Rector, and who still claims and receives the whole tithes of the five parishes, except the vicarial tithes of Llanbister. The district of Llangynllo extends over the parishes of Llangynllo and Pilleth, and it probably included originally one or two small parishes adjoining, which are now separate benefices. As these districts are very extensive it may safely be concluded, that the places of worship to which they are appropriated were first built when churches were few. Leaving therefore the question of chapelries for a future consideration, it may be assumed, that Nantmel, Llanbister, Llangynllo, and other churches of a similar endowment, are churches of the first or oldest foundation. As Christianity became more general, the want of places of worship in districts unappropriated would come next to be considered. The necessity of multiplying churches would now be felt, and the tithes to be attached to them would necessarily extend over tracts of country varying much in extent according to the nature of the ground before unoccupied. These parishes cannot be formed into a separate class from the preceding, for their extent alone will not determine the order of their foundation; and, though the largest endowments are necessarily ancient, there is nothing to prevent a small endowment from being of equal antiquity. But when parishes of very unequal limits are intermingled together, their arrangement must be attributed to the natural obligation of circumstances. So far the endowments of churches proceed systematically, without any prejudice to existing rights. There are, however, districts of the Principality where the system is broken up, and the country is studded with numerous churches, all of them small rectories, as if the chapelries which before existed had been converted into separate benefices. A slight acquaintance with the history of these localities will show that this new arrangement is the result of foreign conquest. These churches are principally found in the southern part of Pem brokeshire, in the Vale of Glamorgan,† and on the borders. of England; while the system of subordinate chapelries is most perfect in those parts of the country where the independence of the natives was of longest continuance. The Welsh Princes, notwithstanding their endless dissensions, respected the vested rights of their churches; but the Normans and Flemings, asserting the claims of conquest, *Occupied by a colony of Flemings about A. D. 1100. + Conquered by Norman adventurers about A. D. 1090. This is not only proved from the existing state of churches in Wales, but Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote his "Cambriæ Descriptio" in the reign of King John, mentions this particular as if it were a national characteristic. The following passage is extracted from that work as translated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. "We observe that they show a greater respect than other nations to churches and ecclesiastical persons, to the relics of saints, bells, holy books, and the cross, which they devoutly revere; and hence their churches enjoy more than common tranquillity. For peace is not only preserved towards all animals feeding in churchyards, but at a great distance beyond them, where certain boundaries and ditches have been appointed by the Bishops in order to maintain the security of the sanctuary. But the principal churches, to which antiquity has annexed the greater reverence, extend their protection to the herds as far as they can go to feed in the morning and return at night.” (Book I. Chap. 18.) This passage is further remarkable as it shows that there existed in the time of the writer a class of churches distinguished for their antiquity; and if such churches were the most extensively endowed, it will readily appear why they are called "the principal." So tenacious were the Welsh of the integrity of their benefices, that, even when they were inconvenient from their great extent, rather than subdivide them, they appointed several clergymen to the same living. Giraldus says, "Their churches have almost as many parsons and parties as there are principal families in the parish; the sons, after the death of their fathers, succeed to the ecclesiastical benefices, not by election, but by hereditary right possessing and polluting the sanctuary of God. And if a prelate should by chance presume to appoint or institute any other person, the people would certainly revenge the injury upon the institutor and instituted." (Description of Wales, Book II. Chap. 6.) Giraldus Cambrensis was Archdeacon of Brecknock, and in one of his Visitations, he speaks of a church in Radnorshire as having six or seven would establish churches where they thought expedient. All churches of this description may be considered as of the last foundation, leaving those which are intermediate in uncertainty for the present. It may be objected by some, that the extent of benefices depends not so much upon their subjection to Welsh Princes, or Norman Lords, as upon the barrenness, or fertility of the country in which they are situate. A glance at the map of Wales will be sufficient to show, that though parishes may be large or small for the reason specified, the objection does not apply to endowments. The fertile vale of Towy, in the county of Carmarthen, is filled with endowments of the first