Llanllwchaiarn

Llanllwchaiarn (Llan-Llwch-Aiarn) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
LLANLLWCHAIARN (LLAN-LLWCH-AIARN), a parish, partly in the newly-created borough, and wholly in the Upper division of the hundred, of Newtown, in the union of Newtown and Llanidloes, county of Montgomery, North Wales, 1 mile (N. E.) from Newtown; containing 3616 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the bank of the river Severn; and bounded on the north by the parish of Bettws, on the west by Aberhavesp, and on the east, south, and south-west by Newtown. It comprises, according to computation, about 4400 acres, of which two-thirds are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture, with a very small portion of woodland. The surface is hilly, the scenery for the most part picturesque; and the lands are all inclosed, and in a good state of cultivation. An act was obtained, in the 36th of George III., for improving the waste lands within the manors of Cedowain, Hopton, and Over Gorddwr, under the provisions of which about 900 acres were allotted to this parish, in 1804, and inclosed.

The manufacture of flannel is carried on to a great extent, affording employment to about 720 persons, of whom 606 are engaged in the principal factory, 66 at Milford, and the rest at Beyander mill. About 300 houses were erected not long since, in the course of a few years, in those parts of the parish called Peny-Gloddva, Frankwell, and the Basin, which are connected with the town of Newtown by a bridge of three arches, over the river Severn, completed in the year 1827, at an expense of £4000, defrayed by the county. The Montgomeryshire canal was extended, in 1819, from Garthmill to this parish, in which it terminates, near Newtown; and the basin, with some wharfs, lime-kilns, and other works connected with that line of navigation, is within its limits. The road from Newtown to Welshpool, and that from Newtown to Machynlleth, afford facilities of communication. The townships of Gwestydd and Hêndidley, in the parish, are comprised within the boundaries of the contributory borough of Newtown.

The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £7. 7. 6., and endowed with the great tithes of two of the four townships, with £100 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph; impropriators of the remainder of the rectorial tithes, D. Pugh, Esq., and the Saunders family. The tithes have been commuted for £470, of which a sum of £220 is payable to the impropriators, and £250 to the vicar, who has also a glebe of thirty-three acres, and a house, together valued at £120 per annum. The church, dedicated to St. Llwchaiarn, who flourished at the commencement of the seventh century, was erected on the site of the ancient structure, in the year 1816, at an expense of £1200, and is a neat edifice of brick, with a tower of the same material, surmounted with pinnacles; the interior measures sixty-four feet by twentyfour, and there are 370 sittings. Here are one or two places of worship for dissenters; a British school, a small dame-school, and some Sunday schools. Mr. Thomas Austin gave a rent-charge of £1; Mrs. Richard Mytton, the sum of £40; and Mr. John Hughes, £20: the produce of all which is annually distributed in money or coal to the poor, except that of the last gift, which has not been paid for some years, owing to the insolvency of an attorney at Newtown, in whose hands it was placed. To the south of the turnpike-road from Newtown to Welshpool are vestiges of a Roman road, which anciently communicated with Caer-Sws, and the Gaer near Montgomery.