A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 103 



more in 1399.* I am unable to fay 

 whether any of this building is yet left, 

 not having known, when I was here, of 

 any religious houfe that had been foun- 

 ded at Denbigh. 



With refpe6l to the town, Leland-j- 

 fays that there had been many ftreets 

 within the walls, but that in his time 

 thefe were nearly all deftroyed, and that 

 the number of houfeholders then fcarce- 

 ly exceeded eighty. Whether this de- 

 cay arofe from a diflike taken by the 

 inhabitants to it's fteep fituation, which 

 rendered carriage inconvenient, or from 

 the want of water, it is not known. It 

 was however gradually abandoned in 

 fuch a manner, that at length the old 

 town became quite deferted, and one 

 much more convenient arofe at the bot- 

 tom of the rock. The walls appear, like 

 the caftle,to have been of great ftrength ; 

 they had only two gates, the one called 



* Tanner's Noticia Monaftica. + Itin. V. 56. 



the 



