Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
1059
Building Number
Grade
II
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
24/10/1950
Date of Amendment
20/07/2000
Name of Property
Dr Johnson's Monument
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Denbighshire
Community
Denbigh
Town
Locality
Gwaenynog
Easting
303093
Northing
364895
Street Side
Location
Located on the N bank of the river Ystrad in fields approximately 0.5km S of Gwaenynog; accessed via a footpath which approaches from the E.
Description
Broad Class
Commemorative
Period
History
Dr Johnson's monument was erected c1775 by Colonel John Myddleton of Gwaenanog to commemorate a visit made to the house by Samuel Johnson in the company of Mrs Thrale in 1774. Johnson was unimpressed by his erstwhile host's sycophancy and is said to have remarked 'it looks like an intention to bury me alive!' The monument was restored in 1975.
Exterior
Classical commemorative monument set within a railed enclosure some 2.2m square. The monument is of sandstone (with some evidence of formerly having been painted to imitate marble), and consists of a tall Grecian urn set on a square pedestal, reaching an overall height of approximately 3m. The pedestal has inset white marble plaques on 2 sides, one inscribed "Samuel Johnson LLD/obiit XIII die Decembris/Anno domini MDCCLXXXIV/astatis LXXV", and the other "This spot was often dignified by the presence of Samuel Johnson LLD, whose moral writings exactly conformable to the precepts of Christianity give ardour to virtue and confidence to truth."
Interior
Reason for designation
Listed for its special interest as a 1770s monument associated with Dr Johnson, the famous moralist and man of letters, and erected in his lifetime.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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