Broncastellan (Bron-Castellan)
BRONCASTELLAN (BRON-CASTELLAN), a township, in the parish of LlanbadarnVawr, union of Aberystwith, upper division of
the hundred of Geneu'r Glyn, county of Cardigan, South Wales, 4 miles (E.) from Aberystwith; containing 147 inhabitants. This township
occupies a rugged and mountainous district near the
foot of the Plinlimmon mountain, and the road from
Llanidloes to Aberystwith passes through it. It is
separately assessed for the support of its poor.
Bronyn (Bryn-Yn)
BRONYN (BRYN-YN), a parish, in
the union of Newcastle-Emlyn, lower division of
the hundred of Troedyraur, county of Cardigan,
South Wales, 1½ mile (N. N. W.) from NewcastleEmlyn, and on the road from Llanbedr, through Atpar, to Cardigan; containing 377 inhabitants. This
parish, the name of which implies "the White
Mount," is pleasantly situated near the Vale of
Teivy. Abercery, here, is a neat modern villa, beautifully situated, and commanding one of the finest
reaches of the Vale of Teivy, including the straggling
town of Newcastle-Emlyn, with the venerable ruins
of its ancient castle, and much richly-varied scenery.
The parish is inclosed, the land in a good state of
cultivation, and tolerably productive. The living is
a perpetual curacy, annexed, with that of BettwsEvan, to the vicarage of Penbryn. The church is
dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship
for Independents; also a Sunday school, belonging to
the Independents, in which about 150 persons are
gratuitously taught. Near the church is a very
strong intrenchment, called the Gaer, a name common to fortifications of this description, of which
there are many in this part of the principality.
Bronington
BRONINGTON, a township, in the parish of
Hanmer, union of Ellesmere, hundred of Maelor,
county of Flint, North Wales; containing 744
inhabitants. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £284. 3. 7., and the
vicarial for one of £76. 2. 6., with a vicarial glebe of
thirty-five acres, valued at £40 per annum. A Sunday school is kept here by the Calvinistic Methodists.
Bronllŷs, or Brynllys (Brwynllŷs)
BRONLLŶS, or BRYNLLYS (BRWYNLLŶS), a parish, in the union of Hay, hundred of
Talgarth, county of Brecknock, South Wales,
8 miles (N. E.) from Brecknock, on the road to Hay;
containing 338 inhabitants. The parish comprises
by admeasurement 2109 acres, and contains the two
villages of Bronllŷs and Colebrook, the former of
which occupies a pleasant situation at no great distance from the river Llyvni, or Llynvi, and, though
poor and inconsiderable, derives some historical importance from its ancient castle. This fortress, occupying the summit of an artificial mount on the banks
of the Llyvni, appears to have been designed to protect the pass of that river, and to communicate with
the strong post at Dinas, about three miles to the
south. Its origin is involved in impenetrable obscurity. Mr. King, in his "Munimenta Antiqua,"
is of opinion that it was built in the period between
the landing of Julius Cæsar and the reign of the Emperor Claudius, from a Syrian model introduced by
the Phœnicians who traded to Cornwall, in which
county a similar tower is still standing at Launceston. But, although its remains bear evidence of
great antiquity, so remote an origin as this may reasonably be doubted; and Mr. Jones, the author of
the History of Brecknockshire, is decidedly of opinion that it was built by William the Conqueror, at
the period of his expedition into Wales about the
year 1080, and that if it had been of British construction, and in the possession of the British, it
would have shared the fate of the rest of Brecknockshire upon the conquest of that county by Bernard Newmarch, and would have been allotted to
one of his knights, in the midst of whose possessions
it is erected. Others give it a later date, and suppose that from its close resemblance to some of the
early eastern towers, it is not improbable it was built
by the Normans from models which they had seen
abroad when engaged in the crusades. The first
historical notice of it is in the reign of Henry I., by
whom it was granted, together with the castle of Llandovery and the manor of Cantuff-Bychan, to Richard
Fitz-Pons. It afterwards passed into the noble families of de Clifford, Giffard, de Bohun, and Stafford;
and on the attainder of Stafford, the last Duke of
Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII., escheated
to the crown. Towards the latter part of the twelfth
century, it was greatly damaged by an accidental fire;
and Mahel, the grand-nephew of Bernard Newmarch, and lord of Brecknock, who was noted only
for his inhumanity, being at the time on a visit to
Walter de Clifford, met his death by the falling of a
stone upon his head, whilst the fire was raging.
The venerable remains of the castle consist principally of one lofty circular tower, about twenty-five
feet in diameter, of great solidity, and built with
small hewn stones. Although a breach, level with
the ground outside, appears to have been made in
the wall of the tower, the original entrance was at
some distance from the ground, and was probably
approached by a flight of wooden steps. The arches
of the doorway, and of most of the windows of
this ancient building, are each rudely formed of two
inclined stones.
