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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

National Gazetteer, 1868

"BERRIEW, (or Aber-rhiw), a parish chiefly in the hundred of Newtown, but partly also in the hundreds of Cawrse and Pool, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, 3 miles to the N.W. of Montgomery. Shrewsbury is its post town. It is situated on the banks of the river Rhiw, at its confluence with the Severn, and contains the townships of Allt, Brincamisir, Brithdir, Ffrydd, Garthmill, Keel, Keelcochwyn, Llandinir, Llivior, Penthryn, Trwstywelin, and Vaynor Issa, and Ucha. The Rhiw is crossed by an aqueduct of four arches, along which is carried the Montgomery canal. The manufacture of flannel is carried on by some of the inhabitants, but not to any considerable extent.

The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of St. Asaph, of the value of £356, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, a modern edifice, is dedicated to St. Beuno. The Independents, and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists have chapels here. There is a free school, originally founded by Humphrey Jones in 1652, which has an income from endowment of about £90 per annum. The parish has the benefit of several other charitable bequests, which produce about £35 a year. The principal seat is Vaynor Park, pleasantly situated on high ground, and well wooded. Other residences are Glan Severn and Bôd Heilin. Fine landscapes, river, valley, villages, woods, and mountains lie within view from the high grounds in this parish. There are remains of two ancient encampments, and other ancient works. Petty sessions are held at the village once a month.

"ALLT, a township in the parish of Berriew, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, 3 miles to the N.W. of Montgomery. The name signifies "a hill"."

"BRINCAMISIR, a township in the parish of Berriew, hundred of Newtown, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, 3 miles from Montgomery."

"BRITHDIR, a township in the parish of Berriew, hundreds of Newtown and Pool, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, 4 miles to the N.W. of Montgomery."

"FFRYDD, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

"GARTHMILL, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, North Wales, 3 miles N.W. of Montgomery. It is situated on the river Severn."

"ISSA and UCHA VAYNOR, townships in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery, on a branch of the river Severn. VE. See Vie Skerries, Shetland Islands.

"KEEL, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

"KEELCOCHWEN, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

"LLANDINIR, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

"LLIVIOR, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, and 3 miles E. of the town of Montgomery."

"PENTHRYN, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

"TRWSTYWELIN, a township in the parish of Berriew, county Montgomery, 4 miles N.W. of Montgomery."

[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 by Samuel Lewis, 1833

BERRIEW (ABER-IW), a parish partly in the hundred of CAWRSE, liberties of the borough of WELSHPOOL, but chiefly in the lower division of the hundred of NEWTOWN, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 5 miles (S. S. W.) from Welshpool, containing 2429 inhabitants. This place derives its name from being situated at the junction of the river Rhiw with the Severn, from which point the village is distant about three quarters of a mile, on the banks of the Rhiw, on the road between Welshpool and Newtown. The parish is very large, and wholly enclosed; the waste lands, amounting to about fifteen thousand acres, in the manor of Cedewain, having been allotted pursuant to an act obtained in 1796. Flannel is manufactured to a limited extent.
The Montgomeryshire canal passes through the parish, and is carried over the Rhiw, near the village, by an aqueduct of four arches.

The high grounds, especially the Byrwydd, about three miles north-west of the village, command very extensive and richly diversified prospects of the fertile vales of Severn, Montgomery, Salop, and Manavon, watered by their respective streams, and studded with numerous villages and mansions, and of the principal mountains in North Wales, Salop, &c. The village presents a cheerful and pleasing appearance, containing several good houses and neat white-washed cottages. The ancient mansion of Vaenor occupies an elevated situation in a park tolerably well wooded : it formerly belonged to the family of Price, an heiress of which being married to George Devereux, Esq., in the seventeenth century, it became the property of the Viscounts Hereford, but is now in the possession of Mrs.Winder, relict of the late John Winder, Esq. There are also several other genteel residences in the parish, among which are, Glan Severn, the property of W. Owen, Esq., a handsome stone edifice, situated among grounds beautifully laid out, through which the river Severn pursues a winding course ; and Bod Heilin, the seat of John Humphreys, Esq., occupying a romantic situation on the slope, and near the summit, of a hill, which is well wooded, and commands a delightful view of the vales of Severn and Montgomery. The petty sessions for the lower division of the hundred are held at Berriew on the first Saturday in every month.

The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £ 13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The church, dedicated to St. Beuno, is a neat modern structure with a square tower, surmounted with pinnacles. There are places of worship for Independents and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists.

Humphrey Jones, Esq., of Garthmael, by will dated February 26th, 1652, devised to trustees the rectory of Bettws, and certain lands and tenements, called Cwm Madoc Ucheldre, in the parish of Tregynon, which he held as a security for the sum of £400 advanced on mortgage, for the foundation and endowment of a free school at Berriew, but, in the event of the mortgage being redeemed, the testator directed that the sum should be invested in the mortgage of other premises, for that purpose. This having taken place, the sum of £400 was, in 1754, together with £ 50 belonging to the poor, expended in the purchase of an estate, called Penarth, in the parish of Llanvair, now producing about £70 per annum to the charity. The old school-house, being in a dilapidated state, was pulled down in 1819, and a neat and substantial structure was erected at an expense of £ 1400, defrayed partly from the funds of the charity, which had accumulated during a suspension of the school, and partly by subscription : at present about forty boys are instructed. Various minor bequests have also been made for the benefit of the poor, to be applied in the distribution of bread and clothes, and in apprenticing children. This is one of the parishes incorporated, by an act passed in the 32nd of George III., for the maintenance of their poor in a house of industry erected at Forden.

In the township of Allt, between the road leading to Welshpool and the canal, there is a tumulus; and on the top of Cevn yr Allt are the remains of a British encampment : there is also an encampment near the road from Berriew to Castle Caer-Einion, in the township of Frith. Maen Beuno, a stone pillar bearing the name of the patron saint of the church, is still standing in the township of Berriew, between the road to Welshpool and the river Severn. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £ 996. 13.

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