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Gazetteers - LLanedwen

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Samuel Lewis, 1833

LLANEDWEN (LLAN-EDWEN), a parish in. the hundred of MENAI, county of ANGLESEY, NORTH WALES, 5 miles (N. E. by N.) from Carnarvon, containing 294 inhabitants. This parish has been said to derive its name from the dedication of its church to King Edwin, by whose daughter or niece it was founded, in the year 640 ; but Dr. Owen Pughe, in his " Cambrian Biography," says that Edwen was a female saint of Saxon descent, and seems to consider her the tutelar saint of this church. It is situated on the western shore of the Menai strait, and, with the adjoining parishes of Llanidan and Llandeiniol, anciently formed a district which was the principal seat of the Druidical priest-hood, and in which the arch-druid is supposed to have had for ages his chief residence. There are still within the district, and particularly within this parish, considerable remains of those deeply shaded groves so well adapted to the performance of the sanguinary rites of the Druidical religion, which obtained for this island the ancient appellation of Ynys Dywell, or "the Shady Island; ". and amid them are numerous remains of Druidical temples, altars, circles, and cromlechs. Porthamel, or Porth-Aml, the only ferry between the Menai bridge and Carnarvon, is celebrated as the place where Suetonius Paulinus, in the reign of the Emperor Nero, crossed the strait for the invasion of Mona, in which attempt he was opposed by the Druids, who, having assembled an army of men and women arranged in all the mystic terrors of their idolatrous superstition, and brandishing lighted torches, drew up on the western shore to oppose their progress. But after spreading a momentary panic through the Roman ranks, they were quickly repulsed by the rallying troops, and many of them consigned. to perish in their own sacrificial fires. The sacred groves in which their rites were solemnized were cut down, and the reign of Druidism, which had for ages been established in this isle, as its principal seat, was finally destroyed. At a short distance from this place is a field still called Maes Mawr Gad, or "the plain of the great army," supposed to have been occupied by the Roman forces under Julius Agricola, in his successful expedition to regain possession of the island, which Suetonius, by a general revolt of the British states in his rear; that necessarily caused him to withdraw his forces, had been compelled to relinquish. Opposite to Moel y Don, or "the hill of the wave," in this parish, the English suffered a signal defeat in the reign of Edward I. Having landed in the island, in 1282, under the command of Luke de Tany, a Gascon, after reducing to obedience such of the inhabitants as had not previously sworn allegiance to that monarch, they constructed a bridge of boats across the strait, near the spot where Agricola had landed, in order to effect an entrance into the country on the opposite shore. The Welsh, having hastily thrown up an intrenchment, to defend the pass into the mountains, placed themselves in ambush, and quietly awaited the result. De Tany, having, with a detachment of his troops, rashly ventured at low water to pass the bridge before it was completed, his retreat was intercepted by the return of the tide; and the Welsh at this moment rushing from their ambuscade, and impetuously assaulting his detachment, killed the greater number, and drove the rest into the strait: of this force; which consisted of more than two hundred soldiers,: seventeen gentlemen, and thirteen knights, one only escaped, whose horse swam with him to the bridge.