class, which are subdivided into parishes, of greater or less extent, to suit the nature of the country; and on the other hand, places of worship are sometimes numerous in districts the most barren. The recesses of the mountains appear to have been more populous formerly than at present, for the inhabitants of Wales chose to live in such situations as were most secure from foreign aggression; and thus the county of Carnarvon contains more churches than the larger and more fertile county of Montgomery. Though churches, strictly so called, were few, it was not on account of the scantiness of population, for chapels of every description were scattered over the Principality, which would clergymen. ("Clerici sex vel septem, more Walensium, participes Ecclesiæ illius.") The custom of dividing a benefice between several portionists, without compromising its integrity, continued in some of parts of the Diocese of St. Asaph until after the subjugation of Wales; several instances may be found in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, A. D. 1291, but the following extract, relating to the church of Corwen, Merionethshire, will suffice. Porcio Gynon ap Ednefed.... 8 13 4 Ecclia de Corvaen. Porcio Gwyn ap Twdyr Porcio Gregor p'bri Porcio Vicar' C .... 5 0 0 500 not have been requisite unless the country were well peopled. From what has been already written, it will appear that the definition of "church" has been considered to be a place of worship endowed with tithes. A "chapel," on the contrary, is considered to be a place of worship without any such endowment. It has been already stated that chapels are of later erection than the churches to which they are subject. Some of them are ancient; and an attempt will be made to form such a classification of them as will assist in determining generally the eras in which they were built. Parochial Chapels are considered to be the most ancient, being a necessary consequence of the great extent of the district assigned to the mother church, which was soon found insufficient for the instruction of people spread over so wide a territory. There is reason for supposing that chapels of this description are coeval with churches of the intermediate foundation. They were erected before the division of the country into parishes as at present constituted, for such a subdivision of the older districts could have been of no utility unless chapels were already built; and the existence of these places of worship, which at first were only chapels of ease, suggested the division for the sake of convenience. Between Parochial Chapels and Chapels of Ease there was at first no distinction, but the latter are now known from the circumstance that they have no separate districts assigned them, being always situate in the same parish as the mother church. As a general rule, these chapels are of later erection than the former, being the result of a demand for an increased supply of places of worship. They belong to a time when the boundaries of parishes were so far permanently settled that it was not expedient to disturb them. There is reason, however, to believe that the Normans and Flemings, wherever they made their settlements, converted such chapels as they found in the country into separate benefices. But they also built many churches in addition, making a new distribution of parishes. Thus the Rectories in the Deaneries of Rhos and Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire; in the peninsula of Gower, and the Vale of Glamorgan, average at about half the extent of parochial chapelries in most of the other districts of Wales. This distribution, however, belongs to a period in which so much information may be collected from history, as will serve to distinguish the older churches from their more modern neighbours. There are also other Chapels, which do not appear to have been used for the purposes of public, or congregational worship; such as Cells, Oratories, and Hermitages, where prayers and offerings were made in private. They are sometimes distinguished from public churches by their situation, either in the solitude of an island, or promontory, over the well of a favourite Saint, or adjoining to a church where provision was already made for public worship; and were so small that they could contain but few persons. They may also be distinguished by their present state, being all of them in ruin, and the situations of most of them are known only by tradition. Being of no use as public churches, and the offerings to them ceasing, they were suffered to fall to decay soon after the Reformation. Nearly all parochial? chapels, inasmuch as they are repaired at the cost of their respective parishes, have been preserved entire to the present time. Several chapels of ease, however, for want of a similar provision, have become ruinated, and in some cases their situation is almost forgotten; yet the names of most of them may be recovered from various ecclesiastical documents and editions of the "Liber Regis." In treating of the Saints, it is intended to give such notices of cells, and oratories, as may be supplied from the vague information which remains respecting them. If there were any small chapels of this description in ancient times, the veneration attached to them would suggest their enlargement into churches or parochial chapels, whenever a |