The handsome mansion of Pontywal, in the parish,
the property of Mrs. Clarke, formerly belonged to
the Havards, a Roman Catholic family of some note
in the county; from whom it descended by marriage
to a family of the name of Watkins, of whom it was
purchased, about the year 1750, by Evan Hughes,
Esq., high sheriff of the county in 1754: from this
gentleman it passed to his niece, and it is now entailed upon her grand-daughters after the decease of
Mrs. Clarke. In the old portion of the house are
the remains of what appears to have been a chapel,
and under the more modern parts were all the appearances of a place of burial. In the parish is also
an old family mansion, called Trêvithel, or "Ithel's
House," from Ithel, King of Gwent, as it is said, who
was slain by the men of Brycheiniog, about the
year 846: it is now occupied as a farmhouse. A
substantial bridge, called Pontithel, has been erected
over the river Llyvni, which, after flowing through
the parish, falls into the romantic river Wye near
Glâsbury.
The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the
king's books at £4. 16. 0½.; patrons, the De Winton
family. The appropriate tithes, payable to the incumbent of Crickadarn, have been commuted for a
rent-charge of £118, and the vicarial tithes for one
of £192, with a glebe of six acres, valued at £6 per
annum. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a
small edifice adjoining the village, with a detached
tower at its north-eastern angle, in which are five
bells. There is a table of benefactions in the church,
from which it appears that a moiety of £10 was given
by John Havard, of Tregoed, in 1726, to be invested
for the benefit of the poor, and that the other moiety
was granted to the poor of that part of the parish of
Glâsbury within the county of Brecon. An unknown benefactor also gave £10; and £2. 10. per
annum were left by Mrs. Sybil Williams, of Trêvithel, in 1761. The table further states that the
rectorial tithes of Bronllŷs were charged by the Rev.
D. Williams, of Stapleford, in the county of Hertford, with the payment of forty shillings per annum
for the poor; this sum being reserved when he gave
those tithes to the incumbent of Crickadarn. A
Sunday school was commenced in 1837. In a field
called Croeslechau, on the farm of Bryn-y-groes, in
the parish, is a small cromlech, under part of which
grows a white thorn, which, it is said, has gradually
raised the covering, or horizontal, stone several
inches out of its original position.
Bronyarth
BRONYARTH, a township, consisting of the
upper and lower divisions, in the parish of Guilsfield, hundred of Pool, county of Montgomery,
North Wales, a few miles (N.) from Welshpool;
the population is included in the return for the
parish. This township comprises 3130 acres, of which
600 are common or waste land. The tithes have
been commuted for £334. 10., of which a sum of
£247. 10. is payable to the Dean and Chapter of
Christ-Church, Oxford, £80 to the vicar of Guilsfield, and £7 to the vicar of Meivod.
Broughton
BROUGHTON, a township, in the parish and
union of Wrexham, hundred of Bromfield, county
of Denbigh, North Wales; containing, in 1841,
1449 inhabitants. This township and its vicinity
abound with rich and extensive mines of coal, ironore, &c., and various establishments, on a large scale,
have for a considerable number of years been employed in working them. The Brymbo branch of
the Chester and Shrewsbury railway passes through
Broughton, and has greatly stimulated the working
of the collieries in the township. There is a separate
assessment for the poor, pursuant to an arrangement
made in the parish in 1830. A tithe rent-charge of
£191 is paid to the vicar of Wrexham, and one of
£103. 16. to the impropriators.
Broughton
BROUGHTON, a township, in the parish of
Hawarden, union of Great Boughton, hundred
of Mold, county of Flint, North Wales, 2½ miles
(S. E.) from the town of Hawarden; containing 405
inhabitants. This place appears to have been occupied prior to the Conquest, by one Levenot, a
freeman; and after that period was possessed under
the designation of Brochetune, by Robert de Roelent,
or Rhuddlan, who held it under Hugh Lupus, Earl
of Chester, and who held also a manor here, once
owned by a Saxon named Ulmer. Part of the Warren mountain, in the township, was inclosed pursuant
to an act of parliament obtained in 1798. The Mold
railway, very recently opened, has a station near
Broughton. A chapel of ease to the rectory of
Hawarden, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was erected here in 1824: it has a parsonage-house attached
for the residence of a curate, appointed by the rector.
The township also contains a National school for
boys and girls, and a Sunday school, both supported
by Sir Stephen R. Glynne, Bart., and the rector,
the day scholars, however, paying a small fee per
week in aid of the funds.
