos junctis utriusque solatiis, cum illo vixerat; liberos gravi et frequenti hortamine, ad Dei cultum solicitaverat; Pietatis et Charitatis opere quotidiano praeluxerat, emori demum erudiit suo exemplo. Quae septuagenaria placide in Christo obdormivit, et Fidei suae mercedem habuit, Martii vigesimo octavo, Anno Domini MDCXXVIII. ( Also of his sweetest Susannah, who after she had borne him twelve sons and six daughters, lived jointly in companionship with him for fifty seven years; she encouraged her children in their duty to God by serious and frequent exhortation; she shone brightly in
5151-409: The closest railway stations on the national network. The Dee Valley Picturesque Bus (service 199) operates between April and November, linking Llangollen and the surrounding villages to popular local attractions including Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wenffrwd Nature Reserve, Horseshoe Falls, Valle Crucis Abbey, Plas Newydd house and the Horseshoe Pass. The railway, operating both passenger and goods services,
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#17327906408625252-412: The commendatory verses of the work to Speed, "being very sicke", and wrote that his "...cruell symptomes, and these thirteene yeers assay / For thy deare country, doth thy health & strength decay." (This dates the commencement of the project to about 1598, as Degory Wheare thought. ) But it was as a very renowned person that in 1614 Speed negotiated for the Merchant Taylors the renewal of their lease of
5353-645: The county maps have town plans inset; those showing a Scale of Passes (i.e., Paces , reckoned at five feet imperial) were surveyed by Speed himself. On the back of the maps a text in English appears, describing the areas shown: a rare 1616 edition of the British maps has the text in Latin, in a translation by Philemon Holland , thought to have been produced for the Continental market. His maps of English and Welsh counties were often bordered with costumed figures ranging from nobility to country folk. Speed drew historical maps as well as those depicting present times, showing (for instance) invasions of England and Ireland, or
5454-438: The daily work of piety and charity, and at last gave instruction by her example of how to surrender life. Who as a septuagenarian placidly fell asleep in Christ and received the reward of her faith on 28 March, in the Year of Our Lord 1628. ) Although the monument was damaged by enemy action in 1940–1941, an engraving of 1791 by John Thomas Smith shows how the panels carrying the inscriptions were originally disposed as if forming
5555-412: The death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, brought the Tudor dynasty to a close and inaugurated the House of Stuart monarchy of Great Britain. Speed's historical researches under the patronage of Fulke Greville were stimulated or assisted by William Camden ( Clarenceux King of Arms ), Sir Robert Cotton , Sir Henry Spelman , John Barkham , William Smith ( Rouge Dragon Pursuivant ) and others, who during
5656-411: The differing descents of Jesus Christ from King David as they are recited in the Gospels of St Matthew and St Luke . His continuation and finishing of the Map of Canaan originated by a Puritan scholar, the Norwich minister and chronologer John More (who died in 1592), appeared with the date 1611 in the King James Version . But the version of this map which includes portraits of More and Speed
5757-412: The escarpment have specific names; these include Craig y Forwyn (Maiden's Rock), Craig Arthur (Arthur's Rock), Tair Naid y Gath (the Three Leaps of the Cat) and Craig y Cythraul (Devil's Rock). The Afon Eglwyseg (Eglwyseg River) flows through the valley, joined by a number of tributary streams such as the Nant Elli and Nant Craig y Moch . The head of the valley is known as World's End , and
5858-486: The figure indicates that there was once a corresponding, facing plate representing a wife. The squared edge of the brass plate below the foot possibly rested against another brass plate bearing an inscription. The descriptions by Newcourt, Strype and Granger of Speed's monument agree with the text (including the words "On the other side of him" to introduce the inscription for Susanna) given in Anthony Munday 's 1633 edition of Stow's Survey of London , and all clearly refer to
5959-498: The first editions of the King James Bible. In May 1612 Prince Henry asked the Merchant Taylors for his lease on the Company's house in Fenchurch Street to be renewed for Sir Arthur Ingram , as reward for Ingram's good service as Master of the Customs House - which was granted, "to the prejudice" of their brother John Speed. In the 1611 conclusion of his History Speed wrote of "my disease growne dangerous, and life held in suspence." His friend Alexander Gill contributed one of
