LLANVIHANGEL-NANT-MELAN (LLAN-FIHANGEL-NANT-MELAN), a parish, in the union of KINGTON, liberties of the borough of
NEW-RADNOR, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, mile (W. N. W,) from New Radnor; COW-Mining 419 inhabitants, of which number 266
are in the township of Lianvibangel-Nant-Melan. The adjunct to the name of this place is derived from the dedication of
its church to St. Michael, aid its situation on the small stream Melan, which flows into the Somergill brook, that rises
in and runs through the parish. It is divided into the townships of Lienvihangel, and Gwiler, and part of Harp-ton; the
lands are partially inclosed and cultivated; and the soil is venous, being in some parts fertile and productive, and in
others comparatively poor and swampy. The surface is undulated, consisting of from 3800 to 4000 statute acres of inclosed
land, hill ground, woods, &c.; the hills are finely formed, and of pleasing aspect, and the lower part of the parish is
richly clothed with wood. The surrounding scenery is pleasingly varied; and from the higher grounds are some interesting
views, extending over the adjacent country. Lln Llanillyn, in the parish, is a large pond, nearly three,quarters of a
mile in circumference, but from the want of wood both on its banks and in the immediate vicinity, it is destitute of
picturesque beauty. The cascade quaintly. called" Water break its neck" is also within the parish, situated in a narrow
defile, among the hills of Radnor forest, about two miles to the west of New Radnor; the fall is about seventy feet in
perpendicular height; but the water, except after heavy rains, instead of descending in one continuous sheet, trickles
down the rock, and loses all that interest and grandeur of effect which it might otherwise be capable of producing. The
village, though small, is of mere prepossessm.g appearance than many in this part of the principality, and is considerably
enlivened by the traffic occasioned by the roads from Hereford to Aberystwith, and from Knighton and Presteign tie Builth,
which pass through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £4. 13. 4., endowed with
£000 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Crown; present -net income £142, including the produce of 14 acres of
bounty land in this parish, and about 40 in that of Merthyr-Cynog, Breconshire two-thirds of the great tithes are
impropriate in Mrs. Crummer and the Right Hon. T. F. Lewis - the remainder belongs to the vicar. The church, dedicated to
St. Michael, is a small ancient edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel, and though possessing no architectural details
of interest, is kept in good repair and neatly fitted up. Lady Joan Hartstongue bequeathed a bowie and about twenty-five
acres of land at Weythel, iD tho parish of Old Radnor, for the support of a school for the gratuitous education of poor
children of this place, and of Old Radnor and Gladestry, but nothing 143 is now known of this charity, nor of others by
Edward ap Edward, Richard Lloyd, and John Price de Hill, though mentioned in the Parliamentary returns of 1786. The parish
is entitled to one-third of the produce of a farm, let for £21 per annum, in the parish Llandegley, purchased with the
gifts of Evan and Ann Griffiths, made in 1721, and applied to the relief of the poor, agreeably to the directions of the
donors; and there is also a rent-charge of £1 on a small farm within its limits, celled Llaniago, given by an unknown
benefactor for the same purpose. There are two large tumuli, and one of smaller dimensions, but no historical particulars
have been recorded of them; and a mineral spring, called Blaenedew's well, efficacious in curing cutaneous disorders, was
much resorted to in former years.