CASCOB, a parish partly within the liberties of the borough of NEW-RADNOR, county of RADNOR, SOUTH WALES, and partly in a
detached portion of the hundred of WIGMORE, county of HEREFORD, 5 miles (W.N.W.) from Presteign. The population is partly
returned with the hamlet of Litton, and High and St. David's-street wards, in the parish of Presteign, and that part of
the parish which is not so returned contains 121 inhabitants. This parish, in Domesday-book called Coscope, contains three
thousand two hundred and fifty acres of land, of which about eleven hundred and fifty are enclosed and in a state of
cultivation. The soil is of various kinds, part being rich meadow and pasture land, part well adapted for tillage, and a
large portion of a very inferior description. A small stream, called Cascob brook, rises in the parish, in two different
sources, one in the western part, and the other on the south-west side, the two branches uniting at a distance of about a
mile from their respective springs, and forming first the boundary between the parishes of Cascob and Old Radnor, and
subsequently that between the townships of Cascob and Litton with Cascob, and finally joining the river Ltig. The surface
of the parish is various, part being composed of a narrow plain, bordered by sloping ascents, and part rising gradually to
a considerable elevation, and constituting part of the Forest of Radnor. The township of Cascob consists of the manors of
Ackwood and Cwmygerwyn, which were formerly a part of the Marches, and belonged to the crown, being specifically reserved
to it in the charter granted to the borough of New Radnor. On the enclosure of waste lands in this township, pursuant to
an act passed in the 53rd of George III., ten acres and three roods were assigned to the crown in Ackwood, and ninety
acres and two roods at Cwmygerwyn, in lien of manorial rights: both these allotments have since been alienated, the
former to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, for augmenting the benefice of Stow in Shropshire, and the latter to
Richard Price, Esq. The manor of Litton and Cascob is parcel of that of Stapleton, and belongs to the Earl of Oxford: the
mesne manor is the property of - Bodenham, Esq. The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and
diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £ 7. 0. 7i., endowed with £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of
the Bishop of St. David's. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a small ancient structure, consisting of a nave,
chancel, and a low tower, the last surmounted by a shed, containing two bells. On an elevated situation in the western
part of this parish, bordering on that of New Radnor, there is a low mound of dark peat earth, called the Black Mixen ;
and near the junction of the two brooks, on the south-west side of the western portion of the parish, is the site of an
ancient mansion, surrounded by a moat, enclosing a circular area more than one hundred feet in diameter: the present
house called " The Moat" is built within the ancient moat, on the north-west side of the area: there is a slight
embankment on the edge of this area, which is highest on the western side, probably constructed for defence. The average
annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £23. 10.