ABERYSCIR, or ABERESCIR (ABER-ESGAIR), a parish, in the hundred of MERTHYR-CYNOG, county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 3
miles (W. N. W.) from Brecknock, containing 110 inhabitants. This place is pleasantly situated on the river Yscir, near
its confluence with the Usk, and from that circumstance derives its name. The former of these rivers is crossed by two
bridges in the vicinity, namely, Pont ar Yscir, to the west of the parish of Battle, and Pont ar Vran, on the road to
'Frallong; and the latter by Aberbran bridge, which is now undergoing repair, and by a handsome stone bridge from the
grounds of Penpont, another of the same material in the grounds of Abercamlais, and a small suspension bridge near the
latter residence. The mesne lordship of Aberyscir, formerly held under the lords of Cantref-Selyf, and separated only by
the Yscir from the ruined town of Caer-Bannau, once the capital of the county, was given by Bernard Newmarch to Sir Hugh
Surdwal, or  Sir Hugh of the Solitary Vale, whose residence is stated by tradition to have occupied the site of a more
modern house, near the junction of the rivers, now occupied by a farmer. The soil, which is chiefly arable, consists of
light loam mixed with gravel, well adapted for the production of turnips, barley, and clover: the ground on the south is
of easy ascent, and on the west and east it is rather steep, terminating in a hill. The living, which was formerly a
discharged vicarage, is now a rectory, having been endowed with the great tithes, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and
diocese of St. David's, rated as a vicarage in the king's books at £3. 6. 3., and in the patronage and incumbency of the
Rev. David Jones. The church, which formerly belonged to the priory of Malvern, is dedicated, according to some
authorities, to St. Mary, and according to others to St. Cynidr: it is beautifully situated on the western bank of the
river Yscir, in the angle between that river and the Usk, but is only a mean-looking building, possessing no claim to
architectural notice. There is neither parsonage-house nor glebe land attached to the living, though close to the church
is a small farm of about thirty-five acres, with a house, barn, and out-buildings, now in a dilapidated state, called "
The Parsonage;" but whether or not it ever did belong to the church, at any period, has not been ascertained; if so, it
may probably have been alienated during the protectorate of Cromwell. This parish participates in a donation of land by
the Rev. Mr. Powell, vicar of Boughrood, in 1686, for apprenticing poor children. Nearly opposite the church, on the
eastern bank of the Yscir, is the Roman station called the Gaer, or Caer Bannau, whence the Sarn Helen, in its course to
Neath, the Nidum of the Romans, joined the Via Julia Maritima at some distance from this place: it crossed the Yscir a
little above the church, and proceeded through this parish nearly in the direction of the present turnpike road to
Aberbran. Near the margin of the Usk is an artificial mount surrounded by a moat, which was probably the site of the keep
belonging to the ancient mansion of the Surdwals. Of this family was Hywel Surdwal, one of the heraldic bards of Wales,
who flourished towards the close of the fifteenth century: he was employed by Edward IV. to certify the pedigree of the
first Earl of Pembroke of the Herbert family. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor is 4.82. 4.