GLASBURY, a parish, partly in the hundred of TALGARTH, county of BRECKNOCK, and partly in the hundred of PAINSCASTLE, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, comprising the hamlets of Pipton and Velindre with Tregoed, each of which is separately assessed for the maintenance of its poor, and containing 1452 inhabitants, of which number, 848 are in the main portion of the parish, included within the limits of Radnorshire, and 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Hay, on the road to Brecknock. The mesne manor of Glasbury formerly belonged to the Clifford family, by exchange with the monks of Gloucester in 1144, afterwards to the Giffards, and accompanied the possession of Bronll9s castle, until it became vested in the crown, when it was granted to Sir David Williams. In the 5th of Henry VIII., Richard Cornwall and Ralph Hakluyt, Esqrs., were appointed seneschals of the manor during their lives. It is now in the possession of Thomas Wood, of Littleton, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., in right of his wife, Mary, the daughter and, by the decease of her brother, heiress of the late Sir Edward Williams, Bart. The parish is intersected by the river Wye, the banks of which here exhibit some of the most picturesque and luxuriant scenery in South Wales, or in the kingdom: its stream glides smoothly along through rich meadows, or occasionally ripples over its pebbly bed, and the circumjacent hills, rising to a considerable height, are singularly diversified in form and aspect, and pleasingly varied with thick groves and cultivated fields; while the entire scene is enlivened and embellished with numerous elegant villas and genteel houses, among which rises conspicuously Maeslwch, or Maeslough, Castle, the princely residence of Walter Wilkins, Esq., the erection of which was commenced in 1829, by his late father, from a design by Mr. Lugar, of Great Marlborough-street, London. It is a beautiful specimen of the Norman and later English styles of castellated architecture, exhibiting, to the south, a rustic embattled front, upwards of two hundred and fifty feet in length: the principal tower, which is circular, is at the north-eastern angle: at the west end are the family apartments, flanked by four towers of unequal dimensions, alternately round and octagonal: in the centre rises a lantern, under which is the principal entrance. The carriage entrance is on the northern side, under a magnificent Norman porch, opening by a vestibule into the great hall: the portion appropriated to the servants, situated to the east of and somewhat lower than the family apartments, is terminated by two square towers, from which extends a long wall, perforated with embrasures, at the extremity of which is an elegant little building, resembling a chapel. From the terrace in front a beautiful lawn declines to the water's edge, commanding much of the richly varied scenery which here adorns the banks of the river; and at the back rises an eminence, wooded to its very summit. Some of the finest prospects in the vale are obtained from Pen y Lan, the seat of the late Thomas Walbeoffe, Esq., post-captain in the royal navy, looking downward from which are seen the wooden bridge at Gas-bury, surrounded by the most beautiful natural objects: much of the wood which adorns the scene consists of apple, pear, and cherry trees, which, when in blossom, form features of great beauty and richness; the view upwards, consisting of a long reach of the Wye, the village of Lltswen, and the abrupt ascent to Craiglai, with the lofty Brecknockshire Beacons in the back ground, is of a different character, but equally interesting. Tre 'r Coed, corruptly Tregoed, the seat of Viscount Hereford, is situated within the parish, but has no claim to particular description. The soil on the banks of the Wye, at this place, is perhaps the richest in the county, and is appropriated to feeding vast numbers of cattle and sheep for the markets of Brecknock and Hay; but to the south there are no pastures, all the land being devoted to tillage: this part of it is terminated by barren mountains. The system of husbandry practised in the low lands is exceedingly good, no where excelled in this part of the principality. The bridge across the Wye has been rebuilt at different periods: the first, which was of wood, fell in 1738, and was succeeded by a similar structure, which stood about forty years; a beautiful stone bridge was then built, in 1777, which was swept away by a flood in February 1795, in consequence of some defect in the foundations, and the present wooden bridge was erected in 1800: it is supported at each end by a stone pier, with thirteen intervening wooden tressels. That part of the parish which is situated on the southern bank of the Wye is principally in Brecknockshire, though a considerable extent of ground on this side of the river forms part of the county of Radnor. The village is situated on the northern bank of the Wye, being separated by the river and by the turnpike road from the church, which is about a quarter of a mile distant. The Radnorshire portion of the parish, forming the chief body of it, is usually distinguished from its Brecknockshire hamlets of Velindre with Tregoed, and Pipton, as " GlAsbury Radnorshire," the rest being designated " Gliisbury Brecknockshire." About sixty persons are here employed in an extensive establishment for sorting wool: the windows of all the apartmentsin which this apparently simple operation is carried on open to the north, to avoid too strong a light; and the different qualities are appropriated, according to the staple, to the uses of the clothier, hosier, hatter, &c. The railroad from Hay to Brecknock passes through the parish. The petty sessions for the hundred of Talgarth are held here. