LLANGANTEN (LLAN-GANTEN), parish, in the union and hundred of BUILTH, county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 2 miles (W.) from
Builth; containing 177 inhabitants. This place has obtained a melancholy celebrity from the death of the gallant Llewelyn
ab Grufydd, prince of North Wales, and the last independent sovereign of that country, who, after the brilliant success
which attended his arms at the straits of Menai, came to his castle at Aberedwy, near Builth, to hold a conference with
the chieftains of this district. While at this place, be was surprised by the unexpected arrival of an English army under
the command of Sir Edmund Mortimer and Johu Giffard, who had obtained intelligence of his movements, and was compelled to
make a hasty retreat to Builth, in the hope of finding security in the castle of that place till be could organize his
forces to repulse the enemy. But being denied entrance into the castle by the garrison, be advanced westward for nearly
three miles up the vale of the Irvon, and crossed the river a little below the church of Llanynis, by a bridge called
Pont-yCoed, intending either to return into North Wales through Llanganten, Llanaven-Vawr, and Llanwrthwl, and thence into
Montgomeryshire, or probably to join his friends in the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke, against whom Edward had sent
an army under Oliver de Dyneham. Having passed the Irvon, he stationed the few troops that accompanied him on the north
bank of the river, where the ground being higher and more precipitous than on the opposite side, and also covered with
wood, a few men might defend the bridge against very superior numbers. In this situation he preserved a communication with
the whole of Brecknockshire, and, relying upon the impracticability of passing the river during the winter season, he
waited for reinforcements from the west. The English forces, who, in consequence of this delay, came up with Llewelyn,
having made some fruitless attempts to obtain possession of the bridge, would probably have been compelled to abandon the
pursuit, had not Sir Elias Welwyn discovered a place where the river was fordable, at some little distance, where a
detachment of the English army, having crossed the river, unexpectedly attacked Llewelyu's forces in the rear, and easily
defeated them. Llewelyn, either during the pursuit, or while watching the movements of the main body of the English army,
which still remained on the opposite bank of the river, was attacked and slain in a small dell in this parish, about two
hundred yards from the scene of action, by Adam de Franc-ton, who plunged a spear into his body, and immediately joined
in pursuit of the fleeing enemy. On his return from the pursuit, probably in search of plunder, he discovered that the
person whom he had wounded, and who was still alive, was the Prince of Wales, and on stripping him, found a letter in
cypher and his privy seal concealed upon his person. Elated with this discovery, Francton immediately cut off his head,
and sent it as an acceptable present to the English king, then at Aberconway. The body of the unfortunate prince was
dragged by the soldiers to the spot where the road from Builth now divides into two branches, one leading to Llanavan, and
the other to Llangammarch, and there interred. The dell in which he was killed is to this day called Cwm Llewelyn, or "
Llewelyn's dingle," and the spot where he was interred, Cevn Bedd Llewelyn, or " the ridge of the grave of Llewelyn," by
which name the village at that place is known. The parish, situated on the road leading from Llandovery to Builth, is
bounded on the south by the river lrvon, which divides it from the parish of Llanynis, and on the north by the Whevri; and
comprises by computation 2800 acres, of which about 580 are arable, the same number pasture, and an equal quantity meadow
and woodland; the soil is in general light and gravelly, and the surface, though not hilly, considerably undulated: of
the rateable annual value, the return is £707. The surrounding scenery is pleasingly varied, and, though not distinguished
by any striking peculiarity of feature, is agreeably enlivened by the streams which nearly circumscribe the parish, and
the banks of which are in many places richly clothed with wood: Kilmeri, in the parish, was formerly a place of some note,
but time has changed it into a common farm-house. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £1000 royal bounty; net
income, X64; patron and appropriator, Prebendary of Llandarog, in the Collegiate Church of Brecknock: about four acres
of glebe land are attached to the living, but there is no parsonage-house. The church, dedicated, according to some
authorities, to St. Catherine, and to others, to St. Canten, from which latter the parish is supposed to derive its name,
is a small edifice, situated in a narrow dell near the south bank of the river Whevri; it contains no monuments, and is
distinguished by no architectural details of importance. About 25 children are instructed at the expense of their parents
in a day school, which is kept only four months in the year; and 35 in a Sunday school, supported by subscription. The
sums of £2. 10. to the poor, and ten shillings to the minister for preaching a sermon, are paid annually at Christmas,
arising either from the estates of Rees Price, Esq., or from those of William Price, Esq., who died in 1718. Mrs. Parry,
in 17'21, bequeathed a rent-charge of twenty shillings, issuing from a tenement in the parish of Llanthetty, to be paid to
the poor of this parish on the Thursday before Easter, with power to distrain in the event of non-payment. On a promontory
formed by an angle of the river Irvon, not far from its junction with the Wye, and occupying a strong situation on the
bank of the former stream, is a mound of earth, surrounded by a moat, and nearly circumscribed by the winding of the river;
this fortification is called Castell Caerberis, but there are no records either of its origin or its history. A mineral
spring, of which the water is strongly impregnated with sulphur, was discovered in 1831, on the banks of the Whevri; it
is covered when the water of the river is high, which circumstance may account for its having remained so long unnoticed.
The soil in its immediate vicinity is clayey, and the substratum is composed of rotten clay slate, which, on the banks of
the river, contains nodules or balls nearly circular, varying from four to twelve inches in diameter, in which, when
broken, are found specimens of spar.