The parish, which is small, though generally destitute of wood, of which it is difficult to raise any plantations of considerable extent, is nevertheless in some parts richly ornamented with timber of ancient growth : these instances, however, are not common, and are probably the remains of the ancient groves which escaped destruction by the Romans. The shores of the Menai are rocky and precipitous ; the scenery is bold, striking, and in some places beautifully picturesque ; and in the parish and its immediate vicinity are several gentlemen's seats, some of which display elegant specimens both of ancient and modern architecture. Plas Newydd, the seat of the Marquis of Anglesey, is a splendid mansion of modern erection, built upon the site of an ancient house, which once belonged to the celebrated Gwenllian, a descendant of Cadrod Hardd, and is beautifully situated in a portion of the ancient Druidical groves, on ground rising gently from the margin of the Menai. The building consists of a semicircular centre and two semi-octagonal wings : the facade is relieved by octagonal turrets on each side of the centre, and the respective wings, rising from the base above the parapet; which is embattled ; and the entire edifice, as seen from the water, to which it is open in front, forms a conspicuous and interesting object. It contains a noble suite of apartments, a handsome library, and a beautiful chapel : the latter is lighted on each side by a fine range of pointed windows, enriched with tracery of elegant design, and embellished with stained glass : the roof is delicately and elaborately groined, and the altar, which has a receding canopy, is beautifully enriched with tabernacle-work. The whole of this elegant mansion is built of Mona marble from the quarries of Moelvre, near Red Wharf bay, and displays, both in its design and execution, a high degree of taste and judicious arrangement. The grounds are extensive and pleasingly laid out : in front of the house is a spacious lawn, sloping to the margin of the strait, from the waves of which it is protected by a strong parapet wall, on which is a noble terrace; while each side, and the rising ground behind, are sheltered by groves of venerable oak and ash of luxuriant growth. Plas Coch, another seat in this parish, the property and residence of Sir William Bulkeley Hughes, was originally built by Hugh Hughes, attorney-general in the reign of Elizabeth : it is a noble antique mansion, presenting a fine specimen of the architecture of that age; and over the entrance are the arms of the family of Hughes, with the date 1569. The soil of this parish is fertile, and the land for the most part is enclosed and cultivated. Limestone of excellent quality is found in great abundance within its limits, and some very extensive quarries are worked, affording employment to a considerable number of the inhabitants : great quantities of this limestone, both for building and for the purpose of manure, are raised from these quarries, which extend along the shore of the Menai, and shipped to Liverpool and other places, in numerous vessels. Through the park of Plas Newydd runs a bed of granite, in a state of decomposition, and so soft that it crumbles upon the slightest touch.

The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Llanidan, in the archdeaconry of Anglesey, and diocese of Bangor. The church is a small but neat edifice of great antiquity ; and the churchyard is one of the most beautiful in North Wales, and remarkable as containing the remains of the Rev. Henry Rowland, the eminent antiquary. A parochial school, in which forty-five girls receive gratuitous instruction, was founded by the Marchioness of Anglesey, by whom it is principally supported. Bishop Rowland, in 1616, bequeathed £6 per annum, charged on his estate at Plas Gwyn ; Lady Bailey bequeathed a small annual sum, derived from the estate of Plas Newydd; Mr. Bagnal bequeathed a small rent-charge ; and Mrs. Rowland, in 1740, gave £ 100 in money, the three former of which, together with the produce of the latter, are annually distributed among the poor during the winter. The estate of Llysllew, in this parish, now producing £200 per annum, was given by Bishop Rowland, as an endowment to the free grammar school which he had founded at Bottwnog. Within the limits of the park of Plas Newydd is one of the largest cromlechs in the island, supported on five upright stones, which have been stated by some writers to be six feet in height, but at present do not rise more than two feet above the ground : the tabular stone is about twelve feet in length, about the same in breadth, and four feet in thickness. Adjoining this is a smaller cromlech ; and at no great distance, in the woods, is a large carnedd, which was opened a few years ago, and found to contain a vault, seven feet in length and four in breadth, but, after a diligent search, no other relics were discovered. Near Maes Mawr Gad, in making a fence in the year 1829, several Roman coins, fibulae, buckles, and other vestiges of Roman antiquity were discovered ; and near Porthamel is a large mount, supposed by Mr. Rowland to mark the scene of Suetonius' sanguinary victory. Plas Gwyn, in this parish, was the birthplace and residence of the Rev. Henry Rowland, the learned author of the Mona Antiqua, Restaurata : that elaborate and interesting production was composed by the author at this his patrimonial estate, and the old oak chair in which he sat while writing it is still preserved in the house : he died here, and was buried in the churchyard, in 1725, as appears by the Latin inscription on his tomb, though his biographers state his death to have occurred in the year 1723, in which his work first appeared. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £ 162.7. ( A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis, 1833)

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