LLANELHAIRN, or LLANHAIARN (LLAN-AELHAIARN), a parish, in the union of PWLLHELI, hundred of UWCHGORVAI, county of
CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 7 miles (N.) from Pwllheli, and 18 (S.) from Carnarvon; containing 660 inhabitants. This parish,
which is situated on the shore of Carnarvon bay, is bounded on the north-east by the parish of Clynnog, on the north-west
by the bay, on the west by the parish of Pistil], on the southwest by that of Carngiwoh, and on the south-east by that of
Llangybi; and comprises by computation 4850a. 3r. subject to tithes, and 1628 free, making together 6478a. 3r., of the
former of which portions, 846 acres are arable, and the rest meadow and pasture, with the exception of about two acres of
woodland. The soil in the valleys is rich and fertile, producing excellent crops of barley and oats, and there is some
good pasture land, upon which many cows, oxen, and horses are reared for the market; a large part of the land is turbary,
and wet; but on the hills numerous flocks of sheep find pasture. This is an extensive mountainous district, and
comprehends the lofty range of mountains called Yr Eivl, or the Rivals, the conical summits of which are conspicuous from
every elevated point in this part of the principality. These mountains, which are three in number, the central one having
an elevation of one thousand eight hundred and sixty feet above the level of high water, rise abruptly.from the shore of
St. George's Channel, in which they form boldly projecting promontories, separating the districts of Arvon and Lleyn. The
mountain nearest to the church, the southernmost of the three, is called "Mynydd Tre'r-Cawri," and " Tre'r-Caerau,"
signifying the Mountain of the town of the Giants, and Town of the Fortresses; the more distant, in a western direction,
is called "Mynydd Gorllewin;" and the central or middle mountain " Y Garn-ganol:" they are situated on the right of the
road leading to Nevin; and on the left, opposite to the Rivals, is another mountain named Mynydd Carngiwch. There is a
range of four other mountains, which served as a sure retreat to the Britons in ancient times; they are situated in a
northern direction from the church, and are called respectively Mynydd Penllechog, Caer-Tyddyn mawr, Gym-do:hi, and Mynydd
Bronmiod. Between the two last is a wide pass or defile, Bwlch-mawr, where a manganese mine has been opened, and within
the last twoyears, a great quantity of the ore has been forwarded to Port Llanaelhaiarn, and shipped to Liverpool. -
During the season of the herring fishery several boats are employed here, and crabs and lobsters are also taken on the
coast; and in a river to the south-east of the church is an abundance of fine trout. In 1827, a wooden pillar was erected
on the highest point of the central mountain of the Rivals, by a company of engineers employed by government to make a
trigonometrical survey of this part of the coast; a similar staff was erected on the summit of Rhiw mountain, visible from
hence, and another on the top of Snowdon. The village, which is small, is pleasantly situated on the turnpike. road from
Carnarvon to Pwllheli; and the parish contains a wool-factory and two corn-mills: the rateable annual value of the parish
has been returned at £2195. 10. The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £8, and endowed with £200
private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, with which sums a farm called T$mawr, in the parish of Mallwyd, in the
counties of Montgomery and Merioneth, consisting of 175a. 24p., was purchased in 1743, and is now let for £60 per annum;
and the tithes having been commuted for a rent-charge of £195, in 1838, the present gross annual income of the rectory is
£255; patron, Bishop of Bangor. The church, dedicated to St. Aelhaiarn, is a spacious and venerable cruciform structure,
in the later style of English architecture, measuring 48 feet by 15, and the north and south transepts together, 60 feet
by 15; and contains sittings for about 100 persons; the interior, which is appropriately arranged for the performance of
divine service, possesses some interesting architectural details, and the building is kept in excellent repair. There are
places of worship for Calvinistic Methodists and other dissenters. About twenty-five children are taught in a day school
at the expense of their parents; and there are three Sunday schools appertaining to the dissenters.: in the Calvinistic
Methodists' school are about seventy children; in the Independents', forty; and in the Baptists', twenty; all of whom
receive gratuitous instruction. A rent-charge of 20s. was devised by Anne Jones, in 1703, to be expended in bread for the
poor of Penmorva; and she also bequeathed £200, to be laid out in the purchase of lands, one moiety of the rents of which
was to be appropriated to apprenticing boys of Festiniog or Criccieth, or to their poor, and the other moiety to this
parish for the same purpose; but this charity is at present in Abeyance, though it was decreed, after a trial at
Beaumaris, in 1735, that it should be carried into effect. Some cottages and parcels of land, yielding a rent of £9. 7.
4., were left for church purposes, and the rents are applied to the repairs of the church, providing wine for the
communion service, &c. &c. The late Rev. Dr. Lewis, also, left a few tenements in the parish for charitable uses. Through
the Eivl mountains is the celebrated pass into Vortigern's Valley, across which extends an immense rampart of stones; and
on Tre'r Cawri are the remains of one of the most extensive British fortifications in Wales. This strong military post is
defended on the side on which alone it is accessible by triple ramparts, of which the two innermost are nearly entire. The
foundations of buildings, of various forms and dimensions, are scattered over the whole summit of the mountain, which is
almost level, and also on the declivities. Within the walls of defence are the foundations of several circular buildings,
about thirty-two feet in diameter; the upper well is about twelve feet in height, and, in some places, fourteen in
thickness at the top. Nearly the whole of the inclosed area is filled with cells of various forms, round, oval, oblong,
and square. Several other mountains in the neighbourhood are fortified in a similar manner, though not with equal
strength, from which circumstance it is supposed that Tre'r Cawri was the principal of a chain of military stations, and
most probably the principal stronghold of the native Britons, driven into this part of the country by the victorious arms
of the Saxons. The mountains abound with copper-ore and manganese. Under the Eivl mountains, and less than a quarter of a
mile from the church, on the left side of the road towards Nevin, is a very copious spring, called Fynnon Aelhaiarn,
contained in a square in-closure, surrounded by a wall: the water of this spring, which was anciently in high estimation
for its sanctity, is still in some repute for cold bathing.