NEWBOROUGH, a parish, formerly a borough, in the union of CARNARVON, hundred of MENAI, county of ANGLESEY, NORTH WALES, 4
miles (N. W. by W.) from Carnarvon; containing 895 inhabitants. This place, which derives its present name from its
having been constituted a free borough by Edward I., was anciently called Rhos Vair, from a small church, dedicated to St.
Mary, that stood at the head of the manor; or, according to Mr. Rowlands, more properly BM's Mtn from its situation in
an extensive marshy plain on the eastern side of the Malldraeth sands, and near a long dorsal ridge covered with heath,
which extends from this parish to Mynydd Llwydiarth. Though at present a very inconsiderable place, it was originally of
great importance, and was for many years the residence of the princes of North Wales, who had a palace here, where, or at
Aberfraw, on the opposite side of the Malldraeth sands, they occasionally fixed their seat of government, as the
exigencies of that turbulent period might require. At the time of the final conquest of Wales by Edward I., this place
appears to have been the chief town in the island, as well as the seat of justice for the whole comot of Menai, and was
annexed by that monarch to the royalties of the Prince of Wales, who incorporated the burgesses, and granted them a guild
mercatory and other privileges, which were afterwards confirmed by a charter of the 17th of Edward II., by a parliament
held in the 1st of Edward III., and by charters of Richard II. in the 2nd year of his reign, of Henry V. when Prince of
Wales, Henry IV. in the 2nd of his reign, and Henry VI. in his 4th year. In the time of Henry VII., upon a
misrepresentation made to that sovereign, the assizes and other county business were removed from Beaumaris, where they
had previously been held for more than two hundred and fifty years, to Newborough, which thus became the county town. In
the 15th of Henry VIII. the burgesses obtained a new charter, in which all the privileges conferred by former ones were
recited and confirmed, but which was surrendered in the following year; and in the 27th of this reign, Newborough, as the
county town, in conjunction with its contributory boroughs, returned a member to parliament; a privilege it continued to
exercise till the 2nd of Edward VI., when, having greatly declined from its former importance, it was exempted on its own
petition from contributing to the expense of supporting a member, and the franchise was confined exclusively to Beaumaris.
In the 2nd and 3rd of this reign, the assizes, sessions, and general county business, were removed from this town, which
had been found incommodious for the purpose, and restored to Beaumaris, after having been held at Newborough for forty-
five years. Notwithstanding these enactments, the burgesses of Newborough still claimed the privilege of sharing in the
election of a member for Beaumaris; but the claim was strenuously resisted by the freemen of the latter place, and the
case was brought to issue in the House of Commons, in 1709, when the right was declared to be in the mayor, bailiffs, and
capital burgesses of Beaumaris alone: similar efforts to recover the franchise were made in 1722 and 1724, but with the
same result. The town, which has now dwindled into an insignificant and obscure village, is situated near the southern
extremity of the island, bordering on the extensive sea marshes of Malldraeth, and near the mouth of the small river
Braint, which falls into the Menai strait near Abermenai ferry. The inhabitants are partly employed in the manufacture of
matting, nets, ropes, and cordage, which are here made of the rushes that grow in profusion upon the marsh; a few are
likewise engaged in fishing. The market, which was formerly held weekly, has been discontinued for many years; fairs take
place on May 11th, June 29th, August 16th, September 25th, and November 11th. The corporation continued to exercise the
powers conferred upon them by their charters, until the year 1814, when through some misunderstanding, the mayor and
recorder resigned their offices, and the body was voluntarily dissolved. The government was vested in a mayor and
recorder, appointed by the freemen, the former for a year, and the latter during pleasure; and in two bailiffs, of whom
one was chosen by the mayor, who, upon his election, named another to serve with him; and it was the practice to admit to
the freedom any respectable inhabitant proposed by a burgess. Prior to the passing of an act of parliament, 55 George
III., for "inclosing lands in the parishes of Llangeidwen and Newborough," the inhabitants extensively exercised a right
of common over a large tract of land lying towards the sea, upon which horses, cows, and sheep were allowed to graze, and
from which many thousand loads of turf for fuel were annually procured; but since the enactment of that measure these
privileges have ceased; for, although a certain portion of the land was allotted to the burgesses, it was shortly seized
to pay the expenses of the act, as it was alleged; nor was the quantity assigned of equal value with the advantages of
which the poor were deprived. The rushes above-mentioned, also, which were obtained in large quantities for the
manufacture of matting, must now be purchased; and, on the whole, to use the language of the commissioners for inquiring
into the government of municipal corporations, in 1833, " the state of the poor, since the loss of their right of common,
is on all hands stated to be one of severe deprivation." The parish includes the small remains of that of Llanddwyn,
formerly a very extensive district, situated to the west of Newborough, on the shore of St. George's Channel, and of which
the whole has been destroyed by the encroachments of the sea, or buried under the sands that, during the prevalence of
strong westerly gales, are drifted over considerable portions of the parish of Newborough. Of the ancient church of
Llanddwyn only the eastern gable, with some portion of the east window, can be seen: it was situated on a fiat near the
sea-shore, and was a fine structure, originally founded by Dwynwen, the tutelar saint of lovers, to whom it was dedicated,
about the year 465. The fund arising from the offerings to the shrine of St. Dwynwen, by her numerous votaries, was very
great; and in process of time the church became an abbey for monks of the Benedictine order, who derived a large revenue
from the resort of strangers, who .came to inquire into their future destiny, which was predicted by the leaping of fish
and the appearance of the water of a well, still called Fynnon Vair, or " St. Mary's well." In the time of Henry 1V. its
income was greater than that of any other religious house in North Wales, and in the survey of Henry VIII. it was the
richest prebend in all the principality: at present not a vestige exists of this noble abbey, and even the place where it
stood is scarcely with certainty known. The last rector of the parish of Llanddwyn was Richard Kyffyn, afterwards Dean of
Bangor, who, according to Mr. Pennant, concerted, in conjunction with Sir Rhis ab Thomas and other Welsh chieftains, a
plan for placing the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., on the throne, and with whom, at that time in Brittany, they
carried on a correspondence by means of fishing-vessels from this place. Numbers of vessels were formerly lost on the
rocks on this part of the coast; but the evil has been materially removed by the erection of two beacons on the most
prominent rocks, and the construction of a break-water at no great distance, which have been found highly beneficial to
vessels navigating St.. George's Channel: these important improvements have been made by the trustees of the harbour of
Carnarvon. Near Llanddwyn was the ferry of Abermenai, now deserted. The living of Newborough is a discharged rectory,
rated in the king's books at £9. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; present net income, £214. The church, dedicated
to St. Peter, is a small edifice possessing no claims to architectural description; it stands on an eminence in a bleak
and exposed situation. There are places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists; and two Sunday schools, one
belonging to Calvinists and the other to Wesley-ass, are conducted by gratuitous teachers, and afford instruction to about
320 males and females, books being furnished by subscription. The parish claims to participate in a benefaction of £3 per
annum by Ellen Owen, in the parish of Llangeinwen, for apprenticing a poor boy; but it has shared in the gift only once,
when there was no applicant in that place. .Two other small bequests have been rendered void under the statute of
Mortmain. In the parish is an upright stone with a mutilated Latin inscription, supposed to have been erected in
commemoration of some warrior. John Morgan, a blind musician, and the most celebrated of the latest performers on the
ancient instrument called the crwth, was a native of the place. Newboroughgives the title of baron in the peerage of
Ireland to the family of Wynn.