Rhuddlan in historic gazetteers

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

Rhuddlan.-- (or Rhyddlan), parl. bor. and par., Flintshire, on river Clwyd, 3 miles N W. of St Asaph and 7½ NW. of Denbigh by rail - par. (containing Rhyl), 4730 ac., pop. 7426; bor. (extending into St Asaph par.), 3272 ac., pop. 1242; P.O., T.O. Rhuddlan was anciently a place of importance, and has the ruins of a castle of great strength said to date from the beginning of the llth century, the remains of an old religious establishment, and a fragment of the building where Edward I. held his Parliament in 1283. Between the town and the sea, 3 miles distant, is Rhuddlan Marsh, where the Welsh, under Caradoc, were defeated in 795 by the Saxons, under Offa king of Mercia. The river is navigable by small vessels up to Rhuddlan, where it is crossed by a 2-arch bridge, built or improved in 1595. It is one of the Flint District of Parliamentary Boroughs, which returns 1 member.