LLANVAIR-TALHAIRN, or DOLHAIARN (LLAN-FAIR-TALHAIARN), a parish, in the union of ST-ASAPH, partly in the hundred of ISALED, and partly in the hundred of IsnuiAs, county of DENBIGH, NORTH WALES, 7 miles (S. by W.) from Abergele; containing 1664 inhabitants. This place derives its distinguishing appellation from Talhaiarn, a noted bard and saint of the early ages of Christianity in Britain, and domestic chaplain of Emrys Wledig, who, after that prince was slain, is said to have built a hermitage here, on the site now occupied by the church (which, on its erection, was dedicated to him), where he passed the remainder of his life in seclusion, and died in the beginning of the sixth century: he composed a prayer, which was adopted as their formula in the sessions of the bards of Glamorgan. The place is also distinguished as having been the residence of Hedd Molwynog, a descendant of Roderic the Great, sovereign of all Wales, and chief of one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales: he joined the standard of Davydd ab Owain Gwynedd, and assisted that prince in driving the English from his territories, and pursuing them into the midland counties. There are no vestiges of his residence, except the moat that surrounded it, which is dis. cernible about one mile and a half westward from the village. The parish, which is situated on the road from Llangerniew to Abergele, is bounded on the north by the parish of Bettws-yn-Rhos, on the south by that of Llansannan, on the east by those of Abergele and Llanyvydd, and on the west by that of Llangerniew. The ground throughout is hilly; the soil is a rich loam in the valley that intersects the parish, and on the high grounds gravelly and clayey; and the produce eonsists principally of wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes. Of the rateable annual value of the whole parish, the return made amounts to .f4766, of which £3177 are for the portion in the hundred of haled, and £1589 for that in the hundred of Isdulas. The village is delightfully situated in a deep glen, through which flows the small river Elwy, to its junction with the Aled, one mile lower. The 124 seat of Melai was for centuries the principal resi- dence of the family of Wynne, of which Sir Thomas Wynne, Bart., was created a peer of Ireland by the title of Baron Newborough, in 1776; and Garthewin, an elegant mansion occupying a gentle eminence on the north side of the valley, commanding rich and diversified prospects, and surrounded by extensive woods of full-grown oak, three miles in length, with a large deer park, is still the seat of a younger branch of that family. A fair is appointed to be held on Holy Thursday. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £400 parliamentary grant; net income, £94; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph. The whole of the tithes are divided between the Dean and the two comportionate prebendaries of Llanvair, in the Cathedral Church of St. Asaph; the prebends are each rated in the king's books at £9. 5. 5. The church, dedicated to St. Talhaiarn, is an ancient edifice, possessing few architectural claims to particular description, erected in 1669, as appears from a Greek cross over the belfry bearing that date: the interior, which is divided in the centre by massive pillars supporting heavy arches, measures 24 yards by 12, and contains 559 sittings, of which 90 are free: the east windows are good, and there are several elegant and interesting marble monuments to the family of Wynne. There are places of worship for Baptists and Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. A school was founded, in 1708, by the Rev. Sampson Roberts, who gave for its endowment a small sum, which, together with a benefaction by Dr. Jones, Dean of Bangor, was vested in the purchase of a tenement, called Frith-yrHirdir, producing a rental of £7. 5., for which the master instructs gratuitously twelve poor children; there are between 60 and 70 children in the school, who, with the exception of 30, are paid for by their parents. A National school, also, has been established by R. W. Wynne, Esq., of Garthewin, who, in December, 1835, conveyed ground for its erection and endowment, and also founded a similar school in the parish of Llandulas; and in May, 1836, Mr. Wynne further conveyed to the Bishop of St. Asaph and the incumbent, certain lands for the maintenance of these schools, which are also supported by the donations of benevolent individuals, and grants from the National Society. About 140 persons are taught gratuitously in the Sunday schools established in the church; and there are 165 in two Sunday schools appertaining to Methodists. John Wynne of Melai, in 1688, bequeathed to the parish £90, arising out of an estate called NantMawr, now in the possession of Lord Newborough, by whom £4. 10. are annually paid as a rent-charge upon that property.. Divers legacies which were left to the poor, between the years 1708 and 1738, were many years since consolidated, amounting together to £103; and this sum was in different hands till 1809, when it was laid out in building six tenements, which have since that time been occupied by paupers. Gilbert mentions a donation of Abel Mitchell, in 1689, of £25, and the gifts of Robert Wynne and Foulk Hughes, of £5 each; but the parish knows nothing whatever of these monies, except that Mitchell's charity was the fourth part of £100, left to this parish and those of Henllan, Lisasannan, and Llanyvydd, none of which have ever received the bequest. On a tablet in the church are recorded numerous charitable gifts of benefactors to the poor, amounting to several hundred pounds, no part of which is now applied to that purpose, except thirty shillings per annum, arising from property in Cynnant.