With some research dating the earliest church in Llandegla to around 1277, the area is much woven into the history of North Wales being known for its cattle markets, as a stop-over point for drovers on their way further afield and as a trading centre.
The village of Llandegla was once much smaller than the one we see today and was very separate from the area know as Pen Y Stryt. With property near the church and in its immediate surroundings being anything up to 250 years old this was clearly the main centre of the village with its mill, pub, school and smithy. The Hand Inn, now Hand House, was once one of up to sixteen pubs in the village which were catering for the needs of the drovers. Cattle were bought and sold at a market near to the Crown Hotel and the drovers would use the Dolydd field to over night their beasts. 
Much of the oldest existing parts of the village were once in the ownership of Bodidris Estate and cottages were usually occupied by estate workers.