6060-401: The first maps in which all the counties are divided into hundreds , and that those which Speed derived from Saxton's maps were mostly so corrected or amended as to supersede any attribution to Saxton. The County descriptions printed on the reverse of the maps were mainly adapted from those of William Camden. Speed's magnum opus is from this point a twin Chorographical and Historical work. In
6161-547: The gardens and "tayntor" grounds (racks for the drying of dyed cloths ) in the prebendary lands at Moorfields, London which the Company held from the Chapter of St. Paul's . In 1615 Speed requested of the Company the renewal and extension of the lease on a garden and tenement, granted by them in 1594 to George Sotherton, which Speed had since held and upon which he had built "a fayer house", but which he had afterwards surrendered to them with nine years of his tenure still outstanding. A new term of 31 years as from Christmas 1614
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#17327906408626262-450: The issue of 1614 and the second, revised and augmented edition (of 1623) the whole work is introduced as being in ten Chapters, of which the first four (the "Chorographicall Part") are the maps, arranged as: The work then proceeds to the "Historicall Part", Books 5-10, arranged as follows: The many coins, seals and other antiquities illustrated in Speed's text were cut by the Swiss wood-engraver Christoph Schweitzer. An important feature of
6363-863: The monument to John Speede at St Giles without Cripplegate. "...the famous Chronologer and Historiographer John Speed, lies buried here, and hath a Monument on the South-side of the Chancel, with this inscription on one side for him, and on the other for his Wife": Piæ Memoriæ Charissimorum Parentum - Johannis Speed, Civis Londinensis Mercatorum Scissorum Fratris, servi fidelissimi Religiarum Majestatum, Eliz., Jacobi & Caroli nunc superstitis: Terrarum nostrarum Geographi accurati, & fidi Antiquitatis Britannicæ Historiographi, Genealogii sacræ elegantissimi delineatoris, qui postquam Annos 77. superaverat, non tam Morbo confectus, quam Mortalitatis taedio lassatus, Corpore se levavit, Julii 28. 1629. & jucundissimo Redemptoris sui desiderio sursum elatus carnem hic in custodiam posuit, denuo cum Christus venerit recepturus. ( To
6464-403: The next clear bend [Grid reference SJ 2409 4295 ] the 'Walk' joins the Offa's Dyke Path and affords magnificent views of the Dee Valley, Castell Dinas Brân and the mountains beyond, and Trevor Rocks (with quarry) which marks the easternmost outcrop of the main Eglwyseg Escarpment. The junction with Dinbren Road [Grid reference SJ 2170 4463 ], which leads to Llangollen town centre, is where
6565-454: The old Vicarage Field at Fronhyfryd and was visited by David Lloyd George , accompanied by Winston Churchill . The annual Llangollen International Eisteddfod is a large international music festival. It starts on a Tuesday and ends on the following Sunday. It opens with a parade led by the Llangollen Silver Band, in which both locals and visitors take part in dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments. The Llangollen Fringe Festival
6666-402: The opened hinged doors of a cabinet. The church's website notes that it was "one of the few memorials that survived the bombing" of this church during the London Blitz of 1940–1941: a modern plaque records that the monument was restored in 1971 by the Merchant Taylors' Company, in which John Speed was a citizen and brother. In 1944 Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell included
6767-401: The pen of his slanderous report, than the credit of the judicious, being only grounded from this papist and his poet, of like conscience for lies, the one ever feigning and the other ever falsifying the truth. The author of The Three Conversions was the Jesuit Robert Persons , and the references to the Lollard martyr Oldcastle are in the third part of the work. Speed is saying that Persons
6868-412: The possibility of errors despite his best endeavours: my purpose... in this Island (besides other things) is to shew the situation of every Citie and Shire-town only... The Shires divisions into Lathes, Hundreds, Wapentakes and Cantreds, according to their ratable and accustomed manner, I have separated, and under the same title that the record beareth, in their due places distinguished: wherein by help of
6969-567: The prominent Lower Carboniferous Limestone escarpment , the Eglwyseg Rocks, ( Welsh : Creigiau Eglwyseg , 52°59′53″N 3°09′50″W / 52.998°N 3.164°W / 52.998; -3.164 ( Creigiau Eglwyseg ) ), which runs north–south for around 4.5 miles (7.2 km). The high point of the area is at 513 metres (1,683 ft) on Mynydd Eglwyseg (Eglwyseg Mountain, 53°00′32″N 3°08′50″W / 53.0089°N 3.1471°W / 53.0089; -3.1471 ( Eglwyseg Mountain ) ). Various parts of
7070-414: The reign of King Henry I . In the 1860s the present bridge was extended by adding an extra arch (to cross the new railway) and a two-storey stone tower with a castellated parapet. This became a café before being demolished in the 1930s to improve traffic flow. The bridge was also widened in 1873 and again in 1968, using masonry which blended in with the older structure. It is a Grade I listed structure and
