LLANYSTYNDWY (LLAN-YSTUMDWY), a parish, in the union of PWLLHELI, hundred of EIVIONYDD, Eivionydd division of the county
of CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 7 miles (N.E. by E.) from Pwllheli; containing 1241 inhabitants. This pariah, of which the name
signifies the church on the windings of the river Dwy, is pleasantly situated on the northern shore of Cardigan bay, and
on the turnpike-road leading from Pwllheli to Tremadoc; and is bounded on the north by the parishes of Llanvihangel-y-
Pennant and Dolbenmaen, on the east by that of Criccieth, and on the west by that of Llanarmon. It comprises by
computation about 6200 acres, of which 2500 are arable, the same number pasture, 1000 woodland, and 200 waste or common;
the land, which gradually rises from the bay, is plentifully wooded, and commands fine views of the sea and of a great
variety of beautifully picturesque scenery in the vicinity, which is enlivened by some handsome seats, forming interesting
features in the landscape: the rateable annual value of the parish is returned at £4324. 12. Of the seats the principal is
Pills Hen, an ancient family mansion, celebrated as having been the residence of Sir Howel y Vwyall, who attended the
Black Prince to the field of Poictiers, and is said to have taken the French king prisoner in the battle fought there.
Another old mansion is Abercain, formerly the residence of the Vaughans, lineal descendants of Collwyn ap Tango, of one of
the fifteen tribes of Wales. Gwynvryn and Trevan, also in the parish, are both elegant houses, and noted for the frequent
and sanguinary feuds maintained between their respective lords, towards the close of the fifteenth century. The village,
which is small, but has a very pretty appearance, is situated in a fine vale watered by the Dwy, the largest river in the
county, and over which a neat bridge of three arches has been erected near it. A fair is held on April 17th. The living is
a rectory, rated in the king's books at £11. 8.1i.; patron, Bishop of Bangor: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-
charge of £485. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and nearly rebuilt in 1819, is a handsome edifice, very
neatly fitted up, consisting of a nave, chancel, and north and south aisles, and measures 90 feet in length and 30 in
breadth; the north aisle was erected by Mrs. Priestly, and the late Ellis Nanney, Esq., of Gwhivryn, under the sanction of
a faculty. The Rev. Ellis Anwyl Owen, A.M., the rector, has endowed the living with five acres of good land, on which he
has built an excellent parsonage-house. There are places of worship for Anabaptists, Independents, and Calvinistic
Methodists. A National school was established in 1819, for the gratuitous instruction of children; and a school-house was
built with funds that had accumulated from the rectory during the period for which it was held by Dr. Hughes, Canon
Residentiary of St. Paul's, London, under a dispensation. The building, though small, is very neat, substantial, and
commodious, and situated in the village, on land given for the purpose by the late Sir Thomas Mostyn; and there are at
present 80 children in the school, which is partly supported by the funds above-noticed, amounting to £400, and the rent
of a field let at £8 per annum, both the gift of Dr. Hughes, and a bequest of £220, by Ellis Nanney, Esq., in 1819, the
whole vested in the three and a half per cent. stock; the master receives a salary of £35 per annum, and the mistress £3
for teaching 12 girls. There are four Sunday schools, appertaining to dissenters, in which 170 males and females are
taught gratuitously. The Rev. John Jones, in 1690, bequeathed £50 in money, the interest to be distributed among ten
people not receiving parochial relief; which sum, with £10 left by Robert Owen, was expended in erecting six houses, now
occupied by poor families put in by the parish. A person unknown left £100, in trust to the owner of PIM Hen, the interest
of which, £5, is now Paid by the possessor of the property, the Hon. Edward Mostyn Lloyd Mostyn, of Mostyn Hall, and is
given to 20 of the poorest inhabitants, according to the will of the donor; and Thomas Pritchard, in 1720, bequeathed £10
to the poor, which remained in the hands of the late parish-clerk, since whose death nothing has been paid. The late
William Ellis, collector and coast officer at Conway, bequeathed by will, in 1814, the interest of £1000 consolidated
three per cent.. annuities, after the death of his daughter, born in 1791, to be expended annually in purchasing clothing
and other necessaries for twelve of the poorest persons of the parish, where be was born.