LLANVAIR, or LLANVAIR-CAEREINION (LLAN-FAIR-CAER-EINION), a market-town and parish, in the union of LLANVYLLIN, lower
division of the hundred of MATHRAVAL, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 8 miles (W.) from Welshpool, 16 (N. W.) from
Montgomery, and 185 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 2743 inhabitants. The name of this place is derived from the
dedication of its church to St. Mary, and its distinguishing adjunct from an ancient encampment said to have been
constructed, in the latter part of the fourth century, by Einion Yrth, tenth son of Cunedda Wledig, the Cumbrian prince.
The town is pleasantly situated on the declivity of an eminence rising from the south bank of the small river Banwy, which
falls into the Vyrnwy, and on the turnpike-road leading from Welshpool to Machynlleth and Dalgelley. It consists
principally of two streets, intersecting each other nearly at right angles, and is neatly built and of prepossessing
appearance. The manufacture of flannel is carried on to a moderate extent: the market, which is abundantly supplied with
corn and provisions of all kinds, is on Saturday; and fairs are held annually on Shrove Tuesday, Saturday before Palm
Sunday, May 18th, July 26th, October 3rd, November 1st, and on the Friday before Christmas-day, for horses, cattle, sheep,
and wares. The town is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates: the petty sessions for the lower division of the
hundred of Mathraval are occasionally held here; and Llanvair was made, by the Reform Act of 1832, one of the polling-
places in the election of a knight for the shire. The town-hall is a plain, but neat and commodious building. The parish
extends seven miles in length and six in breadth, and comprises a large tract of arable and pasture land: all the
remaining wastes were inclosed under an act of parliament obtained in the year 1810, for the division and inclosure of the
waste lands of this place, Llangyniew, and Castle Caer Einion, including all in the manor of Caer Einion is Coed; and
considerable portions have been brought under cultivation in this parish, of the entire surface of which, prior to that
time, not more than two-thirds had been inclosed. The rateable annual value of the parish has been returned at £9550. The
ground is boldly undulated, rising in some parts into lofty eminences; and the entire district is pleasingly diversified,
combining also many features of picturesque beauty, and numerous objects of interest to the antiquary. The living is a
discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £10, and endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty;
present net income, £400; patron, Bishop of St. Asaph; impropriators, Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart., and H. Jones, Esq.: the
tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £779, of which a sum of £450 is payable to the impropriators; £314 to the
vicar, who has also a glebe of 43 acres, valued at £50 per annum; and £15 to the parish-clerk. The church, dedicated to
St. Mary, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, containing some old monuments, among which
is one, under a window on the southern side, bearing the effigy of a knight in armour, well executed in stone. There are
five places of worship for Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, four for Independents, two for Wesleyans, and one for Baptists.
The schools consist of four day schools, in which 112 children of both sexes are instructed at their parents' expense; an
infants' school, containing about 45 children; and four Sunday schools, attended by 300 males and females, taught by
benevolent individuals. In 1685 William and Mary Edwards and Elizabeth Davis gave a rent-charge of £2, payable out of a
farm called Derwteg, in the township of Rhiw Hiriaeth in the parish, for instructing ten poor children, which is given to
a master for that purpose. Evan James, of Gelligason, in the parish, bequeathed, in 1687, the sum of £50, directing the
interest to be appropriated to the apprenticing of children of that hamlet and of the hamlet of Penarth; the money is
invested on a bond of the trustees of the third district of the Montgomeryshire turnpike-roads, and yields an interest of
£2. 10. per annum, which is expended in apprenticing a boy annually. There is also a trifling benefaction of a rent-charge
of £1 for distribution among the poor. The Roman road from Caer-Sws to Mediolanum, Banchorium, and Deva, passed through
the hamlets of Penarth and Rhiw Hiriaeth, and traces of it may still be discerned near Ystrad, about two miles south of
the town. In a field near the river Banwy, a Roman urn was dug up, in 1740, containing a great number of copper coins of
several Roman emperors; the urn was broken, but many of the coins are at present in the possession of Mrs. Jenkins, of
Crosswood. On the summit of the hill above Rhiw Hiriaeth House are the remains of an ancient encampment, said to be the
fortress constructed by Einion, from whieh the parish derives the distinguishing adjunct to its name.