LLANERVUL (LLAN-ERFUL), a parish, in two divisions, Lower and Upper, in the union of LLANVYLLIN, upper division of the hundred of MATHRAVAL, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 5 miles (W. N. W.) from Llauvair-Caereiuion, and 12 (W. by N.) from Welsh pool; containing 993 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from the dedication of its church to St. Ervul, of whom there is no satisfactory account, appears to have been a place of some importance at a very early period, and abounds with vestiges of British and Roman antiquity. It extends nearly eight miles in length and three in breadth; is bounded on the east and south by the parish of Llanvair, and on the west and north-west by Llangadvan; and is pleasantly situated in the vale of the river Banwy, the whole of which, with its encircling hills, is included in this and the adjoining parishes of Llangadvan and Garth-beibio; the surface is boldly and beautifully undulated. The lands in the upper division are but partially inclosed and cultivated, and the hilly parts, which afford only pasturage for sheep, ponies, and young cattle during the summer, are claimed as sheep-walks by the several farmers whose lands are contiguous. There is nearly an equal quantity of amble and pasture, with a large portion of wood, consisting of natural covers and artificial plantations, growing oak, ash, birch, alder, hazel, firs, larch, and willows: the soil of the lower grounds is tolerably fertile, but that of the upper is poor, resting chiefly on a stiff clay or brittle slate, requiring the process of paring and burning, with an unusual quantity of manure, to render it capable of producing grgin of any kind: the inhabitants obtain turf from the hills for winter firing, and harvest it in June. The rateable annual value of the parish has been returned at £2689. On the Drfim are three pools, of which one is called Llin y Grinwydden, " the pool of the withered tree," or "pool of the white cliff," situated on a rocky hill, and said to be of unfathomable depth; it is about two hundred yards in length, and contains no fish but eels and carp. Llt)ra Hfr, or "the long pool," is about five hundred yards in length, and a hundred and fifty in breadth: the upper end of it is so firmly crusted over with the slough brought down by the floods from the turbaries above it, that sheep and men can walk upon the surface; but what it loses in extent from this circumstance, it gains at the opposite extremity by the violent action of its waters, driven by the west winds, against the banks, which are of peat earth: this pool affords great attractions to sportsmen for shooting wild duck, which breed here, and contains excellent reltrout, but in very hot summers it is nearly dried up; on the north side is a stone inscribed MET. II. 1930, at present seven feet distant from the bank, which space is supposed to have been gained by the receding of the waters since that date. Llyn y Bugail, or "the shepherd's pool," abounds with eels, but is not distinguished by any peculiar characteristics. Within this parish, on the, border of that of LlanbrSmmair, is a pool, called Gwyddior, or Cadivor, of remarkably clear water, which formerly contained great numbers of fine trout, but these have been extirpated by the introduction of pike. This pool, which is about a mile in circumference, is situated on an eminence extending in a direction from north to south: to the west of this ridge are some very deep hollows, open to the south-west and north-west, within which the collected winds burst impetuously through an opening in the ridge, parallel with the direction of the pool, and agitate its water with great violence. The wool produced here is generally coarse, especially on the higher hills, on which the hardiest breed of sheep in the principality is fed: these hills are covered with heath, and among them are found extensive turbaries, sufficient for the supply of the surrounding district. In 1797, a company of adventurers began to sink for coal at Cyvylchau, in this parish, but their enterprise was not attended with success, and the attempt was discontinued: the rock on which the trial was made is black, very much resembling coal in colour, flake, and texture, and will bear the fire well, and red hot, but will not burn. In the absence of lime rock and freestone, which always exist in the neighbourhood of coal-fields, and neither of these being found within a distance of twenty miles, it is the opinion of Professor Sedgewick, who visited and examined the district, that coal is not to be obtained in the parish. About the same time a few specimens of copper-ore were dug up in the township of Coed-Talog, but no regular works have been established. Llksyn and Neuadd-Wen, formerly gentlemen's mansions, are now farm-houses. The turnpike-road from Welshpool to Machynlleth and DOlgelley passes through the village; and the London mail from Shrewsbury to Aberystwith reaches it every day at noon. An annual fair takes place on the 7th of May, and the petty-sessions for the upper division of the hundred of Mathraval are held occasionally. The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 2. 