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maintain their footing, their continual inroads must have desolated the country. To this cause may be attributed the fact that all the churches dedicated to St. Michael in this Diocese are only eight; and also, that though it is, perhaps, the second of the Welsh Dioceses in point of extent, it contains fewer churches considerably than either of the other three.* In Llandaff, the least extensive Diocese in Wales, the number of churches dedicated to St. Michael is twenty, not one of which is a chapel; but the Normans formed their settlements in this district at a later period, and it may be presumed that, according to their usual rule, they converted such chapels as existed in the country into independent benefices.

On the other hand, the churches of St. Michael, though more ancient than those of St. Mary, are not the most ancient in the Principality. Onet only of the chapels subordinate to them is dedicated to a Welsh Saint; while fourteen of the chapels dedicated to St. Michael are subordinate to churches ascribed to Welsh Saints; and this want of reciprocity can be accounted for on no other principle than that the commemoration of the native Saints is of older date. The parishes dedicated to St. Michael vary considerably in extent, according to the nature of the ground unoccupied by previous endowments; but even the most extensive of them do not possess the characteristics of endowments of the first class. That which approaches nearest is Llanfihangel Penbryn in Cardiganshire, which contains the subordinate parishes of

and Salop. The occupation of the remaining part of Flintshire by the Saxons has been already noticed, and it will be observed that the territories described are situated principally in the Diocese of St. Asaph. (Myvyrian Archaiology, Vol. II. pp. 392, 475, & 476.)

*The number of churches in St. David's, including extinct chapelries, as far as can be collected from Browne Willis, is 526; in Llandaff 275; Bangor 194; and St. Asaph 145.

Capel Teilo, a decayed chapel under Talley, Carmarthenshire.

Bettws Ifan and Bryngwyn. But this district, the only one in the list which possesses a plurality of parochial chapelries, shows the marks of a later origin so far that its chapels have not been formed into Perpetual Curacies, and continue to be served by the Vicar of Penbryn, or his stipendiary Curate.

The next Saint, whose churches were to be considered, was St. David, and the list according to Ecton is as follows.

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Bettws, chapel to Newcastle (St. Laleston,-chapel to Newcastle Illtyd.)

(St Illtyd.)

MONMOUTHSHIRE.

Llanddewi Sgyryd, R.

Llanddewi Rhydderch, V. Llanddewi Fach, C.

Bettws,-chapel to Newport (St. Gwynllyw.)

Trostrey, alias Trawsdre, C. Llangyniow, C. Qu. Llangyfyw?

DIOCESE OF HEREFORD.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

Kilpeck, C. (St. Mary & St. Da- Little Dewchurch,- -chapel to

vid.)

Dewchurch Magna, V.

Pembrokeshire

Cardiganshire

Lugwardine (St. Peter.)

SUMMARY.

10 Glamorganshire

7 Monmouthshire

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It is remarkable that there is not one church or chapel, dedicated to St. David, in the whole of North Wales. The nationality of these churches will not be questioned, as the person, to whom they are dedicated, was the tutelar Saint of the country. Their antiquity appears from the fact that they are dispersed without reference to the petty conquests, or to the towns of later ages; and as they are to be found, in a certain quarter, beyond the borders of the Principality, they belong to an era when its limits were more extensive than at present. Their foundation is popularly ascribed to St. David himself; but in order to shew whether any of them can advance a plausible claim to so early a date, they must be submitted to the same kind of examination as the preceding; and the test is the more necessary, because, from the circumstance of his being canonized by the Pope in the twelfth century, he was adopted into the Romish Calendar, and several churches may have been dedicated to his memory in later

times. Four endowments, in the list, are of the first class, having a plurality of chapels dependent on them; seven more have one chapel each; and most of these subordinate chapels are dedicated to St. David himself, or to Welsh Saints, his contemporaries. The chapels dedicated to St. David, and, for that reason, allowed a place in the front of the list, are subject to churches attributed to the same person, or to other Welsh Saints of contemporary or older date. Their relative situation would therefore show that both churches and chapels where founded in an age, when indiscriminate dedications had not become customary; for, according to Ecton, only one* of the chapels, dedicated to St. David, is subordinate to a church dedicated to one of the Apostles, and this exception does not occur within the present limits of Wales. Out of the thirteen chapelries assigned to St. David, eleven are parochial,† being a larger proportion than appears in the lists of those of St. Mary, or St. Michael. But it may be urged against the antiquity of the beneficed churches, that only four out of forty have endowments of the first foundation. A review of the list, however, compared with a map of the country, and some knowledge of its localities, will show that the majority of these benefices do not stand singly in their situations, but are joined by two, and sometimes by three together. Thus Whitchurch is contiguous to St. David's, Llanuchllwydog and Llanychaer are adjoining parishes, and the same may be said of Maenor Deifi and Bridell. Henfynyw and Llanddewi Aberarth are contiguous; so are Trallwng and Llywel; Maesmynys and Llanddewi'r Cwm; as well as Glascwm and Cregruna. The number of benefices, which stand alone and without chapels, is therefore reduced to twenty. To proceed,

* Little Dewchurch, subject to Lugwardine, (St. Peter,) in the Diocese and county of Hereford.

+ Ascertained from the Population Returns for 1831, printed by order of the House of Commons.

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