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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

  • National Gazetteer, 1868
  • Lewis 1833

    National Gazetteer, 1868

    [Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]"LLANDEWY YSTRADENNY, a parish in the hundreds of Cefnllys and Knighton, county Radnor, 11 miles S.W. of Rhayader, its post town, and 15 from Pen-y-bout. It is situated in a valley watered by the river Ithon. From various points are obtained views of mountain scenery. The parish includes the townships of Llanfihangel-Rhydithon, Mystyrrhoesllowdy, and Church. The road here crosses the Ithon by a stone bridge. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of St. David's, value with that of Llanfihangel-Rhydithon, £112, in the patronage of the Chancellor of Brecon. The church is dedicated to St. David. The charities amount to £2 per annum. Here are ruins of a Norman castle called Castell Cymaron, which anciently belonged to the Mortimers, earls of Chester, and on an eminence nearly opposite to it are British earthworks called the Gaer."

    "CHURCH, a township in the parish of Llandewy Ystradenny, in the county of Radnor, 9 miles W. of Rhayader."

    "MYSTYRRHOES-LLOWDY, a township in the parish of Llandewy-Ystradenny, county Radnor, 8 miles N.W. of Radnor."

    [Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
    Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

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    A Topographical Dictionary of Wales Samuel Lewis, 1833

    LLANDEWI - YSTRADENNY (LLAN-DDEWI-YSTRADENAU), a parish partly in the hundred of KEVENLLEECE, and partly in that of KNIGHTON, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (N.) from Pen y Bont, containing 653 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from the dedication of its church, and its position in a winding vale, is situated on the river Ithon, and intersected by the turnpike road leading from Builth, in Brecknockshire, to Newtown, in the county of Montgomery. It comprehends an extensive tract of land, of which by far the greater portion is enclosed and cultivated : the surface is boldly undulated, but the soil is in general productive. The scenery among the hills is extremely magnificent, and the view from that on which the parsonage-house stands is strikingly grand and beautifully picturesque. From this point the distant mountains are seen in three or four distinct ranges, varying in elevation and differing in aspect, finely grouped in almost every variety of form, and so numerous, that it is impossible with any degree of correctness to allocate them to their respective counties. The village comprises only a few houses, occupying a pleasant situation : the inhabitants obtain their letters from a receiving-house at Pen y Bont. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and diocese of St. David's, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Prebendary of Llanbister in the Collegiate Church of Brecknock, although Lord Kensington has of late presented, as lessee of the great tithes under the prebendary. The church, dedicated to St. David, has been lately rebuilt : it is a small but neat edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel, the latter of which has a handsome east window of good design : the churchyard is surrounded by some ash trees of majestic growth and very imposing appearance. The produce of some small charitable donations is annually given to the poor. On the summit of one of the mountains within the parish, impending over the Vale of Ithon, are the remains of a strong intrenchment, called the Gaer, supposed to have been one of the fortified posts alternately occupied, in the twelfth century, by Cadwallon and Mortimer, during the continued and arduous conflicts which took place between them. It is elliptical in form, being inaccessible on the side towards the vale, and on every other side defended by two parallel intrenchments. On the opposite hill is an extensive tumulus of earth, surrounded by a moat, called Bedd Ygre, "the grave of Ygre," supposed to have been raised in memory of some ancient British chieftain who fell near the spot and was interred there. About two miles from this place formerly stood an ancient fortification, called Castell Cymaron, occupying the summit of an eminence, and supposed to have been originally built by the Anglo-Normans, to protect the territories of which they had violently possessed themselves in this part of the principality, and soon afterwards destroyed by the Welsh, in their continued efforts to repel their aggressions and recover possession of their territories. It was subsequently rebuilt by Hugh Earl of Chester, who, in 1142, obtained possession of the whole of the district of Maelienydd, in which it was included, and was constantly an object of contention between the Anglo-Normans and the Welsh, in the frequent conflicts which arose from the repeated efforts of the former to extend their encroachments, and of the latter to repel them. This castle at length fell into the hands of the Mortimers, about the year 1360, and remained for ages in the possession of their descendants. Its site, and the moat by which it was surrounded, may still be distinctly traced; but of the building itself not the slightest vestige is discernible. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £316. 9.

    MEISTYRRHOSE LOWRY

    MEISTYRRHOSE LOWRY (MAESDRE-RHOS-LOYWDDU), a township in that part of the parish of LLANDEWI-YSTRADENNY which is in the hundred of KEVENLLEECE, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, 1 mile (N. E.) from Penybont, containing 336 inhabitants. It occupies the lower part of the parish, where the Cymmaron stream falls into the river Ithon, which is here crossed by a bridge. The name denotes the fenny nature of the ground, a large common, much reduced by cultivation, having formerly existed here near the junction of those rivers.

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