make this vale the mail route to Ireland, via Porthdynlleyn, and surveys' were made for that purpose. Previously the main public road through the parish and throughout the vale of the Tanat, leading from Bala to Shrewsbury, was no better than our present lanes, and its character may yet be seen in the narrow and tortuous lane leading from Llangynog, entering the parish at Cwmglanhavon, passing the " Ochr of Mochnant," in the township of Glanhafon, and Cadnant to Plasdu, from whence its devious track may be traced to the village.

Parochial Rates. The parish rates raised in the year 1803, at a rate of Ss. 3d. in the pound, were £590: 7:10.

The amount of rate under the name of poor rate collected for the undermentioned years, and which fairly represents the amounts for intervening dates, was as follows:-(see page 233.)

The new Highway Act was adopted for Denbighshire in 1863, when the first rate for highway purposes was made in the Denbighshire portion of the parish. The amount levied and collected was £33:6: 8. Since the adoption of the Act the highways in this division of the parish are in very good condition, and bear a marked contrast to those of the Montgomeryshire portion, where the Act is not in force, and where the roads are kept in repair according to the old system.

The Charities.-The Charity Commissioners visited

1 The result of that survey shows the following comparative dis

tances:

· From LONDON to From LONDON to From BATH to From BATH to PORTHDINLLEYN. PORTHDINLLEYN.

Miles.

HOLYHEAD.

Miles

Miles

HOLYHEAD.

Miles. . 155 To Chester. 182 To Gloucester 41 To Worcester 67 Llangynog. 30 ,, Holyhead 92

To Salop.

Bala

11

Tanybwlch. 18

,, Porthdinlleyn 23

Worcester
Salop

.

26"

48

Llangynog 30
Porthdinlleyn 52

Chester 87
Holyhead. 92

246

197

197

Difference 49

this parish in September 1836, and in their Report mention the following charities:

1 The highway rate is levied and collected in the poor rate. 232 Charity Commissioners' Report, part iii.

Distribution.-These several charities, amounting together to £110:0:6 yearly, are now distributed under an order of the Court of Chancery, dated 2nd April, 1833, and which contains the following scheme for the application of the charity income, viz.:

"That the two sums of £33 and £25, amounting to £58, should be expended in apprenticing and clothing poor children of the parish, and that the future rents of the two farms, called Erw fawr (in the parish of Llanarmon in Ial), and Cwm Llyfnog (in the parish of Myfod), should be applied to the same purpose.

"That the sum of £17, part of £40, rent of Henryd Fach, should be towards school instruction of poor children.

"That the sum of £7, the other part of £40, should be distributed to the poor upon St. Thomas's day, in the following portions: viz., £6 to those in the Montgomeryshire portion, and £1 to those in the Denbighshire portion.

"That the sum of £16, residue of the £40, be applied in apprenticing and clothing poor children.

"That the sum of £3, rent of Cae-isa, be applied to the use of the school.

"That the rent charge of Brynglas, being £3, be distributed on Easter Eve: viz., £2 to the poor in Montgomeryshire part, and £1 to those in the Denbighshire part.

"That the interest of £90, amounting to £4 10s., be distributed in manner following: viz., £3 to the poor of the Montgomeryshire part, and £1 10s. to those of the Denbighshire part.

"That the 10s. 6d., being the moiety of rent of Cae Thomas ddu, be distributed annually between the poor of the parish generally.

"That the interest upon the sum of £20, producing annually £1, be paid between the poor of the township of Cefncoch, in the county of Montgomery, on St. Thomas's day."

The following is a copy of the tablet in the parish church.

Particulars of Funds belonging to the Poor of this Parish, with their Appropriations, pursuant to an Order of the Court of Chancery, issued in the year 1833.

BRITISH.-Erect Stones.-The Guide Stone ("Maen Gobaith," of the Welsh Laws). This is placed in the mountain pass of Bwlch Llandrillo, entering into Merionethshire, over the Berwyn, from Cwm Maengwynedd. It is an erect stone, about eight feet in height, placed in a conspicuous position, by the side of the ancient trackway, called Ffordd Gam Helen. It serves, at the present day, as a guide-post to persons crossing to Llandrillo and Corwen, over the mountains.

It is also near the junction of the lordships of Mochnant and Cynllaith. It might have served as one of the public posts of the lord, for publishing notices according to British law and custom.

The "Green" Stone.-This is an erect stone, about nine feet high, at the lower end of the village, in front of the National School, and forms a conspicuous object. It was formerly placed on the summit of a mound which occupied the site of the school room. It is not a gate-post, as stated by the late Rev. H. Longueville Jones; neither is there any authority for saying that it is of modern erection. All that tradition says about it is, that it was brought from Rhos Maes Criafol, in Maengwynedd.

Post-gwyn. At the spot where at the present time stands an ordinary wooden finger post of direction, there was formerly a stone pillar, placed on the summit of Rhosybrithdir hill, at the divergence of the roads to Llangynog and Bala, and halfway hence to Llanfyllin.

Post coch, Post y wiber, or Maen Hir y Maesmochnant (the red pillar, the pillar of the dragon, or the erect stone of Maesmochnant).-This relic of antiquity is situated in the valley of the Tanat, in a field belonging to Maesmochnant, about a hundred and fifty yards from the road leading to Llanfyllin. It is strange that this stone should be placed rather at the base of a knoll of ground than upon its summit. Its height above ground is a few inches of twelve feet, and it measures at the base forty-four inches in width, gently tapering to thirty inches near the top, and is twenty inches in depth. Assuming that one-fourth of the entire length is in the ground, its entire weight may be estimated at about six tons and a quarter. Its widest surface points due east and west. It has an inscription cut into it, but the characters betray them to be the initials of an occupier of Maesmochnant farın, and made about a century ago. The old people say that it came from Cwmblotty, near the waterfall. It belongs to the trap rock formation of that locality, and probably was a boulder.