ABERDARON (ABER-DARON), a parish, in the hundred of COMMITMAEN, Lleyn division of the county of CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 18
miles (W.S.W.) from Pwllheli, containing 1389 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the extreme point of the
peninsula of Lleyn, the Promontorium Langanum of Ptolemy, derives its name from the small river Daron, which here falls
into the sea, off Bardsey Race. In 1115, Grufydd ab Rhys, Prince of South Wales, took sanctuary in the church of this
place, from the treachery of Grufydd ab Cynan, sovereign of North Wales, who intended to deliver him into the hands of the
English monarch, Henry I. Grufydd ab Cynan commanded the fugitive prince to be dragged from his asylum by force; but his
soldiers were unable to execute his orders, from the strenuous resistance opposed to them by the clergy of the
neighbourhood, who successfully exerted themselves in defence of the privileges of the church; and the young prince, with
his partisans, escaped by night, and set forward on his journey to the deep forest of Strath Towy, in South Wales, where,
having collected the adherents of his family, he commenced hostilities against the Norman and Flemish settlers. Aberdaron
was anciently much resorted to by devotees, as a place of embarkation for Bardsey Island, on their pilgrimage to the
celebrated monastery established there; and on the summit of the promontory are the remains of the ancient Capel Vair, or
Chapel of Our Lady, erected for the use of the mariners, who, previously to their entering upon the dangerous navigation
of the sound, were accustomed to invoke the protection of its tutelar saint. At a small distance from it, and near the
shore, are the remains of another chapel, called Capel Anhaelog, which, like the former, has been suffered, since the
dissolution of Bardsey monastery, to fall into decay, The village, which is small and chiefly inhabited by fishermen, is,
by its isolated situation, and the want of good roads and other facilities of communication, precluded from all
intercourse, except on market days during the summer with Pwllheli, from which place the inhabitants are supplied with
necessaries, and by sea with Liverpool, to which port vessels sail regularly every week with pigs, poultry, and eggs, and
from which they return laden with coal, for the supply of the neighbourhood. A stratum of excellent limestone has recently
been discovered in this parish, which, from its scarcity in this part of the country, promises to be of great benefit to
the farmers: lead-ore has also been found in small quantities. A fair is held here annually on the 26th of June. The
living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Llanvaelrhys annexed, in the archdeacoury and diocese of
Bangor, rated in the king's books at £3. 9. 41., endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Bishop of Bangor: there is also a sinecure rectory, rated at £10. 9. 4i., and in the patronage of the
Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, who usually present a fellow of that college. The church, dedicated
to St. Hyrwyn, a saint of the island of Bardsey, was formerly collegiate, and had the privilege of sanctuary: it is an
ancient structure, consisting of a nave, south aisle, and chancel, and, though at present in a greatly dilapidated state,
appears to have been an elegant and highly finished building, in the ancient style of English architecture: some trifling
remains of stalls are visible in the chancel. There are places of worship for Independents and Calvinistic and Wesleyan
Methodists. A school for the education of poor children of Aberdaron is held here every fourth year, in turn with
LlanvaelrhYs, Bryncroes, and Rhiw; the income of the master arises from the rental of a tenement in the parish of
Bryncroes. Dr. Henry Rowland, Bishop of Bangor, founded an almshouse in that city, in 1616, for six single men, of whom
two are to be of Aberdaron. The courts for the manor of Bardsey were formerly held at a house in this parish, which still
bears the name of " Court; " and on an eminence near it, called Brynn y Crogbren, or the " Gallows' Hill," criminals were
probably executed: another house in the neighbourhood is called Secar, signifying the Exchequer. Below the cliff occupied
by the ruins of Capel Vair is the cave of Ogo Vair, in which there is a well, formerly much frequented by devotees, who
superstitiously believed that, by carrying a mouthful of the water up a circuitous and dangerous path to the summit of the
hill, whatever wish they might entertain would be accomplished. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor
is £494.