LLANGERNIEW (LLAN-GERNIEW), a parish, in the union of LLANRWST, partly in the hundred of ISALED, and partly in the hundred of
ISDULAS, county of DENBIGH, NORTH WALES, 8 miles (W. by N.) from Denbigh; containing 1114 inhabitants. This parish is
situated on the banks of the river Elwy, and comprises a large portion of one of the most rugged and mountainous parts of
the country. The mansion of Havodunnos, within its limits, is stated to have been originally a religious foundation; but
no authentic account has been preserved of such an establishment, nor are there any vestiges of the ancient buildings:
the present edifice is in the Elizabethan style. There is also another good old mansion in the parish, called Pennant.
Several attempts to procure lead and copper ore have been made, but the quantity found has been considered insufficient to
afford an adequate remuneration to the adventurers. That part of the parish in the hundred of Isaled comprises the Upper
and Lower divisions, and is returned of the rateable annual value of £2372; and that which is in the hundred of Isdulas
forms the hamlet of Marchaled, and is returned at £587. Fairs are held on March 29th, May 16th, June 28th, September 29th,
and November 29th. The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £7. 6. 0k.; present net income, £275,
with a glebe-house; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph: the rectory is an impropriation, attached to the Precentorship in the
cathedral church of St. Asaph. The tithes have been commuted for a rentcharge of £538. 8. 8., which sum is equally
divided between the rector and the vicar; and the latter has also a glebe of 20a. lr. 21p.', valued at £25 per annum. The
church, dedicated to St. Digain, is a large edifice in excellent repair, and contains some good monuments of the Lloyds of
Hfivodunnos. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Calvinistic Methodists: about 35 children are
instructed in a day school at the expense of the parents; and there are three Sunday schools, in which 380 males and
females are taught gratuitously by the Methodists. Numerous small benefactions for the benefit of the poor, were invested
in 1748 in the purchase of a plot of land called Trn-y-Caeau, then about 17 acres, and now increased to twenty-eight by
various encroachments made on the common previously to the last 25 years. These investments amounted to £115, with £15
added from the poors'-rate, and at present produce about £18 per annum. The chief contributor whose name is recorded on
the benefaction table in front of the gallery in the church, was Mrs. Ursula Lloyd, whose donation was £50. A small part
of the annual fund is laid out by the vicar and churchwardens in bread distributed in Lent to some of the most aged poor,
and the remainder provides clothing for the most necessitous parishioners, among whom it is dispensed on St. Thomas's-day.