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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)]"LLANSAINTFRAED-IN-ELVEL, a parish in the hundred of Colwyn, county Radnor, 4 miles N.E. of Builth, its post town, and 8 S.W. of New Radnor. It is watered by the river Edw, which runs into the Wye at Aberedwy. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. David's, value £171, in the patronage of the bishop. The church is dedicated to St. Fread or St. Bride. The charities produce about £2 per annum, besides the right of participating in Powell's charity at Brecon, for the apprenticing of poor children. Here are some remains of Colwyn Castle, a seat of the Mortimers."

    [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

    LLANSANTFRAID IN ELVEL (LLAN-SANTFRAID YN ELVAEL), a parish in the hundred of COLWYN, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (N. E. by E.) from Builth, containing 343 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from the dedication of its church, is pleasantly situated on the turnpike road from Builth, through New Radnor, to Kington in the county of Hereford, and is surrounded by mountains of various elevation, interspersed with fertile tracts of land and denuded eminences. The surface is boldly undulating, and the hills present a singular, and in some instances a fantastic, variety of form and aspect. The lands, with the exception of the more hilly parts, are enclosed and in good cultivation : the soil in the lower grounds is of a clayey nature, but not unproductive; and the acclivities of the hills afford pasturage for sheep. The surrounding scenery, though in some parts pleasingly varied, is distinguished rather by features of wildness than of beauty. Within less than a mile of the church is a neat house, the residence of Hugh Vaughan, Esq., pleasantly situated, and forming a pleasing object in the scenery of the place. Colwyn, in this vicinity, has recently been made a polling-place in the election of a knight for the shire. This parish constitutes a prebend in the collegiate church of Brecknock, valued in the king's books at £ 1. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. David's. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £5. 14. 9 1/2., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. David's. The church, dedicated to St. Fread, or St. Bride, is a small ancient edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel, with a tower at the west end, the upper part of which, having fallen, has been replaced by a slanting roof : the church-yard, which contains some fine old yew trees, has a very picturesque appearance, and commands a fine view of the surrounding mountains. A Sunday school is supported under the superintendence of the vicar of the parish and a few of the principal inhabitants, for the gratuitous instruction of poor children. An estate called Forest Colwyn, which is partly in this parish, and partly in that of Caregrina, adjoining, forms part of the endowment of the Boughrood charity, bequeathed by the Rev. Rees Powel, for the apprenticing of poor children and other charitable uses. There are but slight vestiges of Colwyn castle, erected here in 1242, by Ralph Mortimer, on the site of an ancient encampment supposed to have been of British origin, for the protection of his newly acquired lordship of Maelienydd, from which fortress the circumjacent hundred derived its name : they consist chiefly of the ancient lines of defence, and of a mound now covered with underwood and fir trees. A barrow near the site of this fortress, on being opened a few years ago, was found to contain a rude urn with burnt bones, &c. Near a stream in this parish, called Cam-nant-Rhos, which is tributary to the river Edw, is a mineral spring, of which the water is strongly impregnated with sulphur. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £169.5.

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