LLANUWCHYLLIN (LLAN-UWCH-YLLIN), a parish, in the union of BALA, hundred of PENLLYN county of MERIONETH, NORTH WALES,
5 miles (S. W. by S.) from Bala, on the road to Dolgelley; containing 1327 inhabitants. This parish, which is very
extensive, comprises a large tract of mountainous and uncultivated land, including Pen113m, the highest peak of the Aran
mountains; and abounds with scenery of picturesque beauty and romantic grandeur, of which one of the most remarkable
features is Bwlch-y-Groes, or " the pass of the cross," one of the most difficult and arduous in North Wales, environed by
precipitous mountains, occasionally relieved with verdant hills and narrow sheep-walks: the pass itself is a dreary flat,
to which is an ascent by a steep narrow tortuous path, terminating at the crucifix from which it took its name. Near it is
a beautiful cascade formed by the Twrch, an impetuous mountain torrent rushing from the Arans, and precipitating itself
with violence over huge masses of broken rock, which, heaped on each other in its bed, arrest its violent progress: the
water, diverted from its course, forces itself through the fissures in the rocks, which are occasionally interspersed with
various plants that have taken root in the crevices, and descends with renewed violence into its channel, which crosses
the road. A craggy perpendicular cliff, rising from the margin e e stream, about a quarter of a mile above this fall, adds
another romantic feature to the scene. From the summit of Aran Penqn are obtained fine views of other mountains of North
Wales, and of many in the southern part of the principality. The village is pleasantly situated on the public road, near
the south-western extremity of Bala lake, called by the Welsh 46 Lltn Tegyd," and by the English 46 Pemble Mere." Slate is
quarried in the parish; and peat and turf are found in abundance. Fairs are held, chiefly for cattle, horses and sheep, on
April 25th, June 20th, September 22nd, and November 22nd. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £600 royal
bounty, and £1400 parliamentary grant; net income, £113; patron and impropriator, it W. W. Wynne, Bart., who pays £20 per
annum to the curate under the will of Edward Price, Esq., in 1725, a former proprietor of the rectorial tithes, and who
also bequeathed from the same source fA annually to the poor of the parish. The rectory, rated in the king's books at £8.
10. 21., is in the gift of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The church, dedicated to St. Deiniol, who flourished in the 6th
century, is an ancient structure, and was newly pewed and seated in 1820: on the north side of the chancel is the effigy
of an armed warrior, with the following mutilated inscription, as read by Mr. Pennant:- " Hie facet Johannes ap  *   ap
Madoc ap 1--eth, ergus anima pretur Dear. Amen. wino Doni. MC CC. V. 88." In the churchyard is a yew tree of remarkably
fine growth. There are places of worshil for Independents and Calvinistic Methodists. school, established nearly a century
since and con. taming 60 children, mostly boys, is partly supported by an endowment of £25 per annum, under the will of
the Rev. Dr. Daniel Williams, in 1711, for the education of 30 boys, who are also provided with books; the rest of the
children are paid for by their parents. There is also another day school, belonging to Independents, in which 13 children
are instructed at the expense of their parents; and about 560 males and females are taught gratuitously in ten Sunday
schools, in connexion with. the different denominations of dissenters. The Rev. Maurice Vaughan, one of the canons of the
Royal Chapel of Windsor, in 1721, erected an almshouse here for three aged men and the same number of aged women, which he
endowed with two tenements in the parish, and with £200, for keeping it in repair: the income amounts to £42 per annum;
and the almshouse, containing six apartments, is a substantial building, situated about a mile and a half from the
village, with a small patch of potatoe ground cultivated by the inmates, who receive about £6 per annum each in half-
yearly payments, and about £5 annually between them for their clothing. Mr. Thomas Owen, of Talardd, left £5 per annum for
the instruction of poor children of this place, which sum he ordered to be applied every third year to the education of
children of the adjoining parish of Llanymowddwy. The sum of £5 per annum is also paid out of the estate of plan Llyn, for
apprenticing one boy, bequeathed for that purpose by a former proprietor; and the Rev. Dr. Williams also directed that
two or three boys should be apprenticed yearly, according to the state of the above funds bequeathed by him for education:
one or two are annually apprenticed with premiums of £7 each accordingly. The commissioners have recommended that the
proceeds of Edward Price's charity, another small one of 5s. per annum, and two-thirds of Thomas Owen's benefaction,
making in the whole £7. 11. 8. a year, should be applied to promote education. The parish is supposed to have been known
to the Romans; and Camden conjectures that an ancient fortress called Caer Gai, on the north side of the small river
Lliw, supposed to be Roman, from the number of coins found there, was originally erected by a Roman commander named Caius;
an opinion formed from its name. Among the coins which have been found here at various times were some of the emperor
Domitian, discovered within the last few years; and a stone has also been dug up, bearing the inscription Hic facet
Sal:gem:a Bursocavi Mitts Capetian. The Welsh attribute the origin of this fortress to Cai Hir, foster brother of King
Arthur, and his companion in arms; and Spenser, who appears to have been well versed in the traditionary legends of his
time, makes this place the seat of the early education of that renowned hero, under his foster-father, who lived at the
foot of the Aran mountain, and to whom the poet gives the more classical name of Timon. In the vicinity of this station
are vestiges of roads resembling those of the Romans, leading from the station Eryri Mons, at Tommen-i-Miir, near
Festiniog, and from Castell Prysor, in the parish of Trawsvynydd, to the ancient Mediolanum, probably near Meivod. Within
the area inclosed by the fortification was erected, several centuries ago, a large mansion subsequently belonging to
Rowland Vaughan, Esq., a zealous royalist, which was burnt in 1645, by the parliamentarians, and the outer walls of which,
with more modern additions, now form a large farm-house. On the opposite bank of the river, and occupying the summit of a
rocky eminence, are the remains of a fortress designated Castell Cam Dochen, of the foundation of which no authentic
particulars are on record: it was of considerable extent, built of mortar made of sea shells mixed with gravel, and faced
with freestone. Mr. Pennant thinks it not improbable that this was the castle of Rind Vlaidd, lord of the hundred of
Pen1131n, whose armorial bearings decorate an effigy in the church: the other bearings, with which that monument is
adorned, the same writer considers to be those of Cunedda Wledig, a Cumbrian prince, whose sons, after his defeat by the ,
Saxons, established themselves in various parts of the principality, and from whose grandson Meirion is derived the name
of the county. -Rowland Vaughan, who translated into Welsh Bishop Bailey's " Practice of Piety," and Dr. Brough's " Manual
of Prayer," resided at Caer Gai, in the latter part of the seventeenth century.