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Gloucester, as owner of the impropriate rectory: the advowson was granted to the monks of Gloucester by Bernard Newmarch, the Norman conqueror of Brecknock, and since the dissolution has been possessed by the bishops. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, and situated upon a steep bank on the southern side of the road leading to Hay, consists only of a nave and chancel, with a heavy western tower, containing six bells: the contract for its erection was entered into in 1662, and the edifice was probably completed in 1665, as the first interment there took place on the 30th of July, in that year: both it and the ancient structure which it replaced were built in that part of Radnorshire which lies on the southern bank of the river: the site of the latter, near where the Llyvni, or Llynvi, falls into the Wye, is marked by a few old thorn trees: it is supposed to have been originally situated on the northern side of the river, and to have been separated from the village by a change in the course of the Wye. There was formerly a chapel at Velindre, which fell into decay about the middle of the last century. There are three places of worship for dissenters, namely, one for Baptists at Penyrheol, near the Black Mountain, one for Independents at Velindre, and one for Wesleyan Methodists close by Woodlands. In the churchyard is a neat Sunday school-room, built in 1824, by subscription; and a short distance beyond the limits of the cemetery stands a respectable building, surmounted with a small cupola and vane, and comprising a schoolmaster's residence, together with a spacious schoolroom, which latter was erected in 1816, at the sole expense of the late Miss Bridget Hughes, of Glasbury House, at a cost of £210: the schoolmaster's house was erected subsequently by voluntary contributions, amounting to £179, of which Sir Charles Morgan, Bart., contributed A80, on a site granted, together with about a quarter of an acre of garden ground, by Colonel Wood, the present parliamentary representative for the county. The school is supported by annual subscriptions: the master's salary is £40, and the number of his pupils is from sixty to eighty: this establishment is connected with the parent society in London, which granted £40 in aid of its funds. There are divers small benefactions for charitable purposes. Walter Meredith, citizen of London, by will dated March 26th, 1605, bequeathed a rent-charge of £4 upon a house in Fleet-street, of which, the land-tax being deducted, the sum of £3. 4. is paid annually, alternately to six aged and eight young persons, of both sexes: the object of its being bestowed on the latter is to fit them out for service. Sir David Williams, Ent., in 1612, bequeathed the tithes of the parish of Gwenddwr, directing the profits to be annually applied in the following manner; namely, four pounds towards repairing Gliisbury bridge, ten shillings for an annual sermon, thirty shillings to be bestowed in bread among the poor of Glisbury, twenty shillings towards repairing the road from Velindre to Tyle-Glas; ten shillings for a sermon on the anniversary of the testator's funeral, to be preached in St. John's church at Brecknock, and forty shillings in bread to the poor; ten shillings for a sermon on Whit-Sunday at Ystradvellte, thirty shillings in bread to the poor of Aberllyvni and Velindre, and five pounds to the distressed poor near Gwernyvet, either in food or clothing; all which sums have been augmented, in proportion to the increased value of the tithes, that appropriated to the repair of Glasbnry bridge now amounting to £16. 8., and that to the poor of this parish to £6. S. 6. John Havard, of Tregoed, Gent., in 1728, gave £10 for the poor of Bronll9s and Glisbury; John Lewis, described on his tombstone as an " honest lawyer," bequeathed £30 to the poor of this parish; Mrs. Sybil Williams, of Trevithel, in 1761, gave twenty shillings a year to be distributed among the poor of Pipton; and Mrs. Seagood gave £100 for the benefit of the poor of the entire parish, now vested in the public funds, and producing £3. 11. 11. per annum. On an eminence to the south-west of the church are some intrenchments, which formerly surrounded a British camp, called the Gaer. Of the ancient mansion of the Solers family there are no remains, but a farmhouse and a few cottages near its site are still called Pente Solers, or Solerville. Sir Humphrey Solers, the founder of the family at this place, was one of the Norman knights who accompanied Bernard Newmarch in his successful expedition: having settled here, he acquired large possessions, which his descendants continued to enjoy until the middle of the seventeenth century. The next distinguished residents in point of antiquity were the Powels, descended from RhSts Goch, of Ystrad-iw, one of whom came from Glamorganshire in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, and was married to Joan, daughter and heiress of Tyle-glits. A singular instance of the ferocity of one of the female descendants of the Vaughan family is preserved in an old M. S. pedigree:—" Ellen Gethin (or the terrible) of Hergest, a devlish woman, was cousin-german to John hir ab Philip Vychan, who was killed by the said Ellen moration of some great battle fought near this spot. at St. David's church, for that he before killed her On the banks of the Edwy, just within the western con-brother, David Vaughan, at LI3nwent in Llanbister, fines of the parish, are the vestiges of a small fortificaRadnorshire." The average annual expenditure for the tion, which once probably constituted a castle of some support of the poor amounts to £649. 5., of which of the British or Norman lords of the surrounding sum, £357. 17. is raised on the Brecknockshire, and territory: they comprise an area of about half an acre, £291. 8. on the Radnorshire, portion of the parish. defended by a rampart nearly perfect, to the north-west