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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

National Gazetteer, 1868

"LLANFAIR-CAEREINION, a parish and small market town in the hundred of Mathrafel, county Montgomery, 10 miles N.W. of Montgomery, and 8 from Welshpool, its post town. The parish which is watered by the three rivers Banwy, Einion, and Vyrnwy, includes 12 townships, the principal of which are Llanlodian, Penarth, Pentyrch, and Rhewhirieth. The town contains a townhall. Petty sessions are held here, and it is a polling place for the country elections. Flannel-weaving is carried on. The streams abound with fish. Some of the people are very dexterous in spearing them. This is the centre of the excise district for Mid Wales. The parish derives the suffix to its name from the Castell Caer Einion, about 3 miles to the E. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of St. Asaph, value £358, in the patronage of the bishop. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. It contains the effigy of a knight. The charities amount to about £6 per annum. The Dissenting bodies have five chapels here. Coins and numerous Roman remains were found here about the middle of last century. Wednesday is market day. Fairs are held on Shrove Tuesday, Saturday before the 18th May, 26th July, 3rd October, 1st November, and the Friday previous to Christmas Day, for cattle, &c."

"BRYNELEN, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, hundred of Mathrafel, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, not far from Llanfair."

"BRYNGLAS, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, hundred of Mathrafel, in the county of Montgomery, North Wales, 1 mile from Llanfair."

"DOLGEAD, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, in the county of Montgomery."

"GELLIGASSON, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, county Montgomery, North Wales, in the vicinity of the town of Llanfair."

"GWAENYNOG, a township in the parish of Llanfair Caereinion, county Montgomery, 2 miles from Llanfair."

"HENIARTH, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, county Montgomery, 2 miles from Llanfair."

"ISAF and UCHAF LLANLODIAN, townships in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, county Montgomery, in the vicinity of the tower of Llanfair.

"KYLYRUCK, a township in the parish of Llanfair Caereinion, county Montgomery, 3 miles from Llanfair."

"PENARTH, a township in the parish of Llanfair Caereinion, county Montgomery, 3 miles from Llanfair."

"PENTYRCH, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, hundred of Mathrafel, county Montgomery, 10 miles N.W. of Montgomery. It is situated under Caer Einion British camp, near the Sarn Sws Roman way."

"RHEWHIRIETH, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, hundred of Mathrafel, county Montgomery, 2 miles from Llanfair, and 9 N.W. of Montgomery. It is situated in a hilly district under Caer-Einion British camp, and near the Roman road Sarn Sws."

"RHOSAFLO, a township in the parish of Llanfair-Caereinion, county Montgomery, 2 miles from Llanfair."

[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

LLANVAIR, or LLANVAIRCAER-EINION (LLANVAIR-CAER-EINION), a market town and parish, in the lower division of the hundred of MATHRAVAL, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 8 miles (W.) from Welshpool, 16 (N. W.) from Montgomery, and 183 1/2 (N. W. by W.) from London, containing 2687 inhabitants. The name of this place is derived from the dedication of its church to St. Mary, and its distinguishing adjunct from an ancient encampment said to have been constructed, in the latter part of the fourth century, by Einion Yrth, tenth son of Cunedda Wledig, King of Cumbria. The town is pleasantly situated on the declivity of an eminence rising from the south bank of the small river Banwy, which falls into the Vyrnwy, and on the turnpike road leading from Welshpool to Machynlleth and Dolgelley. It consists principally of two streets, intersecting each other nearly at right angles, and is neatly built and of prepossessing appearance. The manufacture of flannel is carried on to a moderate extent : the market, which is abundantly supplied with corn and provisions of all kinds, is on Saturday; and fairs are held annually on Shrove Tuesday, Saturday before Palm Sunday, May 18th, July 26th, October 3rd, November 1st, and on the Friday before Christmas-day, for horses, cattle, sheep, and wares. The town is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, and the petty sessions for the lower division of the hundred of Mathraval are occasionally held here. The town-hall is a plain, but neat and commodious, building, and the large room over it is appropriated to the use of a school. Llanvair has been made, by the late Reform Act, one of the polling-places in the election of a knight for the shire. The parish extends seven miles in length and six in breadth, and comprises a large tract of arable and pasture land : all the remaining wastes were enclosed under an act of parliament obtained in the year 1810, for the division and enclosure of the waste lands of this parish, and those of Llangyniew and Castle Caer Einion, including all in the manor of Caer Einion is Coed ; and considerable portions have been brought under cultivation in this parish, of the entire surface of which, prior to that time, not more than two-thirds had been enclosed. The ground is boldly undulated, rising in some parts into lofty eminences ; and the entire district is pleasingly diversified, combining also many features of picturesque beauty, and numerous objects of interest to the antiquary.

The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £ 10, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, containing some old monuments, among which is one, under a window on the southern side, bearing the effigy of a knight in armour, well executed in stone. There are five places of worship for Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, four for Independents, two for Wesleyan Methodists, and one for Baptists. A school for the gratuitous instruction of children, held in the room over the town-hall, is partly supported by a rent-charge of £2 on the farm of Derwddeg, in the hamlet of Rhiw Hiriaeth, given by William, Mary, and Elizabeth Edwards, for the instruction of ten poor children, and partly by subscription ; and there are Sunday schools in connexion with the established church and the several dissenting congregations. Evan James, of Gelligason, in this parish, bequeathed, in 1687, the sum of £50, directing the interest to be appropriated to the apprenticing of poor children of that hamlet and of the hamlet of Penarth ; and there are some other trifling benefactions to the poor. The Roman road from Caer-Sws to Mediolanum, Banchorium, and Deva, passed through the hamlets of Penarth and Rhiw Hiriaeth, and traces of it may still be discerned near Ystrad, about two miles south of the town. In a field near the river Banwy, a Roman urn was dug up, in 1740, containing a great number of copper coins of several Roman emperors the urn was broken, but many of the coins are at present in the possession of Mrs. Jenkins, of Crosswood. On the summit of the hill above Rhiw Hiriaeth House are the remains of an ancient encampment, said to be the fortress constructed by Einion, from which the parish derives the distinguishing adjunct to its name. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to £ 1173. 18.

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