Corwen, market town and par. with ry. sta., NE. Merioneth, on river Dee, at foot of Berwyn mountains, 12 miles NE. of Bala and 203 miles NW. of London, 12,646 ac., pop. 2708; P.O., T.O., 1 Bank. Market-days, Tuesday and Friday; a resort of anglers, the river abounding with salmon, trout, and grayling. An old stone pillar in the churchyard is called the Sword of Glendower. To a citadel of the Druids, near Corwen, Caractacus retreated after his defeat at Caer Caradoc.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))