CATHEDINE (TIR-Y-CAETH-ADYN), a parish, in the hundred of TALGARTH, county of BRECKNOCK, Sovin WALES, 7 miles (B. B. B.)
from Brecknock, containing 157 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Crickhowel to Tillgarth, and is contiguous to
L1 3)n Savaddan, or Llangorse Mere. The only gentleman's residence is Cathedine Hill House, belonging to the Rev. William
Davies, and now occupied by a tenant. The name of this place signifies, according to Mr. Theophihis Jones, the "land of
the wretched captive," it having been assigned by Bernard de Newmarch, on completing the conquest of this portion of the
principality, towards the support of Gwrgan, son of Bleddyn, the deposed sovereign, whom at the same time he kept in
confinement in Brecknock castle. In a low situation, commanded on almost every side by more elevated ground, anciently
stood the splendid castle of Blaenllyvni, the head of the lordship of Welsh Talgarth, and the borough of that name. Its
founder is unknown, and its history is involved in considerable obscurity. From its contiguity to the lake, it is thought
by some writers to have been the castle called by ancient historians Brecenanmere, which was the residence of Hwgan,
sovereign prince of Brycheiniog, and was stormed, in 910, by the heroic Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, after she had
defeated Hwgan himself on the confines of his dominions, and who carried away his wife and attendants captives into
England; but there are many forcible objections against the correctness of this opinion. The castle was probably, built by
one of the lords marcher: it formed part of the possessions of William de Breos, and was forfeited to the crown, on the
attainder of that nobleman, in the reign of John, who bestowed it upon his favourite, Peter Fitz-Herbert, from whom it was
wrested by Giles de Breos, and on his death descended to his brother, Reginald de Breos, on whose reconciliation with his
father-in-law, it was restored to Fitz-Herbert. On the death of the last-named nobleman, the king conferred it on Walrond
de Teys, from whom it was taken by Peter de Montford, and afterwards passed into the noble families of de Spencer and
Mortimer: on the death of Mortimer, the last Earl of March, it devolved on his brother-in-law, Richard Earl of Cambridge,
who being implicated in the insurrection of Jack Cade, it again escheated to the crown, and was granted, in the reign of
James I., to Sir David Williams, of Gwernyvet. Of this baronial mansion and its lordship Leland thus writes:—" The Honor
of Emu Lleueni standing in a Valley ys in the Walsche Talegarth, wher is yet the Shape of a veri fair Castel now dekeiyng,
and by was a Borow Town now also in Decay. Both longgid to the Earl of March. Though Blaine Lleneni be in the Walsch
Talegarth, yet the Tenauntes kepe the Englisch Tenor." The only remains of this once extensive structure consist of the
fragments of an old wall; and of the ancient borough of Blaenllyvni, which was a borough by prescription, enjoying
considerable privileges, there is not even a single vestige. The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry of
Brecknock, and diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £5. 2. 11., and in the patronage of the Rev. Richard
Davies. The advowson, together with that of Llanelieu, belonged to the prior of Brecknock until the middle of the
thirteenth century, when they were given in exchange to Peter Fitz-Herbert, lord of Blaenllyvni, for those of Talgarth and
Llangorse. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, consists of a nave and chancel with an ill-proportioned western tower,
containing three bells; on the north side stands a building called the Old Chapel, now filled with rubbish. The average
annual expenditure to support the poor amounts to A103. 4.