7171-446: The royal genealogies in the 1623 edition of the History . John Speed's fame today rests, in popular estimation, upon his work as map-maker, but this should not be held separate from his important contributions as a historian, chronologer, and scriptural genealogist. Many of his publications reached their definitive form in 1611. The succession of King James VI of Scotland to the crown of England and Wales , and to that of Ireland, upon
7272-649: The same John Speed who married Elizabeth Cheynye at Christchurch, Newgate Street in the City of London in January 1555/56. From this it is inferred that Speed's birth-mother died during his infancy. By his own account, Speed followed in his father's mercantile business in London , and in 1580 he obtained the freedom of the Merchant Taylors' Company by patrimony. He had married Susanna (born c. 1557/58), daughter of Thomas Draper of London, in 1571 or 1572, and began to raise
7373-445: The same period Speed greatly enlarged his work on the sacred chronologies and genealogies, as A Clowde of Witnesses (1616, 2nd 1620): and after re-issue in various forms, his History and Theatre were newly presented as a Second, revised Edition, in 1623. In his last years, Speed was working on further revisions and adaptations of his atlas in other formats, and on the materials for his world atlas, which took shape as his Prospect of
7474-618: The same period. The standard available edition of Bede 's Historia Ecclesiastica (a primary text for the early medieval history of England) was in volume III of the Hervagius (Johannes Herwagen) 1563 Opera Bedae Venerabilis . Speed naturally drew extensively on the work of his predecessors, including Christopher Saxton and John Norden as cartographers, William Camden as chorographer ( Britannia 1586), and upon Stow and other late chroniclers, in so vast an undertaking (for which Speed considered his own powers quite insufficient), while at
7575-416: The same time revising, improving, verifying and subjecting to scholarly scrutiny all that he could, and where possible obtaining new expert contributions. Some letters survive from Speed to Sir Robert Cotton , written in the years before publication, asking for assistance in gathering necessary materials. Speed acknowledged gratefully that Sir Robert's cabinets were unlocked and his library set open, to supply
7676-489: The scriptures" (wrote John Lightfoot ), "and by his directions grown very Skilfull in them". Owing to the censure of puritan doctrines, Broughton recruited John Speed to see the work through the press, and from this collaboration arose the abstract of sacred genealogies first issued in Speed's name in 1592. In around 1595 the two men brought out an index to that work. To that period belongs Speed's first Map of Canaan (after Montanus ) in four sheets. In October 1610 Speed
7777-509: The second half of the twentieth century. In 2000 an insect infestation meant that the entire moorland was sprayed to kill off the insects. This was successful and soon after sheep were allowed to graze in the moorland. The ancient township of Eglwysegl (also spelt "Eglwysegle" or "Egloysegle", and the root of the modern name Eglwyseg) occupied part of the area. Some antiquaries, such as Edward Lhuyd and Thomas Pennant , speculated that it may have taken its name from Eliseg (Elisedd ap Gwylog),
7878-477: The shire maps of Christopher Saxton , John Norden and others, being the first to incorporate the hundred-boundaries into them, and he was the surveyor and originator of many of the town or city plans inset within them. His work helped to define early modern concepts of British national identity. His Biblical genealogies were also formally associated with the first edition of the King James Bible . He
7979-628: The supposed founder of Britain , drawn from Geoffrey of Monmouth 's History of the Kings of Britain and repeated by Stow, and instead touches upon the Trojan theory in his discussion of the Name of Britain . Coming into the Saxon narrative, marginal references identify the sources of information from Gildas ( De Excidio Britanniae ), Bede, Widukind of Corvey and many others, presenting an erudite voice and
8080-1315: The tables annexed, any Citie, Towne, Borough, Hamlet, or Place of Note may readily be found, and whereby safely may be affirmed, that there is not any one Kingdome in the World so exactly described, as is this our Island of Great Britaine... In shewing these things, I have chiefly sought to give satisfaction to all, without offence to any... The maps, in two-folio spreads, represented: Fol. 1, The British Isles; 3, England (General); 5, The Saxon Heptarchy; 7, Kent ; 9, Sussex ; 11, Surrey ; 13, Hampshire ; 15, Isle of Wight ; 17, Dorset ; 19, Devon ; 21 [73], Cornwall ; 23, Somerset ; 25, Wiltshire ; 27, Berkshire ; 29, Middlesex ; 31, Essex ; 33, Suffolk ; 35, Norfolk ; 37, Cambridgeshire ; 39, Hertfordshire ; 41, Bedfordshire ; 43, Buckinghamshire ; 45, Oxfordshire ; 47, Gloucestershire ; 49, Herefordshire ; 51, Worcestershire ; 53, Warwickshire ; 55, Northamptonshire ; 57, Huntingdon ; 59, Rutland ; 61, Leicestershire ; 63, Lincolnshire ; 65, Nottinghamshire ; [67], Derbyshire ; 69, Staffordshire ; 71, Shropshire ; 73 [21], Cheshire ; 75, Lancashire ; 77, Yorkshire ; 79, West Riding ; 81, North and East Ridings ; 83, Durham-Bishopric ; 85, Westmorland ; 87, Cumberland ; 89, Northumberland ; [91], Isle of Man ; 93, Islands ( Holy Island ,
