Brawdy and Whitchurch, though not contiguous, are nearer to each other than many detached chapelries. The same may be said of Henllan Amgoed and Llanddewi Felffre, and also of Llanddewi Brefi and Llanycrwys; Garthbrengi and Llanfaes are so situate with respect to each other,* that is probable they were first separated by the arrangements of the followers of Bernard Newmarch.t In Monmouthshire, Llanddewi Sgyryd and Llanddewi Rhydderch are near each other; as are also Trostre and Llangyniow; and the same rule will apply to the three churches in Herefordshire. The single churches which remain, are only nine; of which number, Prendergast, Hubberston, and Llanddewi in Gower, are situate in districts avowedly Flemish; so that it cannot be said what was the original extent of their endowments, and what churches might have been detached from them. Heyop and Whitton are so situated, that there is reason to suppose they were once subordinate to the neighbouring church of Llangynllo: their churches are very small, and belong to a district which was one of the first to become subject to the Lords Marchers. Blaenporth, Cardiganshire, and Llanddewi Fach, Monmouthshire, may perhaps be ancient, but they afford no criterion to prove their antiquity.

*The author of the "History of Brecknockshire" (Vol. II. p. 147.) gives his reasons for the supposition that Llanfaes was originally a chapel under Llanddew, a parish which intervenes between it and Garthbrengi. He further supposes Llanddew to be an abbreviation of Llanddewi; but while the connexion between the several parishes is admitted, there are certain objections to his etymology, into which it is at present unnecessary to enter. (See Appendix.)

† A Norman adventurer, who took forcible possession of the county of Brecknock about A. D. 1090.

The district around Whitton is included in the Survey of Domesday Book, and while the names of the surrounding churches are mentioned, that of Whitton is omitted; from which it may be inferred that the latter was founded after the Conquest, and the tract, assigned for its endowment, must have been taken from one of the adjoining parishes.

The almost uniform disposition of these churches in clusters is too remarkable to be the effect of accident. From the analogy of other cases, there is reason to suppose that the parishes of each cluster formed originally a single endowment, in support of one, or perhaps two churches, to which the rest served as so many chapels; and the supposition is confirmed from the analogy of Glascwm, and other districts, where the chapels are dedicated to the same Saint as the mother church. But great light may be borrowed from the testimony of Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, a Bard, who is stated to have lived between the years 1160 and 1230. In a poem composed by him in honour of Dewi, or St. David, and inserted in the Welsh Archaiology, Vol. I. page 270, occurs a passage, which is thus translated by Williams in his "Dissertation upon the Pelagian Heresy."—

"DEWI* the great of Menevia, the wise sage;

And Dewi of Brefi near the plains;

And Dewi is the owner of the superb church of Cyfelach,
Where there is joy and great piety.

And Dewi owns the choir that is

At Meidrym, a place affording sepulture to multitudes;
And Bangor Esgor; and the choir of Henllan,
Which is a place of fame for sheltering yews;
And Maenor Deifi, void of steep declivities;
And Abergwilly, containing mildness and modesty;
And fair Henfynyw, by the side of the Glens of Aeron,
Fields prolific in trefoil, and oaks productive of acorns.

.*The following is the original, adapted by Williams to the orthography now current in the principality.

"Dewi mawr Mynyw, syw Sywedydd,
A Dewi Brefi, ger ei broydd;

A Dewi bieu balch lan Gyfelach,
Lle mae morach, a mawr grefydd.
A Dewi bieu Bangeibyr y sydd
Meidrym, le a'i mynwent i luossydd ;

A Bangor Esgor; a Bangeibyr Henllan,
Y sydd i'r clod-fan y clyd Ywydd;
Maenawr Deifi di-orfynydd ;
Abergwyli bieu gwyl-wlydd ;
Henfynyw deg o du glennydd Aeron,
Hyfaes ei meillion, hyfes goedydd ;

Llanarth, Llanadneu, churches of the Patron Saint;
Llangadog, a privileged place, enriched by chiefs:
Llanfaes, a lofty place, shall not suffer by war;
Nor the church in Llywel from any hostile band;
Garthbrengi, the hill of Dewi, void of disgrace;
And Trallwng Cynfyn by the dales;

And Llanddewi of the Cross, with a new chancel;

And Glascwm, and its church by Glas Fynydd, (the

green mountain,)

A lofty sylvan retreat, where sanctuary fails not;

The rock of Vuruna fair is here, and fair its hilly pros

pects;

And Ystrad-fynydd, and its uncontrouled liberty."

