TST: Gazetteers - Llanfaes, Anglesey

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

National Gazetteer, 1868
Lewis 1833
National Gazetteer (1868)
"LLANFAES, a parish in the hundred of Tyndaethwy, and borough of Beaumaris, county Anglesey, 1 mile N. of Beaumaris, its post town, and 5 miles S.W. of Bangor, is situated on the coast of Beaumaris Bay. A conflict between the Saxons, under Egbert, and the Welsh, took place here, when the latter were defeated. Llewellyn founded a friary of the Franciscan order about the 13th century, which suffered greatly during the wars of Owain Glyndwr, and afterwards came to the Whyte and Brownlow families, by whom the monuments have been removed to Beaumaris, Penmynydd, Llandegai, and Llanbeblig.
The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Bangor, value with that of Penmon annexed, £180. The church, dedicated to St. Catherine, is a modern structure, with a broach spire, rebuilt in 1845, on the site of one built in the 14th century. It contains monuments of the Whyte family. The charities consist of Lady Bulkeley's bequest, producing about £38 per annum. A stone coffin, that for about 200 years had been used as a horse-trough, was discovered to have been that of the Princess Joan, and is now preserved. The fort of Castell aber Llienawg has been in military occupation on two occasions, the last being in 1645. On the wooded heights above the village is Henllys, the seat of Captain Lewis Hampton, where the bedstead of Owen Tudor is still preserved. Near the shore is Tre'rcastell, a modern structure, incorporated with an old mansion of the time of Edward I., formerly a seat of the Tudors."
[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]
A Topographical Dictionary of Wales
Samuel Lewis, 1833
LLANVAES, a parish in the hundred of TYNDAETHWY, county of ANGLESEY, NORTH WALES, 1 mile (N. N. E.) from Beaumaris, containing 271 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the shore of the Menai strait, is supposed to have derived its name, which signifies "the church of the field," from a memorable battle said to have taken place here, early in the ninth century, between Egbert, King of the West Saxons, who had effected a landing in Anglesey, near the site of the present town of Beaumaris, and a body of Welsh forces, whom he totally defeated in a sanguinary engagement ; and although he was shortly after compelled by Mervyn Vrych, the sovereign of North Wales, to retreat into England, this victory ensured to him so long possession of the entire island, that its ancient name of Mona was abandoned by the Anglo-Saxons for its present appellation, signifying
" the Englishmen's Isle." In 1237 died Joan, wife of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, and daughter of John King of England, who was buried, agreeably to her own desire, on the sea-shore at this place. Llewelyn, either to do honour to the English monarch, her father, or as a tender memorial of regard to her memory, erected over the grave of this princess a monastery of Franciscan friars, which was consecrated by Howel, Bishop of Bangor, prior to the year 1240, in which occurred the decease both of this prelate and of Llewelyn himself. It was dedicated to St. Francis, and became the place of interment of many barons and knights slain in the Welsh wars : the conventual chapel was erected over the tomb of the princess Joan. During the insurrection of the Welsh under Madoc, in the reign of Edward I., this house was burned to the ground by the insurgents, and lay in ruins until restored by Edward II., who, in consideration of the misfortunes sustained by the friars, remitted to them the annual payment of £12. 10., which they had made to the crown previously to this war. The monks of Llanvaes favoured the insurrection of Owain Glyndwr against Henry IV., who, in revenge for this conduct, in his first march against Owain, plundered the convent, put several of the friars to the sword, and carried away the rest prisoners. He afterwards, however, set them at liberty, and made restitution to the priory of its ancient privileges. and possessions ; but at the same time he placed in it monks of English birth. It appears after this either to have suffered further molestation, or to have fallen into decay, for it was again restored by patent of Henry V., who ordained that the establishment should consist of eight friars, of whom only two were to be natives of Wales. From this period it continued to flourish till the dissolution, at which time its revenue was estimated at £ 96.13. 2. The site was granted by Henry VIII., in the 32nd year of his reign, to Nicholas Brownlow, and was afterwards purchased by the family of White, now extinct, who erected an elegant mansion on the spot, which has been greatly enlarged and modernized by its present proprietor, Sir R. B. Williams Bulkeley, Bart., who occasionally makes it his residence. This mansion, which is spacious and handsome, is called the Friary, from its situation on the site of the ancient priory over an arched gateway in the inner court is a shield charged with the armorial bearings of Collwyn ab Tagno, lord of Eivionydd and Ardudwy, founder of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, and ancestor of the family of White : the date underneath (1623) probably refers to the time of the erection of the original mansion by that family.
The rich and fertile vale in which the parish is situated abounds with pleasingly diversified and beautifully picturesque scenery, and is enlivened with several handsome seats, of which Baron Hill, near the town of Beaumaris, and the Friary above-mentioned, now the residence of Lady Williams, are the principal : besides these, it contains also the seats of Henllys and Cichle. The parish is of small extent : the soil is fertile, and on the whole well cultivated, consisting of rich meadows and corn-fields, with a few acres of woodland. The greater portion of the parish is within the limits of the borough of Beaumaris. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Anglesey, and diocese of Bangor, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £ 800 royal bounty, and £ 600 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Sir R. B. Williams Bulkeley, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Catherine, is an ancient and spacious structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a lofty square embattled tower, surmounted with pinnacles, which was built in 1811, at the sole expense of Lord Viscount Bulkeley : the interior is well arranged, and the chancel, which is spacious and lofty, has a good east window of elegant design. Here is an almshouse for ten poor old men, founded by Mr. David Hughes, about the year 1610. Lady Bulkeley bequeathed £ 1000 in trust to the archdeacon of Anglesey and the minister of Llanvaes, to distribute the interest annually among the poor of this parish : this sum has been invested in the purchase of stock, the dividends on which are distributed half-yearly among the poor, according to the will of the benefactress. The remains of the ancient conventual buildings of the priory consist only of a portion of the walls of the chapel, forming part of a building situated about a furlong south of the church, and now used as a barn, the details of which show it to have been originally a stately edifice in the early style of English architecture. The stone coffin in which the princess Joan was originally interred, after the dissolution, was placed near a small brook on the farm, and for more than two centuries and a half used as a watering trough for horses, till the late Lord Bulkeley directed it to be removed, and placed under an arch in the grounds of Baron Hill, where it still remains. At a short distance from the village is Castell Aber Llienawg, a small quadrilateral fortress, with the remains of a circular tower at each angle, and surrounded by a fosse, from which a hollow way extends to the shore, where there is a mound of earth thrown up to defend the landing. This fortress was founded by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, and Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1098, when they made an invasion of North Wales, and committed the most barbarous outrages on the inhabitants of this part of the principality. During the parliamentary War in the reign of Charles I., this fort was garrisoned for the parliament, but was taken by Colonel Robinson, in 1645, and kept for the king. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £ 124. 8.
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