MONKNASH (MONK-NASH), a parish, in the union of BRIDGEND-AND-COWBRIDGE, hundred of OGMORE, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH
WALES, 6 miles (W. s. W.) from Cowbridge; containing 109 inhabitants. This manor, together with the castle and lordship of
Neath, was given by Fitz-Hamon to Sir Richard de Grenville, and by him conferred on the monks of Neath abbey, from which
circumstance it has derived the prefix to its name. The parish is situated on the shore of the Bristol Channel, which
bounds it on the south-west, and on the other sides it is surrounded by the parishes of Marcross, Wick, and Llandow. It
contains by admeasurement 1324 acres, of which 940 are arable, and 384 pasture or meadow; the surface is for the greater
part flat, with scarcely any timber, but presenting a good view of the channel; and the soil is of a stiff and clayey
quality, producing principally wheat in moderate quantity: the coast is extremely dangerou§ for some miles between this
place and Barry. The Nash sands are a perilous ridge, covered at high water, but exposed at low water, on which the Frolic
steam vessel from Tenby to Bristol, laden with passengers, struck, in the month of March, 1831, the weather being
exceedingly tempestuous and hazy, when all on board perished: recently two light-houses have been erected near them, which
serve to warn navigators of the danger, as they stretch several miles westward from the coast, and the sounding
immediately contiguous is four fathoms. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £200
parliamentary grant; present net income, £70; patron, John Bruce Pryce, Esq., who is also lord of the manor, and
proprietor of nearly the whole of the parish: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £189, of which a sum of
£142 is paid to the impropriator, and £47 to the perpetual curate, both amounts subject to rates, the former averaging £7.
9. 1., and the latter £2 per annum. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is of a plain style of arehitectare, and
evidently very old; exclusively of the chancel, which is 15 feet by 12, it is 33 feet in length and 16 in breadth, and
contains nine seats inclosed, of which four or five may be considered free. Elizabeth Jenkins gave £5 for poor
housekeepers not receiving parochial relief, and subsequently Mrs. Alse Jenkins a similar sum for the like purpose; but
both charities have been lost through omission and neglect, one of the sums having been paid to an overseer, who became a
bankrupt.