Riding in Penegoes:
 Carreg Dressage
       Penegoes
       Machynlleth
       Powys
       SY20 8NW
 01650 511222

Penegoes, or Penegwest - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
PENEGOES, or PENEGWEST, a parish, in the union and hundred of Machynlleth, county of Montgomery, North Wales, 1½ mile (E.) from Machynlleth; containing 772 inhabitants. This parish is said to derive its name from one of the petty sovereigns of Wales, named Egwest, who was beheaded near the church. It is situated in a very mountainous district in the western part of the county, and is intersected by the river Dovey, which flows within little more than half a mile of the church, and by the turnpike-road from Welshpool to Machynlleth, which passes through the village. The area of the parish is 8085 acres, whereof 3962 are common or waste. The mountains afford pasturage to numerous flocks of sheep, and in the lower grounds the soil is favourable for the growth of corn. The manufacture of flannel is carried on, giving employment to a portion of the inhabitants; and in the mountains of Dylivau and Esgair-Galed lead-ore is found, of a good quality. The scenery, though rather dreary, is of a bold and striking character; and the adjacent country, though not greatly diversified, is still in some points interesting and romantic.

The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £7. 19. 7.; patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £250, and there is a glebe of eighteen acres, valued at £36 per annum; also a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Cadvarch, is an ancient edifice, in the early style of English architecture; a considerable portion of it is overspread with ivy, which in some parts has found its way into the interior. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, and Calvinistic Methodists; a Church day school, almost wholly supported by the parents of the children; and five Sunday schools, one of them in connexion with the Established Church, two with the Independents, and one each with the Baptists and the Calvinistic body. In a field near the church is a spring whose waters are esteemed efficacious in rheumatic complaints. It was formerly covered over by a building, part of the walls of which still remain: the well has been formed into a bath, about seven yards in length and three in breadth, divided in the middle by steps leading down into each part; the average depth is about four feet. Dôl Guog, an ancient residence in the parish, is said to have been the resort of the celebrated Llywarch Hên, who retired to this place in order to soothe with his harp the griefs occasioned by the misfortunes with which the Saxon invaders had overwhelmed his country and his family. Richard Wilson, the landscape painter, was born in the parish, in the year 1714, his father being then rector here; and Mrs. Hughes, sister of Mrs. Hemans, distinguished for her musical skill, and for having set to music some of the compositions of the poetess, was wife to the late incumbent.