Bonvilston, otherwise Bolston - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849) BONVILSTON, otherwise BOLSTON, a parish, in the union of Cardiff, hundred of Dinas Powys, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 4 miles (E.) from Cowbridge, on the road to Cardiff; containing 282 inhabitants. This parish is bounded on the north by the parish of Pendoylan, on the south by Llancarvan, on the east by St. Lythan's, and on the west by St. Nicholas'. It comprises 1119 acres, of which 372 are arable, 677 pasture, and 70 woodland, consisting chiefly of oak and ash; the soil is clayey in some parts, in others gravelly, and the produce is wheat and barley. Limestone of good quality abounds. The alternations of arable, pasture, and woodland confer upon the scenery a pleasing and picturesque appearance, and the numerous good residences in the parish contribute in no small deg to the general effect. The village is ornamented with several neat cottages, and has a prepossessing appearance of cheerfulness and gentility: the mansion of the ancient family of Basset, which is situated here, has been lately rebuilt.
The living is a perpetual curacy, rated in the king's books at £6. 9. 2., and endowed with £200 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £500 parliamentary grant; net income, £83; patron and impropriator, Richard Basset, Esq.: the great tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £80, and those payable to the perpetual curate for one of £54. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a neat and appropriate structure, built about the time of the Conquest; it is twenty-six yards in length, and seven in breadth, and contains 200 sittings. Here is a school of about fifty or sixty children, supported by subscription, under the patronage of Sir George Tyler, lord of the manor; the salary of the mistress is £25, exclusively of about £9 in school-fees, and a house and garden rent-free. A Sunday school is held in the same room. Grace Aubrey in 1678 bequeathed £100, Mrs. Loughor in 1731 £50, and Mr. David John in 1776 £10, for the use of the poor, making together the sum of £160; to which £3 per annum have been subsequently added, arising out of two deed polls, purchased with ten years' arrears of Grace Aubrey's donation, as stated in an inscription on a tablet in the church. The interest of Grace Aubrey's benefaction is secured by an investment of £200 in the 3 per cent. consols. by the representatives of Sir John Aubrey, Bart., in 1816; and the two other sums have been invested at 5 per cent. by deed polls on the tolls of the Cardiff turnpike district. There is said to have been formerly a castle here, the site of which is still pointed out, but no account of its foundation, nor any particulars of its history, have been recorded.
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