Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd

 B&B's/Guesthouses in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd:
 Eyarth Station (Guest House)
       Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd
       Ruthin
       Denbighshire
       LL15 2EE
 01824 703643
 [email protected]
 http://www.eyarthstation.com/

 Schools/Colleges in Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd:
 Ysgol Reoledig Llanfair D.C. (Primary)
       Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd
       Ruthin
       Denbighshire
       LL15 2RU
 01824 703169

Llanvair-Dyfryn-Clwyd (Llan-Fair-Dyffryn-Clwyd) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
LLANVAIR-DYFRYN-CLWYD (LLAN-FAIR-DYFFRYN-CLWYD), a parish, in the union and hundred of Ruthin, county of Denbigh, North Wales, 2 miles (S.) from Ruthin, on the road to Wrexham and Llangollen; containing 1254 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the banks of the river Clwyd, at the upper extremity of the spacious vale to which that stream gives name; and abounds with interesting and beautifully varied scenery. It comprises an area of 7000 acres, of which 2000 are common or waste land. Here were formerly numerous ancient mansions, occupied by opulent and highly respectable families; and upon one occasion the grand jury for the great sessions of the county of Denbigh consisted entirely of persons chosen from, and resident in, the parish. But by far the larger number of the mansions have been deserted by their owners, and converted into farmhouses; those which are still occupied by their proprietors are Eyarth, Brynfynnon, and Plàs-Newydd. The substratum of the parish is limestone, of which great quantities are procured for building, and also for burning into lime: the quarries and limekilns afford employment to a considerable portion of the population. Courts leet and baron, with view of frankpledge, are held at Easter by the Bishop of Bangor, who is lord of the manor, for a portion of the parish: another small portion is within the borough of Ruthin.

Llanvair until lately formed a prebend in the cathedral church of Bangor, rated in the king's books at £29. 16. 8., and in the gift of the Bishop. The living is a vicarage, rated at £13. 3. 4., endowed with a third of the whole tithes, and in the patronage of the Bishop: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £870, of which a sum of £580 was payable to the prebendary, and a sum of £290 is payable to the vicar, who has a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious and handsome structure, in the later style of English architecture. The internal decoration is rich, and in the east window are some fine specimens of ancient stained glass, with the date MCCCCIII., at which time it is supposed the church was built. There are some elegant monuments, among them an altar-tomb of great antiquity, surmounted with a richly-carved canopy of foliage, in the centre of which is a shield bearing the figure of a griffin, and round the border the inscription Hic jacet David filius Madoc, requiescat in pace, in Saxon capitals. It the hamlet of Eyarth is Jesus' Chapel, a small edifice, founded in 1619 by Mr. Rice Williams, verger of Westminster Abbey, a native of this hamlet, who endowed it with an annual stipend for the minister "to read evening prayers in the chapel, and to teach school therein;" it was consecrated in 1623, and was conveyed by deed to trustees, in 1626, by the founder. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed originally with a rent-charge, which has been augmented with £1000 royal bounty; net income, £60; patron, Richard Parry, Esq., and two churchwardens. There are places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, and Baptists. Two day schools are held in the parish; one of them, in connexion with the Established Church, assembling in the chapel above mentioned; and the other, connected with no particular body, meeting in a Calvinistic place of worship. The master of the former, who acts as deputy or master for the curate of Jesus' chapel, and is required to perform the duties of chapel-clerk, is supported by an endowment of £18. 13. 4. per annum, and by subscriptions: the other school is almost wholly maintained by the parents of the children. Five Sunday schools are supported.

In 1713, Mr. William Foulke conveyed six fields or parcels of land, containing about thirteen acres, to the vicar and churchwardens of Llanvair, in trust for the poor; and directed that the rent derived from the tenements should be appropriated to the "relief and maintenance of the most weak, impotent, aged, sickly, indigent, and naked folks of the parish, who should be incapable of either working for their livelihood, or of walking abroad to beg for their living." The property is in the parish of Llanverras, and now produces a rental of £20 per annum. In 1756, some benefactions that had been previously made to the poor, amounting to £105, were laid out in the purchase of an estate comprising upwards of twenty-five acres of land, with a house and premises, and then yielding £6 per annum: under the Llanarmon inclosure act, nearly fifteen acres were allotted in right of this property, and the whole is now let, to one tenant, at £21. 10. per year. Among other bequests and donations to the parish, the interest of £100 was left in 1812, by Mrs. Catherine Wynne, and the interest on a like sum, in 1822, by Mr. John Jones of Chester; besides which, the sum of £207. 14., the amount of the consolidated charities of the parish, has been invested in the Wrexham and Denbigh turnpike trust, and in the Ruthin and Mold trust. The income from these several sources is £64. 17. 6. per annum, which is distributed to the poor conformably with the intentions of the donors, on Good Friday and St. Thomas's day.

On the summit of Craig-yr-Adwywynt are some ancient intrenchments, extending in the form of a crescent, terminating at each extremity in an abrupt precipice: the area of this camp, which is called Y Caerau, "the fortifications," comprises about seven acres, and is defended by huge masses of unhewn stone, rudely put together without cement. Symwnt Vychan, an eminent bard of the sixteenth century, resided at Tŷ-Brith, in the parish.