LLANMEREWIG (LLAN-YR-EWIG) a parish, in the union of FORDEN, lower division of the hundred of NEWTOWN, county of
MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Newtown; containing 167 inhabitants. This place, which is said to have
been formerly a chapelry within the parish of Llanllwchaiarn, is situated in a pleasant part of the county, near the river
Severn, and is intersected by a stream called the Mule, which flows through the eastern portion of it: it comprises about
a thousand acres. The surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified; and the road from Abermule to Kerry, along the bank
of the Mule, is highly picturesque; the soil is fertile, and the lands, which are all inclosed, are in a good state of
cultivation; the rateable annual value being returned at £1140. On the Mule are some corn-mills and a flannel-manufactory.
The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £6. 13. 9.; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph: the tithes have
been commuted for a rent-charge of £132; and there is a glebe of 8 acres, with a house, valued at £20 per annum. The
church, dedicated to St. Llwchaiarn, is a very small ancient edifice, which within the last few years has received some
costly repairs and additions, under the superintendence of Mr. Newnham, Architect. A slender bell-turret has been erected
in the decorated English style, with a cross at its eastern gable about 54 fret from the level of the ground, and at the
western gable a boss of lily work, around which appear the date 1840, and the Greek and Latin titles of the Saviour: the
new front of the porch is an elaborate specimen of the same style when merging into the later English, having a trefoiled
round arch over the entrance, adorned with mouldings, inscriptions and sculpture; and wickets of corresponding style
inclose the porch. The interior is rich in similar decoration, partly in cast-iron and partly in carved oak, the pannelled
ceiling having carved bosses, with painted foliage in stencil: the chancel window is of stained glass by Evans, of
Shrewsbury, and contains two shields under canopies, bearing the text " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve;" the galleries, erected in 1833 and 1839, are plain as to their mouldings, but exceedingly rich in
spandrils of tracery, bosses, pendants, open arches, and running borders, with inscriptions in the church text alphabet,
and they contain 40 additional sittings, the expense having been partly defrayed by a grant of £20 from the Incorporated
Society: other carved work, mingled with castings, appears in the altar, pulpit, reading-desk, font, and doors and
windows. A commodious vestry-room adjoins the north side of the chancel. In the parish is a day school, in which from 10
to 15 boys are instructed at the expense of their parents. In 1792, Mrs. Mary Jacqueri bequeathed £100, the interest to be
given on Christmas-day to the oldest and most infirm of the poor; but, on a division of this lady's effects, it was found
that they were inadequate to provide for all her legacies, and the parish agreed to accept £63, the interest of which, £3.
3., is annually distributed according to the intentions of the donor. On the summit of a hill above the farm called
Giant's bank, about half a mile from the road between Welshpool and Newtown, are the remains of a Roman camp, comprising a
quadrilateral area, in which fragments of ornamental pottery and part of a spear head have been found: from this camp are
seen several of the principal mountains in North Wales. A Roman road leading from Caer-Sws, through the Vale of Severn, to
the Gaer near Montgomery, and thence to Cheater and Wroxeter, the ancient Uriconium of the Romans, may be traced in the
lower part of the parish, near the river Severn.