Brymbo
BRYMBO, a township, in the parish and union
of Wrexham, hundred of Bromfield, county of
Denbigh, North Wales, 4 miles (N. W. by W.)
from the town of Wrexham; containing, in 1841,
1217 inhabitants. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, by
charter granted in 1410, gave the people of Holt
permission to dig for coal and turf here. There are
now considerable collieries and iron-works in the
township, the principal of which, established by the
late John Wilkinson, Esq., were for some time discontinued, being the subject of a suit in Chancery,
but are now carried on upon a still larger scale, consisting of an extensive colliery, and iron-mines, two
blast furnaces, foundries, &c. The opening of a
branch from the Chester and Shrewsbury railway
has been of much advantage to the township, by
greatly augmenting the sale of its mineral produce.
A church was erected in the year 1841, with the aid,
principally, of Her Majesty's Church Commissioners:
the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the
Vicar of Wrexham, with a net income of £90. The
impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rentcharge of £332 and a sum of £1 is paid to the vicar.
There are several places of worship for dissenters.
A Church school for girls was commenced in 1841,
and one for boys in 1843; but these being held in
mere cottages, and otherwise not meeting the requirements of the neighbourhood, the Chancery
scheme drawn up in 1845 for a new distribution of
certain charities in Wrexham, directed that fourtenths of the income should be applied for the maintenance of a school here. Three-tenths were also
awarded for the support of a similar school in Minera;
and the trustees were empowered to lay out in the
purchase of school sites, and the erection of schoolhouses and master's and mistress's residences, any
sum not exceeding £800; the same to be built in
suitable places in Brymbo and Minera townships.
Sunday schools are supported in different parts of
the townships. That remarkable monument of Saxon
industry, Clawdd Offa, or Offa's Dyke, passes in the
vicinity of Brymbo Hall, near which it has been
levelled for the formation of roads, tramways, &c.,
in connexion with the iron-works: in removing a
portion of it, a great quantity of the bones of horses,
in a state of excellent preservation, and horse-shoes
of rude workmanship, were found.
Bryn-Caredig
BRYN-CAREDIG, with Maesmaencymro, a
hamlet, in that part of the parish of Llanynys
which is in the hundred of Ruthin, in the union of
Ruthin, county of Denbigh, North Wales, 2
miles (N. W.) from Ruthin: the population is returned with the parish. In the years 1813 and 1814,
a portion of land in the vicinity of this place was
planted by W. M. Thackeray, Esq., M. D., and the
trees are now in a flourishing state.
Bryncroes (Bryn-Croes)
BRYNCROES (BRYN-CROES), a parish, in
the union of Pwllheli, partly in the hundred of
Gaflogion, but principally in that of Commitmaen,
Lleyn division of the county of Carnarvon, North
Wales, 11 miles (W. by S.) from Pwllheli; containing 948 inhabitants. The village is pleasantly
situated on the river Sochan: the parish, which is
entirely agricultural, contains about 3000 acres of
land, the whole of it inclosed. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with a rent-charge of £12
private benefaction, with £600 royal bounty, and
£1000 parliamentary grant; net income, £107;
patron and impropriator, C. G. Wynne, Esq., whose
tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of
£181. 10. 6. The church is a small edifice in good
repair, and is appropriately fitted up for the accommodation of the parishioners. There are places of
worship for Calvinistic Methodists, Independents,
and Wesleyans, with a Sunday school held in each
of them. In 1784, Robert Evans bequeathed £80
for teaching a Welsh school for this parish and those
of Aberdaron, Llanvaelrhŷs, and Rhiw, which being
subsequently augmented by subscriptions in each
parish, a small house, premises, and above six acres
of land, were purchased in the parish of Llaniestyn,
now yielding about £9 per annum. Of this rent,
half is now given to a schoolmaster at Aberdaron,
for instructing children of that parish and Llanvaelrhŷs, and half to a schoolmaster at Bryncroes, for
this parish and Rhiw; the former plan of holding a
school in each of the four parishes for a year, in rotation, having been discontinued. The master here
also receives £3. 13. 6. per annum, being half the
rent of a tenement and fourteen acres of land devised
by Griffith Hughes, in 1818, for purposes of education in the parishes of Bryncroes and Llangwnadl.
In consideration of these two payments, he teaches
all the poor children of Bryncroes and Rhiw who
apply for admission, his only other advantages being
a house and garden, and about £2 a year arising
from a quarterage of 2s. paid by a few of the scholars.
One or two small bequests are appropriated to the
relief of the poor; and the rent of a piece of land,
amounting to 15s. a year, is applied to the repairs of
the church. An ancient chapel, called Tŷ-Vair, or
"St. Mary's Chapel," formerly stood near the church;
in the vicinity of which, also, are Fynnon-Vair, "St.