8181-438: The task before." In the first edition of his History of Great Britaine (1611), following the "Proem", the historical text begins as page 155 of the whole work, to which the maps of that edition are counted as occupying the preceding page-numbers, and presented separately as The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain . "This collection makes a noble apparatus to his history", observed Richard Gough , who noted that these were
8282-610: The top of the valley, at Craig y Forwyn (near World's End) there was a lead and silver mine which operated in the mid 19th century. Also near the head of the valley, but on the Western side, was the Pant Glas slate quarry. After several years prospecting in the valley by John Jones and George Evans a body of slate was discovered there in 1883. With the backing of a Mr George Roper of London the Pant Glas Slate and Slab Company
8383-531: The town and the International Eisteddfod field and pavilion. Thermals rising up the valley sides to the south of the town are used for paragliding . Mountain bikers enjoy the hills. Llangollen was the starting point of the first massed-start cycle race held on British roads, on 7 June 1942. John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer , chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins. The son of
8484-528: The wall monument and inscriptions depicted by Smith and now remaining in restored form. If, however, the attribution of this brass to a tomb monument for John Speed is correct, it may enlarge the view of the original appearance of Speed's monument as it stood on the south side of the chancel of St Giles. The brass is on display in the Burrell Collection. William Shakespeare had near connections with St Giles, Cripplegate parish, of which John Speed
8585-570: The work of others" rather than making an entirely new survey. He took various existing maps as his models, crediting five to Christopher Saxton , five to John Horden, two to William Smith, one to Philip Symonson (Kent) and others to John Harrington (Rutland), William White, Thomas Durham, James Burrell, and Geradus Mercator . Much of the engraving was done in Amsterdam at the workshop of the Flemish engraver Jodocus Hondius , to whom Speed's project
8686-461: Was a parishioner. In his account of the reign of King Henry V , John Speed mentions that the character of Sir John Oldcastle , a Lollard martyr in Henry V's time, was falsely represented in the theatres as a stock buffoon and rogue. He wrote, The author of The Three Conversions hath made Oldcastle a ruffian, a robber and a rebel, and his authority, taken from the stage players , is more befitting
8787-535: Was approved. Speed then purchased an adjacent garden and plot of taynter to enlarge his own grounds, and in 1618 (after inspection by the Master and Wardens) obtained the Company's permission to annex it and to enclose it with a wall, together with another new lease. As the lease of the premises was later renewed to his heirs, it appears that this house and grounds remained John Speed's residence until his death. During
8888-582: Was divided into three traeanau ( traean being the Welsh for "a third"): Llangollen Traean, Trefor Traean, and Glyn Traean. Valle Crucis Abbey [Grid Ref: SJ 20441 44168] was established at Llantysilio in about 1201, under the patronage of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor of Castell Dinas Brân. The bridge at Llangollen was built across the Dee in the 16th century to replace a previous bridge built in about 1345 by John Trevor , of Trevor Hall (later Bishop of St Asaph ), which replaced an even earlier bridge built in
8989-561: Was engraved after the Great Fire of London (1666), in which the original plates were destroyed (according to a text within the later map). In 1616 Speed developed the genealogies into a longer work, A Cloud of Witnesses confirming the Humanity of Christ Ihesus , with lengthy textual explanations, in twelve chapters, for the descents shown in his diagrams or family trees. The first issue was printed by John Beale for Daniel Speed: (Daniel
9090-595: Was extended from Ruabon , via Acrefair and Trevor, to reach Llangollen by 1865. The Ruabon to Barmouth Line became part of the Great Western Railway . However under the Beeching Axe of 1964, the line closed to passengers in early 1965, and to freight in April 1969. The line was lifted in May 1969. However, a 10-mile stretch of the line between Llangollen and Corwen has been restored and operates as
