LLANGOWER, or LLANGYWAIR (LLAN-GOWER), a parish, in the union of BALA, hundred of PENLLYN, county of MERIONETH, NORTH
WALES, 3 miles (S. by W.) from Bala; containing 368 inhabitants. This parish, which is about five miles in length and
three in breadth, is beautifully situated on the south-eastern side of Bala lake, and on the turnpike-road leading from
Dinasmowddwy to Bala and Corwen. The surface is varied, being in some parts rocky and mountainous, and in others swampy
and marshy, producing peat in great abundance, which forms the principal fuel of the inhabitants. The surrounding scenery
is richly diversified, and in some places highly picturesque, the parish comprising part of the Berwyn range of mountains,
from which is a fine view of Bala lake, of the Aran and Arenig mountains in the distance, and of the intervening country,
which is rich in every variety of beauty. The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £5. 5., and
endowed with £200 royal bounty; present net income, £136, with a glebe-house; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph. The church,
dedicated to St. Gwyr, or Cywair, whose festival is held on July 11th, is an ancient structure, in the early style of
English architecture, and is beautifully situated, with the small village around it, on the south-eastern side of the lake:
in the churchyard is an old yew tree of remarkablegrowth. There is a place of worship for Calvinistic Methodists; and
about 200 males and females are taught gratuitously by the dissenters in three Sunday schools. At the north-eastern
extremity of the lake are two mounds of earth, one of which bears the name of Castell Gronw Bevr o " the castle of Goronow
the Fair of PenlISTn," from its having been the site of a strong hold occupied by that chieftain, who is said to have
lived in the time of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, about the beginning of the sixth century. ' Near this place is Yynnon Gwyr, a well
to which, under the auspices of that saint, extraordinary virtues were attributed. The Rev. Edward Lloyd, A.M., known as
the author of a work in the Welsh language, entitled Meddyginiaeth, a tract on the Sacrament, 48 which he translated from
that published by Bishop Patrick, was for forty years incumbent of the parish; he died in 1685.