MOUGHTREY (MOCH-DRA), a parish, in the union of NEWTOWN-AND-LLANIDLOES, upper division of the hundred of MONTGOMERY,
county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 3 miles (S. W.) Iron! Newtown; containing, with Esgair-Geiliog, 639 inhabitants. It
constituted formerly, with the parish of Kerry, a district in the ancient province of Ferregs, granted by Elystan Glodryd,
lord of Ferregs and Maelienydd, to his second son Morgeneu. It is situated in the southern part of the county, bordering
upon Radnorshire, and comprises a large tract of land, of which one-half is inclosed and cultivated, and the remainder
allotted as sheep-walks to the several farms, under the provisions of the Kerry inclosure act, passed in 1797: the
rateable annual value of the whole has been returned at £2245. The surface is boldly, undulated, rising in several parts
into abrupt eminences, and surrounded by lofty hills, which circumscribe the parish in the form of an amphitheatre. In the
mountains are many singular chasms, and the entire surface of the hills was once richly wooded; the surrounding scenery is
in many points highly picturesque, and the views, though partially obstructed by intervening heights, comprehend many
interesting objects. The manufacture of flannel is carried on upon a limited scale, affording employment to a portion of
the inhabitants. The parish formed one of the twenty-four prebends with which Thomas Beck, Bishop of St. David 1287,
endowed the college of St. Mary, at Aberguilly, in the county of Carmarthen, and which were afterwards transferred by
Henry VIII. to the college of Christ Church, in Brecknock: the prebend is valued in the king's books at £1. 7. I. and is
in the gift of the Bishop of St. David's. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £800
parliamentary grant; present net income, £86; patron and appropriator, Prebendary in the Collegiate Church of Brecknock:
whose tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £187. Prior to the passing of the act of the 6th and 7th of William
IV., c. 77, Moughtrey and Kerry were the only parishes in the county of Montgomery that were within the diocese of St.
David's, a circumstance attributable to the successful resistance opposed by the celebrated Giraldus Cambrensis,
Archdeacon of Breoknock, to the forcible attempts of the then Bishop of St. Asaph to take possession of those churches,
and annex them to his diocese: under that act they are to form part of the diocese of St. Asaph and Bangor when those two
sees are united: an arrangement, however, which is not likely to be carried into effect. The church, dedicated to All
Saints, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, but in a very dilapidated condition; it
stands in a vale watered by a stream which falls into the river Severn. There is a place of worship for Independents.
About 20 children are instructed in a day school, at the expense of their parents. On a point of land between two small
brooks, near a bill in the parish, called the Craig, is a strong military station of small extent; and near Craig Mill are
evident traces of a Roman road leading across the summit of the hills, from Caer-Sws to Abbey Cwm Hir, in the county of
Radnor.