LLANSANTFRAID-YN-MECHAN (LLAN-SANT-FFRAID-YN-MECHAIN), a parish, in the union of LLANVYLLIN, partly in the upper division of the hundred of DEYTHUR, and partly in the lower division of that of PooL, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 6 miles (E. by N.) from Llanvyllin; containing 1399 inhabitants, of which number 884 are in the main body of the parish, on the northern side of the river Vyrnwy, and the remainder in the several hamlets of Coilvryn, Llanerchila, Tredderwen - Vawr, and Tr& wylan, on the southern side of the same stream. The parish is beautifully situated in a very picturesque part of the Vale of Vyrnwy, and is divided into two parts by the river which gives name to that rich and fertile vale: it comprises a very extensive tract of arable and pasture land; and in some parts of it is found abundance of peat, which forms the principal fuel of the inhabitants. The surrounding scenery is beautifully varied, and from the higher grounds the vales of Salop and the Severn, with the lofty hills by which they are bounded, are pleasingly conspicuous. The turnpike-road from Shrewsbury, through Llanvyllin, to Bala, passes through the village, in which fairs are annually held on the Tuesday before Easter, May 22nd, and October 3rd. Of the rateable annual value of the whole parish, the amount is £7523, of which £4074 have been returned for the portion in the hundred of Pool, and £3449 for that in the hundred of Deythur. The living consists of a rectory and a vicarage, both in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph; the rectory, which is a sinecure, rated in the king's books at £14. 6. 8., and the vicarage, which is discharged, at £5. 17. 6.: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £809. 15., of which a sum of £570 is payable to the rector, who has also a glebe of nearly 22i acres; £215 to the vicar, who has a glebe of about 111 acres, and a house; and £24. 15. to an mpropriator. The church, which appears to have been built at different periods, is a neat structure, principally in the early style of English architecture, and contains some good monuments: the interior was greatly improved in 1830, by the removal of the old benches and the substitution of regular pews. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Calvinistic Methodists; also are two infants' schools, commenced in 1832, in which 25 females are instructed at the expense of their parents; two day schools, one of which, containing 11 children, is endowed with land amounting to £70 per annum; and in the other about 50 children are taught at their parents' expense; a National school, begun in 1824, and supported by subscription, in which are 80 children daily, and 60 on Sundays; and seven Sunday schools, appertaining to dissenters, and attended by 330 males and females. There are some small rent-charges appropriated to the poor: one of 20s. by John Williams, f Salop, in 1714, on a field termed the Poor's Meadow, situated in the village, is distributed among eight decayed housekeepers on every first of March; another of £1. 6. was created in 1754, by Edward Whitfield, on a piece of land called Erw Cae Howel, to provide twelve loaves of bread to be given to twelve of the poorest parishioners on every " Welsh Sunday," thereby meaning the Sundays on which the service is performed in Welsh; and a third charge of £2 per annum, created by Mrs. Jane Jones, in 1768, is payable out of a farm called Waen, but it has been latterly withheld under the plea of the statute of mortmain. The tablet in the church records the bequest of Mrs. Griffiths, of Gravel-Hill, of £100, the interest of which sum, and of £20 left by Mrs. Seddon, in 1805, is distributed annually on Trinity Monday among the poor. There are remains of several British camps in the parish. In the hamlet of Trewylan, in a meadow which has the appearance of having once been a morass, is a post corresponding exactly with the description given by Caesar of the ancient British posts; it is seen very distinctly from the Meivod road, about a quarter of a mile from Pont-y-Pentre. On the hill called the Voel, on the Llanvyllin road, are the remains of an old British camp, the site of which is in some degree concealed by the partial plantation of the hill; but the fosse and dyke are clearly discernible from Pont-y- Pentre and the Llangedwin road. There was also a post on the latter road, occupying the summit of Winllan hill, of which the intrenchments, though not so clearly defined, may still be traced. About two miles distant are vestiges of an ancient encampment, called Clawdd C6ch, which, from its form, is supposed to have been of Roman construction. The situation of this post near the confluence of the rivers Tenet, and Vyrnwy, and commanding the entrance into the vales of the Severn and Tanat, and also into that of Llansantfraid, was highly advantageous for the defence of the mines of Llanymynech, which are considered to have been worked by the Romans. Being so close to the river Vyrnvry, it has suffered some demolition, part of the intrenchment on that side having been washed away by the river. This post, which is but little known, has been thought by some antiquaries to be the Mediolanwn of Antoninus; but its relative distance from Heriri Mons, or Tommen-y- Mar, on one side, and from Rutunium and Uriconium, on the other, does not agree with that mentioned in the Itinerary.