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Llanfihangel Glyn y Myfyr - Gazetteers

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

A Topographical Dictionary of Wales Samuel Lewis, 1833

LLANVIHANGEL-GLYN-Y-MYVYR (LLAN-VIHANGEL - GLYN - MYVYR), a parish partly in the hundred of EDEYRNION, county of MERIONETH, and partly in the hundred of ISALED, county of DENBIGH, NORTH WALES, 10 miles (N. W. by W.) from Corwen, containing 452 inhabitants. The general aspect of this parish, which comprises about two thousand four hundred computed acres, is extremely rugged and hilly, the greater part being old enclosures, and the rest unenclosed mountain land. The King is lord of the manor of the Denbighshire part, in right of his lordship of Denbigh, and John Wynne, Esq., of Garthmeilio, claims a small manor in the Merionethshire division. The village, consisting of only four houses, is situated on the small river Alwen, a rapid stream issuing from Llyn Alwen, in the mountains, about five miles to the north-west of the village, and forming, for the greater part of its course here, the north-eastern boundary of the parish : this stream, which abounds with excellent trout, is subject to frequent floods ; in 1781 it overflowed its banks, and rose within the church, which is not more than seven or eight yards from its margin, to the height of eight or nine feet, the remembrance of which event is preserved by a mark painted on the wall. The village, through which the road from Ruthin to Pentre Voelas passes, and the church, with about one-sixth part of the parish, are in the county of Merioneth. The surface of the parish is mountainous ; and the soil in some parts is a loamy clay, mixed with stone and gravel, and in others chiefly bog and peat. There are some fine meadows on the banks of the Alwen, affording excellent pasturage to divers herds of the black cattle peculiar to this part of the principality, which are kept chiefly for the dairy ; and the mountain lands, which are. covered with fine heath, are depastured by numerous flocks of sheep of the small Welsh breed : with the exception of a very few acres of wheat and barley, oats are the only species of grain sown. A fair is held on February 16th. The living is a discharged rectory, subject to the payment of tithes, locally in the archdeaconry, and in the diocese, of St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £6. 12., and in the patronage of the Bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture. There are places, of worship for Calvinistic Methodists. On the bank of the Alwen, in the upper part of the parish, are the remains of a very ancient circular fortification, called Caer-ddynod, or the " conspicuous or distinguished fort," occupying a considerable eminence; and nearly opposite to Cerrig y Druidion, which is within three miles of the parish, are the ruins of another, called Pen y Gaer. Owen Jones, author of the "Myvyrian Archaeology of Wales," was born at Tyddyn Tydyr, in Glyn Myvyr, in this parish ; and in compliment to the place of his nativity the epithet Myvyrian was prefixed to the title of that voluminous work, from Glyn y Myvyr, which in the Welsh language signifies "the valley of meditation." This elaborate compilation, though only embracing the period from 1300 to the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign, extends to upwards of sixty quarto volumes of considerable bulk. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £ 175. 18.

 

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