LLANELLY, a parish, in the union and hundred of CRICKHOWEL, county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (W. by N.) from Abergavenny, on the road to Merthyr-Tydvil; composed of the hamlets of Aberbaldea and Maesgwartha, and containing 7866 inhabitants. This parish which derives its name from the dedication of its church, is pleasantly situated on the river Usk, and consists of arable, eastere, wood, and mountain land, that portion which constitutes the Vale of Usk being the most fertile, and the mountainous and mineral districts very barren it is divided into two nearly equal parts by the river Clydach, a mountain torrent, which, descending with impetuosity through a deep channel obstructed by rocks, forms many picturesque falls in its course through the parish. The surrounding scenery is strikingly and richly diversified, combining features of romantic grandeur and enchanting beauty; the Vale of the Clydach, which extends nearly. the whole length of the parish, is deep, narrow, and winding; and the scenery on the banks of the Clydach, in particular, though seldom visited by the tourist, and consequently lit ue known, is remarkably picturesque and beautiful. The banks of this rapid stream rise precipitously to an immense height, and are richly clothed with wood, and in some parts with timber of majestic growth, forming, in the luxuriance and variety of the foliage, a pleasingly striking contrast to the rugged and barren summits of the mountains that rise above them. The Clydach, in its progress through the narrow cwm, or vale, which they inclose, forms two interesting falls, and there was formerly a third, called Pistyll Mawr, which, however, has been destroyed by the sinking of a coal-mine, within the last few years, at the head of the rock from which the water was precipitated, when the channel of the river was bored some distance higher up, and the stream, carried through a tunnel, now emerges at the bottom of the rock. Of the two others, called respectively Poll Croc-an and Pwll Cum, the latter is by, far the more picturesque, being formed by the precipitation of the river from a considerable height into a basin worn in the rock by the continual action of the water, from which it descends with great force from an elevation of thirty feet into a pool encircled with impending rocks and thick underwood, over which a few aged yew trees cast a sombre shade. The chief hills are those named. the Gilwern, Disgwilva, Dines, and Bryn-mawr, on which lost is a considerable number of houses. The parish abounds with mineral wealth of various kinds, in procuring and manufacturing which the inhabitants are principally employed; and its rateable annual value is returned at £6987. In the mountains that inclose the small but picturesque Vale of Clydach, coal, iron-ore, limestone, sandstone, and fire-clay are found in great profusion. The Clydach collieries, which are very extensive, and emp about a hundred hands, belong to the Boat Company, and supply the tows of Brecknock and the surrounding ooimtry to a great distance with bituminous coal. An immense quantity of coal is also raised here by the Clydach Iron Company, for the supply of their extensive works; it is all worked by levels, brought down the mountain steeps by means of inclined planes, and conveyed in trams by the railroad belonging to the canal company, either for the supply of the iron-works, or to the Brecknock and Abergavenny canal, for conveyance to Brecknock and its vicinity. The Clydach ironworks, originally established about two hundred years ago, by a member of the family of Hanbury, of Pontypool, in the county of Monmouth, are cow ducted upon a very large scale, affording employment to upwards of a thousand hands; and comprise four blast furnaces for smelting the ore, worked by a steam-engine of seventy horse power, and by a water-wheel forty feet in diameter: the forges, in which charcoal is employed, are supplied with air by a steam engine of smaller power, and by a waterwheel of the same diameter; and the rolling-mills for converting the pig iron into bars are set in motion by the water-wheel alone. Great facilities of communication between the mineral and manufacturing districts of this parish and other parts of the kingdom are afforded by the road from Abergavenny to Merthyr-Tydvil, by the Breeknock and Abergavenny canal, and by a railroad from the aqueduct below Aberclydach to the Beaufort iron-works, in the parish of Llangattocic. This railway, which is the property of the canal company, and about eight miles in length, winds up Cwm Clydach, and communicates along its whole course with tram-roads from the different works in the neighbourhood. The Brecknock and Abergavenny canal, after traversing a distance of sixteen miles from the town of Brecknock, with a fall of sixty-eight feet, by means of six locks, is here conveyed over the valley and stream of the Clydach, at an elevation of little less than a hundred feet above the bed of the river, by a strong aqueduct of stone, supported by a prodigious embankment raised upon an arch, twenty-two feet in the span, built over the Clydach in 1799; the whole forming a prominent feature in the scenery of the vale. Clydach House, the residence of the manager of the iron- works, is a handsome building; and of the other mansions in the parish may be named Tt Mawr, Aberbaidan, Gliislyn, and Dy fryn Mawr. The living is a perpetual curacy, united, with that of Llangeney, to the rectory of Llangattock; and the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £423. The church, dedicated to St. Elliw, Raman acient structure, in the early style of English arcbitectiwe, with a low massive tower, consists of a nave and one aisle, the one much older than the other, separated by a series of pointed arches, and contains about three -hundred sittings: it is situated on an etr posed eminence, about a mile south of the Usk, and a little westward of the Clydach; and the churchyard is inclosed by yew trees of ancient growth, and commands a charming prospect over the Vale of Usk, which abounds with richly varied and highly picturesque meaery. There are places of worship for Baptists, independents, Calvinistic Methodists, and English and Welsh Wesleyaus. About t50 children are instructed in Ave day schools, at the ,exipow of their parents; a school-room has lately been erected by the Netisml Society for the education of the poor; and there are ,five Sunday schools, supported by public collections ,among the various denominations of dissenters, aided by gratuitous Matters. Edward Lewis, of Aberclydaoh, ,Feq., in 1713, bequeathed rent-charge of £3, payable out of the produce of his estate of Pant Dreiniog, for six Welsh sermons to be preached annually in the chiwoh of "Lianelly, by some:clergyman other than the incumbent or his carate,," as long as the church of Englandshall continue in this country;" Arr. lima Lewis, .of LlaneUy, in 1760, left £2 per ear nuns, charged on a tenement called Llandewi Oryd, is the county qf:Monmouth, and which his sister Awe afterwards extended to to such poor persons not receiving parochial relief as may he thought most .deserving. Harry William, qr iderry William Joak,io„ of Llauelly, in 1687, bequeathed to the poor certain lands, called 'Fir yr Hooper, containing from 10 to 1.2 acres of amble and pasture, let at £25 per annum; and a tram-road has been recently cut through the upper part of the property, for which a rent of £1. 4. 5. le paid in addition-to the above: after an ,expenditure for repairs, the surr plus is distributed, first among. he poor relativesof the testator:in sums. arying from Ss. .to £1. 19. On a kill called the (leer, overlooking the Vale of:Clydaoh, are the remains of an ancient encampment, supposed to be of British construction; and on a rock opposite to it are some vestiges of another military post, .called Dimas. Mr. Edward LIwyd, who examined the:teal and iron mines throughout the county,of Breoknock, morthan a century since, disc covered near the mines in this parish, a singular fossil production, consisting of .a cylindrical pieoe of limestone, about eight. inches in length and three inches in diameter, having the .surface ornamented with narrow and equidistant circular cavities, in each of which was a circle of small.diameter, with a small stud in the centre: various spars are also frequently found among the iron-ores in the neighbourhood.