11.; present net income, £308; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph. The church, dedicated to St. Ervul, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, 63 feet in length and 21 in breadth: in the churchyard is an old monument, commonly supposed to have been erected in memory of the patron saint, bearing a mutilated inscription, which, however, as far as it is legible, does not at all support Oils conjecture; on the contrary, it is affirmed, and with more probability, in a Welsh work, styled 64 Gwyliedydd," to have been erected in memory of a daughter of St. Padarn, who flourished about the year 900: the monument is three feet in the ground, and four above the surface, and one of the finest yew trees in the principality overhangs it. There was formerly an ancient chapel at Dedwen, in the hamlet of CevnlIks Uchay. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. Mrs. Priscilla Forster, a descendant of the family of the Herberts of L15-syn, bequeathed £300 for the instruction of poor children of the parish; which sum has been invested in the purchase of a farm, consisting of forty-one acres, twenty-three of which are morass recently drained, with an allotment of twenty acres of common; the whole producing £35 per annum to a master, who instructs about eighty-six males and sixty females: the present dwelling and schoolhouse, under one roof, was erected about forty years since, by the sale of timber cut down on the estate, to the value of £200, and £100 raised by subscription in the parish. Five Sunday schools, attended by nearly 300 children, are supported by subscription. A few small charities, which produced about £1. 2. 6. per annum, have been lost. On the summit of an eminence called Moel-ddohoen, in the hamlet of Cevnll$s Uchiv, are the remains of a strongly fortified camp, including an irregular quadrilateral area, about a hundred yards in length, and guarded on the west, on which side is the entrance, by an advanced work about twenty yards in diameter: the camp is defended, on the sides where it is most easily accessible, by fosses of greater depth, the earth having been thrown up to form a breastwork. In the same hamlet was, until lately, a fortified eminence called Gardden, having a circular rampart, which inclosed an area seventy yards in diameter. The entrances of these strongholds, both of which were of ancient British construction, were on the most accessible sides of the hill, and, from their breadth, appeared to have been contrived for the admission of the chariots armed with scythes, which were in use among the ancient Britons. There are also vestiges of two other strongholds, similar in all respects to these, one on the summit of the bold and commanding Moel-pentyrch, and the other on the opposite side of the vale, on the summit of Neuadd Wen: of the four, Gardden was the most perfect, but recently the plough has levelled it with the ground. A ditch and rampart, equal in dimensions to Offa's Dyke, may still be traced crossing the vale of the Banwy near RhOs-y-Gall. The Roman road from Caer-Sws to the present Chester, or from Caerlleon, in the modern county of Monmouth, to the same city, enters this parish on the hills of the Drilm, passes through a bog called Corsyvisog, now impenetrable from the accumulation of slough descending from the turbaries on the hills, and, traversing the moors in a direct line to Bwlch-y-Driim, thence descends through Cynniwyll, crosses the Banwy below Neuadd Wen, passes over Craig-y-Gov, and enters the parish of Llanvihangel at RIO Pont-y-Styllod. Though concealed by long grass in the moorish grounds of the Drilm, this road may be easily discerned at a distance, in the recently ploughed lands in various parts of the parish, in which it forms a bold and conspicuous ridge, and in which the materials of its construction may be found a little below the surface. On the common of Craig-y-Gov are vestiges of ancient mines, which are supposed to have been originally worked by the Romans; and at the foot of the declivity of the hill on which the common is situated, is a cavern termed Ogov DOlanog, of which the entrance is so narrow as to prevent any person from penetrating far into it: the tradition is, that there was a subterraneous passage from this cavern to the mines on Craig-y-Gov common. There are two large tumuli and several camneddau in the parish, but no particulars of their origin are recorded. Neuadd now a farm-house, was anciently the mansion of Meredydd ab Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Wales, and appears, from the few remains of the old building which have been found among some rubbish at the back of the present house, to have been erected about the eleventh or twelfth century: among these vestiges were the ruins of an arched window, with mouldings of freestone, in the style of that age. This mansion was once called LlS)'s Wgan, from a rivulet near the spot; and adjoining it is the farm of LlPsr, which appears to have derived its name, a diminutive of Llks, "a palace," from its vicinity to this residence. Near the church is a fine well, dedicated to the patron saint, the water of which was formerly in great repute for its efficacy in the cure of various diseases. The Rev. Joseph Thomas, who married the daughter of Parkhurst, the Hebrew and Greek lexicographer, and who assisted him in the execution Arils literary labours, was born at uysyn.