ABER, or ABER-GWYNGREGYN, a parish, in the hundred of LLECHWEDD-UCHAV, county of CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 6 miles (E. N. E.)
from Bangor, containing 552 inhabitants. This place was anciently the residence of the native princes of North Wales, of
whom Llewelyn the Great erected, on an artificial mount near the village, a strong castle, to defend the pass, of which,
except the site, there are no vestiges; neither can any traces be discovered of the palace in which he resided. When King
John, with a numerous army, attempted the subjugation of North Wales, the same Llewelyn ordered all his men of Denbigh to
retire within the fastnesses among the mountains of Snowdon, and from this place despatched his princess, who was the
daughter of that monarch, to Aberconway, the headtquarters of the English forces, to intercede with her father, in which
she succeeded, and obtained for Llewelyn a treaty of peace, but upon very unfavourable terms. In this castle Llewelyn, in
the reign of Henry III., entertained William de Breos, whom he had inveigled into his power, under pretence of celebrating
the festival of Easter, and whom, after a sumptuous banquet, he hanged upon one of the adjacent hills, for the supposed
corruption of his wife's fidelity, during his previous confinement in the castle as a prisoner of war. In the reign of
Edward I., Llewelyn ab Grufydd, the last of the British princes, made this his principal residence, while struggling
against the power of that monarch for the independence of his country. The situation of Aber was highly favourable to the
prosecution of his desultory mode of warfare, as, in case of emergency, he could either retire into his strong holds in
the mountains, or take shipping in the fine bay adjoining the town. It was at this place he received the summons of Edward
I., to surrender his principality to the English crown, and entered into a treaty with that monarch to hold this
mountainous district, together with Mona, or the Isle of Anglesey, in vassalage; and hence, after having broken that
treaty, he led his forces, in a final effort for 'the recovery of his dominions, in which he was slain near Builth. His
brother Davydd, together with his wife, two sons, and seven daughters, is said to have been taken in a morass near the
mountain of Bere, in this parish, and delivered a captive to the English monarch, then at the castle of Rhuddlan. The
village is small, but is very pleasantly situated near the Lavan sands, at the extremity of a fine vale, or glen, watered
by the river Gwyngregyn, which here falls into the Irish sea, and on the road from London to Holyhead, through Cheitter:
it overlooks the beautiful and extensive bay of Beaumaris, and commands a view of the elevated portions of Anglesey,
covered with well-grown oaks, and of the wide expanse of waters between that bay and Great Orme's. Head, comprehending in
the distance the island of Priestholme, which has been made a telegraphic station. The glen extends for a mile and a half
between its environing mountains, and on one side is bounded by a majestic rock, called Maes y Gaer, thinly overspread in
one part, and richly covered in the other, with trees of stately growth: at its extremity is a mountain of concave form
in front, from the centre of which a magnificent cataract descends, forming two successive falls; the upper is broken
into several torrents by projecting masses of rock, and the lower precipitates itself in one broad sheet from an elevation
of more than sixty feet. Situated at the termination of the Menai straits, Aber possesses every facility of commercial
intercourse, but no trade or manufacture is carried on in the parish. The ferry to Beaumaris is seven miles across, of
which four miles are fine sands, that may be walked over at low water; passengers cross this ferry to Beaumaris, but,
since the construction of the suspension bridge at Bangor, few carriages are conveyed over it. The living is a rectory, in
the archdeaconry and diocese of Bangor, rated in the king's books at £14. 7. 3i., and in the patronage of Sir R. Bulkeley
Williams Bulkeley, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Bodvan, is an ancient and spacious structure, with a good square
tower, having been greatly improved by the late Viscount Warren Bulkeley: the interior, which is neatly fitted up,
consists of a nave and chancel of equal length, the latter lighted with a series of low windows, differing in their style,
and probably inserted at various times. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. The Rev.
John Jones, Dean of Bangor, in 1719, by deed to the rector and churchwardens, gave £100, to be laid out in the purchase of
land, and the produce to be appropriated to teaching ten poor children of this parish to read Welsh. There are also
several small charitable donations and bequests for distribution among the poor. The average annual expenditure for the
support of the poor amounts to £144. 4.