Llangollen stands on the Dee, close to Vale Crucis Abbey and the Castle of Dinas Bran. Since 1778 it had been the home of Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby, the celebrated Ladies of Llangollen. Their cottage, Plas Newydd, was much visited. Ibbetson depicts women spinning and winding wool in front of the church of St Collen, a typical scene of rural life in a town of which Thomas Pennant wrote 'I know of no place in North Wales where the refined lover of picturesque scenes, the sentimental, or the romantic tourist can give in to a fuller indulgence.'