LLANVIGAN, or LLANVEUGAN (LLANFEIGAN), a parish, comprising the Upper and Lower divisions, in the hundred of PENCELLY,
union of BRECKNOCK and county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (S. E. by S.) from Brecknock; and containing' 662
inhabitants, of which number 287 are in the Upper, and 375 in the Lower, division. This place derives its name from the
dedication of its church to St. Veugan, or Meugan, who, according to the late lob Morganwg, was preceptor to the renowed
Merlyn Emrys, and also distinguished himself as a poet. It is situated nearly in the central part of the county, and once
formed the head of the extensive lordship of Pencelly, which was afterwards divided into five minor lordships, and gave
name to the present hundred. The ancient castle of Pencelly, of which there are at present scarcely any vestiges, was
situated in the village, about a quarter of a mile to the east of the church. By whom, or at what time, it was originally
built is not known; but in the 28th of Edward I. it belonged to Roger Mortimer, who was in that year summoned to
parliament by the title of Baron Mortimer of Pencelly Castle: it is also noticed by Leland, who describes it as existing
in his time, in the possession of the Herberta, between whom and the Duke of Buckingham the lordship of Pencelly was then
divided. The family mansion of the Herberts, which was afterwards erected on the site of the castle, and of which some
portions are remaining, has undergone so many alterations as scarcely to retain any of its original character, and is now
in the occupation of a farmer. The manor and site of the ancient castle are, by marriage with the heiress of the late
Thynne Howe Gwynne, of Buck-land, Esq., the property of James Gwynne Holford, Esq., of Cilgwpi, in the county of
Carmarthen. The village is pleasantly situated at a short distance from the river Usk, which forms the principal boundary
of the parish on the north and east; and the surrounding scenery is pleasing and well-wooded, and in some parts
picturesque. Blaennant is a handsome modern mansion, surrounded with fine plantations: the grounds are tastefully laid
out, and command a fine view of the Brecknockshire Beacons, which form a striking feature in the scenery of this part of
the principality. The lands, in some places wet and marshy, are principally arable; and the inhabitants are chiefly
employed in agriculture. The Brecknock and Abergavenny canal passes through the village, where are several wharfs for
landing the coal and limestone brought down it for the supply of the neighbourhood. Of the annual value of the rateable
property in the parish, the return amounts to £3570, of which £2368, is for the hamlet of Pencelly, or the Lower division,
and £1202, for the hamlet of Glyn Collwyn, or Upper division. The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £20.
10.; patron, C. K. Kemeys Tynte, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £560, of which £110 are payable
to an impropriator, and £450 to the rector, who has also a glebe of 26 acres, valued at £45 per annum, and a glebe-house.
Part of the great tithes, once belonging to the chapel of St. Leonard, within the castle of Pencelly, has, since the
Reformation, been received by the lord of the manor. The church, an ancient and well built edifice, with a square tower of
good proportions, is beautifully situated on the declivity of a lofty ridge, at some distance from the south bank of the
river Usk, and commanding an extensive view down the Vale of Usk, and of the Black Mountains. The churchyard contains some
of the finest yew trees in South Wales; one of them is nine and a half yards, and another seven and a half in girth; and
though generally of a very great age, their trunks are mostly perfectly sound. In the upper division of the parish is the
chapel of Glyn Collwyn, to which the rector presents. There is a place of worship for Presbyterians: about 15 children are
instructed in a day school, at the expense of their parents; and 130 males and females in two Sunday schools gratuitously
by the dissenters. The Rev. Richard Turberville, incumbent of the place in 1635, bequeathed to his servant, William David,
two closes of land, called Crovtau and Tir-y-Gengin, in the parish, charged with the payment of £5 per annum to the poor:
both which, after the death of the legatee, were resigned to the minister and churchwardens, who receive the rents and
distribute them according to the intention of the testator: they consist of about 4 acres of arable, and 7 of copse wood,
and are let at £11 per annum. Captain Thomas Powell, of Pencelly Castle, about the commencement of the seventeenth
century, gave £100 to the poor, which sum was vested in the purchase of lands at Glynderi, now let at a yearly rent of
£23. 10; and a tenement bequeathed to the poor by an unknown benefactor is let at £11. Mrs. Lettice Parry, by her will in
1721, charged a tenement called LIwyncelyn, in the parish oThf lanthetty, with the payment of £1 per annum; and two other
benefactors, Mrs. Walters and Mrs. Bowens, charged tenements, named respectively Cethinog and Tk Newydd, in the parish,
with the annual sum of £2 each. The produce arising from these benefactions, amounting to £41, is annually distributed
among the poor on Good Friday, and the rents of the farms on St. Thomas's-day. Gilston, or Gileston, was formerly a manor
or lordship in this parish, and was conferred by Bernard Newmarch on Sir Giles Pierrepoint, whose posterity and name have
been long extinct in the grin- cipality.