Henllan lies around two and a quarter miles north-west of Denbigh, its name — from the Old Welsh hen-llan — meaning 'old church-enclosure' or 'old parish'. The present church, dedicated to St Sadwrn, was largely rebuilt in 1806 on a site with origins going back to at least the late 13th century; older fragments survive in the north doorway, now the vestry entrance, and in a small piscina and tracery window.
Henllan's real curiosity is its bell tower, which stands entirely detached from the church itself, built on an outcrop of rock at the highest point of the churchyard. The separation is thought to have been deliberate, positioning the tower to let its bells carry as far as possible across the surrounding parish — a practical solution that has left the village with one of the more unusual church layouts in North Wales.
Historical visitors found Henllan a quiet spot even by the standards of the day: the 17th-century Welsh antiquarian Edward Lhuyd counted around a dozen houses clustered by the church and another eighteen scattered nearby, a modest community whose descendants' cottages still cluster around the same hillside today.
Henllan is a small, quietly picturesque village in the Vale of Clwyd, its name meaning 'old church' in Welsh, and its hillside setting above the River Clwyd gives it fine views back towards Denbigh. The village's steeply stepped churchyard and detached bell tower — separated from the church itself by the road, an unusual arrangement in Wales — are notable features for visitors exploring the area's smaller settlements.
Henllan was also linked to the wider region by the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway in the 19th century, part of the dense network of rural branch lines that once served the Vale of Clwyd's farming communities, though like most of them it has long since closed.