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Rome’s legionnaires quarried its sandstone cliffs
and Ptolemy put the Dee on the map.
William the Conqueror, in winter,
force-marched his army over the Pennines
to reach the river and waste the town – the last
to submit. For eighteen years, Prince Gryfyd
ap Cynan, shut in the keep, heard only
the river’s voice, dyfrdwy, dyfrdwy.
Parliament’s forces sent fire rafts downstream
to purge besieged citizens. On its banks,
KEEPING THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING
'CROSSING THE BROOK': J.M.W. TURNER
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OCCASIONAL JUBILEE