9191-409: Was formed in 1883. An incline was built that year, and there were plans to build a tramway to carry the slate to Llangollen (much like the nearby Oernant Tramway ), but this was never built. There was a tragedy in 1886 when three men were killed in the quarry by the sudden collapse of 1000 tons of overhanging rock. The Pant Glas slate company was put into voluntary liquidation in 1892, the same year that
9292-558: Was granted a royal patent by King James to publish his genealogical work. In 1611, as The Genealogies recorded in the Sacred Scriptures according to euery family and tribe with the line of Our Sauior Jesus Christ obserued from Adam to the Blessed Virgin Mary , it was incorporated into the first edition of the King James Bible . For many years, this work (which had its own title-page) was bound into all copies of
9393-559: Was later the home of John Jones Maesygarnedd , a prominent Republican in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , and one of the regicides of Charles I . Offa's Dyke Path passes through the area, and Eglwyseg is also popular with rock climbers , with around 800 routes, both sport and traditional . The 'Panorama Walk' starts at the westernmost junction of Blackwood Road (Garth Mountain) [Grid reference SJ 2481 4310 ], accessed from
9494-494: Was presumably the stationer who had licence to marry Matilda Garrett in February 1617/18). Beale printed a second edition in 1620, with a dedication to George Abbot , Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633, and a third appeared in 1628 printed by Felix Kyngston for Edward Blackmore, Speed's son-in-law. Speed's distinctive style of genealogical diagram, with the names contained in circular bubbles linked in chains, later appeared in
9595-419: Was recommended by Camden, and with whom Speed collaborated from 1606 until Hondius's sudden death in 1612. The maps were printed by William Hall and John Beale, and sold by John Sudbury and George Humble. Speed is admired also for his detailed plans of principal British towns, several of which are the earliest-known depictions of those places and provide valuable topographical insights. Most, but not all, of
9696-436: Was said to stand on the site of a hunting lodge belonging to Owain ap Cadwgan , a prince of Powys: a story related that it was the place to which Owain took Nest ferch Rhys , when he abducted her and her children from Gerald de Windsor , her husband, in 1109. There was also a local tradition that a Prince Llewelyn had once hidden in a cave in the rocks near Plas Uchaf (there were several Welsh princes of this name). Plas Uchaf
9797-773: Was soon afterwards erected on the south side of the chancel of the church. See Monument and epitaph below. In 1969, the first residential block to be completed on the Barbican Estate in London was named Speed House. All the Barbican's residential buildings are named after famous people with a connection to the locale. The Puritan clergyman scholar Hugh Broughton developed his study of Old Testament chronology and concordance in his work A Concent of Scripture in editions of 1588/89 and 1590, with illustrations said to be engraved by Jodocus Hondius . John Speed, "by acquaintance with Mr. Broughton, [had] grown very studious in
9898-422: Was stuffed with too narrow an occupation" (as Thomas Fuller has it), thereafter made him an allowance to enable him to devote his whole attention to research: [His] merits to me-ward I do acknowledge, in setting this hand free from the daily employments of a manual trade, and giving it his liberty thus to express the inclination of my mind, himself being the procurer of my present estate. In around 1590 Speed
9999-451: Was the first world atlas produced by an Englishman. The principal sheets included the continents of 3, Asia, 5, Affrica, 7, Europe, 9, America; with the following domains, 11, Greece; 13, The Romane Empire; 15, Germanie; 17, Bohemia; 19, France; 21, Belgia; 23, Spaine; 25, Italia; 27, Hungarie; 29, Denmarke; 31, Poland; 33, Persia; 35, Turkish Empire; 37, Kingdom of China; 39, Tartarie; 41, Sommer Islands (Bermudas). With it were also included
10100-470: Was undertaken with the encouragement of William Camden . The entire work, including the History , was dedicated to King James I as the ruler in whom the distinct Kingdoms of the British Isles had been brought together under one rule in such a way as to form an Empire . In the Introduction to his "well affected and favourable reader", Speed acknowledged that he had "copied, adapted and compiled
10201-486: Was working with the Puritan scholar Hugh Broughton , and developing their work on the genealogies of Jesus Christ. By 1595 he published a map of biblical Canaan , and in 1598 he presented his maps to Queen Elizabeth . As a reward for these efforts, Elizabeth granted Speed the position of a Waiter (a customs officer): Mr Fulke Greville has just brought me word of Her Majesty's pleasure that I should write you that there
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