In these verses, the Bard considers St. David to be "the owner" of twenty churches, fifteen of which are ascribed to him in the foregoing list. But as not one of those enumerated happens to be a chapelry, it is probable the Bard mentions such out of every cluster as were endowed at the time the poem was written, and the rest, being chapels, are omitted. Thus the Cathedral church of St. David's, then called Mynyw or Menevia, is mentioned without Whitchurch and Brawdy; Llanddewi Brefi without its chapels; Maenor Deifi without Bridell; Abergwyli without its chapels; and Henfynyw without Llanddewi Aberarth. In the Brecknock cluster, the churches are more numerous; and there are two in the cluster of Radnorshire. But what is most remarkable is the fact, that with the exception of Brecknock, his native district, the Bard mentions nothing of the churches of those parts which, in that or the preceding generation, had been occupied by the En

Llanarth, Llan-adneu, llannau llywydd;
Llangadawg, lle breiniawg rannawg ri-
hydd;

Nis arfeidd rhyfel Llanfaes, lle uchel;
Na'r llan yn Llywel, gan neb lluydd ;
Garthbrengi, bryn Dewi, digywilydd ;

A Thrallwng Cynfyn ger y dolydd ;
A Llanddewi y Crwys, Llogawd newydd ;
A Glascwm a'i eglwys ger glas fynydd,
Gwydd-elfod aruchel, nawdd ni achwydd;
Craig Furuna deg yma, teg ym mynydd;
Ac Ystrad-fynydd, a'i ryddid rydd."
G

glish, Normans, and Flemings;-were they destroyed, or did he omit them from patriotic indignation, because Dewi was not then the owner of them? The multiplied number near Brecon may be due to Bernard Newmarch, who, according to the usual mode, may have subdivided the endowment, and converted the chapels into churches; and even the Bard alludes to certain circumstances of hostility, from which he either hopes, or predicts, that the churches of Llanfaes and Llywel should be spared. Gwynfardd ascribes also to St. David the churches of Llangyfelach, Glamorganshire, Llanarth, Cardiganshire, and Llangadog, Carmarthenshire; but if any dependence can be placed on the names of these churches, the first and last must have had a double dedication. With respect to Llangadog this is highly probable, as there is a place in the parish called Llwyndewi; but there is evidence to the fact in the "Greefes of Rees Vachan of Stratywy," printed in Latin and English at the end of Warrington's History of Wales, in which occurs the following passage:

"In the church of S. Dauid, which they call Lhangadoc, they made stables, * * * * and took awaie all the goods of the said church, and burning all the houses, wounded the preest of the said church before the high altar, and left him there as dead."

Cyfelacht was the name of the twenty second Bishop of Llandaff, but whether Llangyfelach is so called from him, or

* Rees Vachan, or rather Rhys Fychan, was a chieftain of the Vale of Towy, who, in the reign of Edward the First, presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury a statement of grievances, or acts of oppression committed in his territories by the English.

+ See Godwin, De Præsulibus and states that he died A. D. 927. (Vol. II. page 473,) states that he was killed in battle at Hereford A. D. 754; but this assertion is probably a mistake, as it is unsupported by the testimony of three other chronicles in the same collection.

Angliæ, who calls him "Cimeliauc,"
A chronicle in the Welsh Archaiology

*

from another person, is doubtful, as he lived about three centuries after the era in which nearly all the Welsh Saints flourished; it is possible, however, that he either rebuilt the church, or enlarged its privileges: but the connexion of St. David with that place is more certain, for it is recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis, and Ricemarchus, a still older authority, that he was the founder of the "Monastery of Llangyfelach in Gower." Browne Willis attributes Llanarth to St. Vystygy, which is, perhaps, an error, as the name does not occur elsewhere.t For the "Llanadneu" of Gwynfardd may be read Llanarthneu from Ecton's list, as it harmonizes admirably with the preceding word in the original, according to the laws of the metre; and there is no place in the Principality which bears the name of Llanadneu. By Henllan in Gwynfardd may be understood Henllan Amgoed, and not the chapel of that name subject to Bangor. Llanddewi y Crwys is Llanycrwys in Carmarthenshire, which, in the Charter of the Abbey of Talley, is called "Landewicrus." The rock of Vuruna, or Craig Furuna, is Cregruna in Radnorshire; and the order of succession would lead to the supposition, that by Ystrad Fynydd is meant the cluster in the neighbourhood of Builth. The cluster of LlanuchIlwydog, being in the territory of the Lords of Cemmaes, is omitted. The clusters of Hereford and Abergavenny were at that time subject to the Lacies, Lords of Ewyas, and the cluster of Trostrey‡ was probably in a similar situation.

* Ricemarchus, or Rhyddmarch, was Bishop of St. David's from A. D. 1088 to 1098. A Life of St. David by Giraldus, and fragments of another by Ricemarchus, are printed in the second volume of Wharton's Anglia Sacra.

+ It has been remarked that modern fairs have, in many instances, succeeded to wakes or festivals; and, in support of the testimony of Gwynfardd, it may be stated that a fair is held at Llanarth on the twelfth of March, or St. David's Day, Old Style.

‡ Qu. Was not the circumstance of their being included in the Diocese of Llandaff, the reason of their omission?