Mary's Well," and Cae-Vair, "St. Mary's Field."
A kist-vaen, or stone coffin, in which was an urn
containing burnt bones and ashes, was discovered
some years since, on the grounds of Tŷ-Mawr, in
the parish; and near a house called Monachtŷ was
formerly a cromlech.
Bryn-Eglwys
BRYN-EGLWYS, a parish, in the union of
Corwen, hundred of Yale, county of Denbigh,
North Wales, 5 miles (N. W.) from Llangollen;
containing 449 inhabitants. This parish is situated
among mountains of various elevation, and is characterised by boldness of scenery. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £800 royal bounty; net income £90, with
a glebe-house; patron and impropriator, Sir Watkin
Williams Wynn, Bart. The church is a small edifice,
having no claim to architectural notice. There are
places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan
Methodists. Here is a day school of thirty or forty
children, of whom some are paid for by their parents,
but the greater part are taught free in consideration
of an endowment of £12. 10. per annum. This
endowment includes a rent-charge of £6, bequeathed
by Mrs. Margaret Lloyd in 1714, and payable out
of the estate of Tŷ-'n-y-Wern; also £3. 10., the rent
of an allotment of about three acres from the common attached to the rent-charge. Three Sunday
schools are kept in the parish. In 1811, Watkin
Thelwall made a gift of £25 for the benefit of the
poor, the interest of which, 20s., is added to the
sacrament-money at Christmas, and distributed in
small sums to the old and infirm poor. An unknown
donor left £20, which, in 1784, was applied to parish
purposes, but the interest with arrears is paid out of
the rates, and also divided. Near Plàs-yn-Iâl, in
the mountainous part of the parish, is a copious
spring, possessing precisely the same properties as
the water of Holywell, and producing the mosses
Jungermannia Asplenioides, and Conferva Gelatinosa,
the fragrance of which is more powerful than that of
the mosses of St. Winifred's well.
Bryn-Gwyn
BRYN-GWYN, a parish, in the union of Hay,
hundred of Painscastle, county of Radnor, South
Wales, 5 miles (N. N. W.) from Hay; containing
281 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the small
river Garrow, or Arrow, and on the road leading
from Painscastle to the town of Kington. It is
bounded on the north by the parish of Glascomb, on
the south by Painscastle, on the north-east by Newchurch, on the east by Clyro, and on the west by the
chapelry of Rulen; and comprises by computation
about 4000 acres, consisting chiefly of pasture, with
some tracts of fertile and productive land in a state
of tillage. The surface is hilly and mountainous,
with very little wood, and the soil of a loamy nature,
producing several kinds of crops, of which oats is by
far the most considerable. There is a large portion of
common, part of which is a turbary, called Rhôs Gôch,
producing very excellent peat, which is dug to the
depth of fifteen feet from the surface. Beneath the
peat are strata of blue clay and of clay of a yellow
hue, the latter earth abounding with sea-shells, which
crumble on the slightest touch: the layer is about
two feet in depth, and appears to be incumbent on
water, which rises up through the fissures occasionally made with the spade, and soon fills the whole
cavity. The living is a rectory, rated in the king's
books at £11. 6. 8.; present net income, £294;
patron, the Bishop of St. David's. The church,
dedicated to St. Michael, consists of a nave and
chancel, but is not distinguished by any architectural
features deserving of notice. Richard Jones in 1706,
and an unknown benefactor, gave each a portion of
land, directing the rental, now £9. 2., to be periodically distributed among the poor.
Bryn-Uchel
BRYN-UCHEL, with Tavolog, a hamlet, in
the parish of Cemmes, union and hundred of Machynlleth, county of Montgomery, in North
Wales; containing 420 inhabitants.
Bryn-Y-Beirdd
BRYN-Y-BEIRDD, a hamlet, in that part of
the parish of Llandilo-Vawr which is in the hundred of Iscennen, in the union of Llandilo-Vawr,
county of Carmarthen, South Wales, 4 miles
(S. E. by S.) from Llandilo-Vawr; containing 386 inhabitants. A farmhouse in this hamlet, called Cwrt
Bryn-y-Beirdd, is supposed to have been the collegiate residence of the bards attached to the royal
palace and castle of Carreg-Cennen: it contains some
curious ancient masonry, and a few beautiful architectural relics in the pointed style. Within a short
distance is the source of the river Loughor, which
rises in a full stream out of a rock; and contiguous
thereto is a natural cavern of considerable extent,
which has not yet been fully explored: in some parts
it is so narrow as scarcely to admit the passage of a
single person, and in others it expands into capacious
recesses, exhibiting a variety of curious and beautiful
petrifactions.
Buckley
BUCKLEY, in the parish of Hawarden, Flintshire, North Wales.—See Coed-Eulo.