LLANELIEU (LLAN-ELIEU), a parish, in the union of HAY, hundred of TALGARTH, county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (S.
W. by S.) from Hay; containing 103 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from the dedication of its church to St.
Ellyw, grand-daughter of Brychan, Prince of Brycheiniog, who ruled over this territory about the commencement of the fifth
century, and was distinguished chiefly for the number and the piety of his children. It is bounded on the north by the
parishes of Glttsbury and Hay, by that of Tillgarth on the south and west, and by the Black Mountains on the south and
east; and comprises by computation about 1860 acres, of which nearly 700 are arable, 450 pasture, 200 woodland, and the
remainder sheep-walks on the Black Mountain. The surface of the ground is extremely uneven and irregular, and the soil is
consequently various, but in general a red loamy earth; producing, besides the ordinary grain, peas, turnips, and
potatoes. A considerable portion of the parish being mountain land, affords only pasturage for sheep, cattle, and small
horses; these tracts are in some parts intersected by deep narrow glens or valleys, in which corn is grown; but the farmer
depends more for his support upon his flocks and live stock than upon the agricultural produce of his lands. Of the
rateable annual value, the return is £826. The surrounding scenery is bold, and in some parts romantic; and the view of
the mountains by which the parish is bounded, and of those in the distance, is strikingly grand and beautiful. The wood
consists of oak, ash, alder, and scotch fir; and numerous brooks water the parish. There were formerly several ancient
mansions, but they have been all abandoned as family residences by their proprietors, and are at present occupied as farm-
houses: one of these called Llanelieu Court, which is situated near the church, and formerly belonged to a family of the
name of Aubrey, has on the sides of the entrance gateway to it the following inscriptions," Excitus acta probat, 1676;"
"Sic Nora sic vita;" "Deus nobis hec otaa fecit, R. A. W. M. Anno Domini;" " Noctua II vola, 1676, W. A. H. I.;" "
Non Jupiter guidon omnibus placet;" " Spes alit exules." The living is a discharged rectory, endowed with £200 royal
bounty; patron, Earl of Ashburnham: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £100, subject to rates, averaging
£3 per annum; and there is a glebe of 28 acres, with a parsonage-house. The church is a small ancient edifice, consisting
of a nave and chancel; and is situated in a mountain dell, sheltered on the south-east by the Black Mountains, to the
base of which the cultivated portion of the lands extends; from the churchyard is obtained a beautiful and extensive view
of the chain of mountains comprising the Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire Beacons, with the fertile tract intervening
between it and the Black Mountains. Walter Watkins, of Cwm, in Glasbury, by will, in 1775, charged certain lands called
Tir Jenkin Perrot, in this parish, with the payment of the annual sum of ten shillings to two of the poorest legitimate
children in it, but the charity has been lost for many years. The parish is, however, one of those which are entitled,
under the ample and benevolent bequest of the Rev. Rice Powell, to the advantages of the Boughrood charity at St. David's,
Brecon, for apprenticing poor children, although not more than three or four children from this place received benefit
from the charity during the ten years ending in 1835. Within a cairn in a field on the Porthaml estate, the property of
Lord Ashburnham, in the parish, was found, some years since, a spear-head of flint, nearly seven inches in length, and two
inches broad in the widest part, which had been rudely chipped into its artificial form, and appears to have been made
before the use of iron was known in this country. In the same cairn was a coarse earthen vessel, which, in the eagerness
of the workmen to discover the treasure it was supposed to contain, was broken.