We will now give a short account of the rise and progress of the Calvinistic Methodists in this parish. About the year 1800 Gwernypant, Rhosddû and Four Crosses were recorded for preaching and public worship under the "Toleration Act." In 1816 a chapel was built at Gwernypant on land given gratuitously by Mr. Thos. Pryce. It has since been twice It has since been twice enlarged and modernised, and now contains comfortable sittings for 150 persons. The total amount expended on the building has been £450.

The result of the labours at Rhosddû was the erection in 1839 of a chapel called Salem, at Plasbach, at a cost of £157, to accommodate about 140 persons. This chapel has recently undergone improvements.

For many years, through the kindness of the late Mr. Richard Owens, his commodious schoolroom in the village was used for worship, but in 1861 the congregation meeting there erected Zion Chapel, a neat building, at a cost of £400, to accommodate 160 persons. The site was presented and a legacy of £50 towards building the chapel was left by the late Mr. Owens.

The Wesleyan Methodists commenced preaching in this village and district in a malthouse, now rented by Mrs. A. Wynn, and situated at the back of her house, and for years afterwards Mr. Richard Foulks, Tybrith, had preaching in his house. Their present chapel was built in 1818, and enlarged in 1843. The total outlay appears to have been about £300, and the number of seats about 160.

The following registers of births and baptisms belonging to the dissenters of this parish have been deposited with the Registrar-General :

It may be observed that the rite of baptism had been celebrated in this parish by the Dissenters much earlier than the above dates, but the only register kept was the Family Bible.

CHAP. IX.-EDUCATION.

EVERY facility is given here for the education of youth. At Dauddwr there is a school endowed with a house and land worth annually about £70. Free education is given to the sons of the inhabitants of Dauddwr alone. There is also at Llansantffraid a church charity school. About £5 annually was left by Mrs. Evans, Glasgoed, towards the support of the schoolmaster, and the £410s. per annum, left by Miss Dickin of Welshpool, is diverted from its original purpose, and is now paid to the teacher.

Previous to the year 1849 a grammar school, well known to the lower part of this county, was very successfully conducted by Mr. Richard Owens, three generations having successively attended the school. Mr. Owens' name will long continue to be known as a benefactor to this parish. Soon after his death the school was closed, and for seventeen years the youth of this parish were sorely neglected.

In 1866 a school was started by a few Nonconformists, which now fills up the want and is well attended, the spirited labours of the committee being well rewarded by the large attendance. It is now a British School and receives annually a grant from Government. The master, Mr. J. Edwards, C.M., obtained his certificate Christmas, 1868.

The Sabbath schools are also doing a great service, about 300 attending at the several Nonconformist Sunday Schools of the parish.

CHAP. X. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE PARISH.

JUDGING from outward appearances, the parishioners are prosperous and well to do, there being only about twenty paupers, so called, receiving parish relief. The general moral tone of the parish is also good: although drunkenness prevails to an extent not at all to our credit, yet the attendance on religious worship, and the almost total absence of crime, speak highly in our favour. The wages of workmen are comparatively low, seven shillings per week with victuals is about the average, but as the rent of a cottage with a good garden and piggery is not high, and with good management of the thrifty housewife, the labouring man is not only able to make the two ends meet, but is in many cases a depositor in a savings' bank. savings' bank. In the matter of agriculture the farmers keep up to the times; for the well-tilled fields, the improved stock, straightened hedges, drained lands, and the introduction of modern and improved implements of husbandry, tell a tale to the credit of the farmers of the parish. It may not be out of place to record here that the first horse-power threshing machine introduced into the parish was by the late Mr. Thos. Griffiths, of Penisarllan, and much surprise was evinced that a person so

full of charity and kindness of heart to a proverb, should have introduced these innovations to the supposed injury of the working man. But being so well beloved, the opposition was merely oral, and the machine was left uninjured, although it had all the bad wishes of the labourers of the parish. But by this time we have not only horse-power but steam threshing machines, and the last two seasons have seen on the Collfryn and Bronafon farms a reaping machine which has proved a great boon to the farmers. In the village we have nineteen new houses built since the opening of the railway; and the large buildings at the railway station, together with the steam power added to Mr. Kempster's corn mill give to the village quite a thriving and busy appearance. But with all we find that although paupers are at a discount, and that the rateable value of property has, during the last twenty years, more than doubled, still the poor rates are on the increase, and not a little dissatisfaction has the collector to meet with ere the rates are paid.

This paper in its original form was written in the Welsh language for the Powys Cymreigyddion, a society now defunct, formed for objects similar to those of the Powys-land Club. It was kindly translated by R. Williams, Esq., and the greater part was afterwards added by T. G. Jones of Llansantffraid, who desires to acknowledge the kind assistance of the Chevalier Lloyd, M. C. Jones, Esq., F.S.A. and Mr. T. W. Hancock.—T. G. J.

AN ACCOUNT OF

HENRY WILLIAMS OF YSGAFELL,

IN THE PARISH OF

LLANLLWCHAIARN AND COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY,

BY HIS DESCENDANT, JANE WILLIAMS,

AUTHOR OF

A HISTORY OF WALES," A MEMOIR OF CARNHUANAWC," "ARTEGALL," ETC.

"Christians should not give offence carelessly, nor take offence causelessly."

"Christians, though disagreeing in opinion, should agree in affection, and differing in controversy should agree in charity." VAVASOR POWEL.

LWCHAIARN ab Hygarn, a saint of Bangor Dunawd, in the sixth century, founded the Christian churches of Llanychaiarn and Llnanllwchaiarn in that part of Cymrû now called Cardiganshire, and the Christian churches of Llanmerewig and Llanllwchaiarn, in that part of Cymrû now called Montgomeryshire. The 11th of January is his festival.2

Llanllwchaiarn, in Montgomeryshire, occupies more than 4000 acres of enclosed land upon the northern bank of the river Severn, better known in Wales by its ancient name, the Hafren.

Within this parish, fronting towards the south-east, and overlooking the river, stands a timber-framed house of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, which appears to be the remaining fragment of a larger one. Together with the adjacent lands, it bears the name of Ysgafell, otherwise spelled Yscavell, and corruptly called Scavelth or Scavel. Ys signifies what is, and is used as a common prefix in composition-Caf signifies a

1 Rees' Welsh Suints, pp. 275, 328, 346. Iolo MSS., pp. 501, 558. 2 Harris Nicolas' Chron. of Hist. Ed. 1833, p. 148.