PENMACHNO (PEN-MACHNO), a parish, in the union of LLANRWST, hundred of NANTCONWAY, county of CARNARVON, NORTH WALES, 9
miles (S.) from Llanrwst; containing 1274 inhabitants. This place derives its name from its situation near the source of
the river Machno, which rises to the south-west of it, and, flowing through the parish in a north-easterly direction,
falls into the Conway, which also has its source in a fine lake within the limits of Penmachno, and forms a boundary on
the east and north, separating parish from the county of Denbigh. The surface is mountainous, and the district abounds
with mineral wealth; the soil in the valleys is fertile, and the lands, which are watered by the Machno and other streams
descending from the hills, are productive, and in a good state of cultivation, the rateable annual value being £2375. The
vicinity is distinguished for some fine mountain scenery, and the views from the higher grounds extend over a tract of
country abounding with picturesque beauty. Copper, lead, and other minerals are supposed to be contained in the
mountainous parts of the parish; and, in 1784, a lease of the minerals within the common called Llechwedd Oernant was
granted by the crown to Mrs. Anne Robinson, for thirty-one years, at a rent of £1. 6. 8., and fifteen shillings per ton
for lead-ore, eight shillings per ton for calamine, and one-tenth part of the copper and other minerals. Fairs are held on
April 17th, August 18th, and October 20th. The living is a perpetual curacy, rated in the king's books at £9. 10., and
endowed with £200 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £1400 parliamentary grant; present net income, £92; pa,
tron and impropriator, Sir R. W. Vaughan, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Tyddud, is not distinguished by any
architectural details of importance. There is a day school, containing about forty children, which is endowed with £10 per
annum by R. Lloyd, Esq., as mentioned below; and three Sunday schools, connected with dissenters, containing about 420
persons, who are gratuitously instructed. Richard Anwyll, in 1681, bequeathed £200 for the use of the poor; Maurice
Hughes, in 1723, devised £70 for the same purpose; and David Price, in 1728, charged his estate with a rent-charge of 20s.
for their benefit: but the principal benefactor of the parish was Roderick Lloyd, of Middlesex, Esq., who, in 1729, left
£10 per annum chargeable on the tithes, as a salary for a schoolmaster, which sum is at present paid to the parish-clerk;
and who further devised certain lands and tenements in the parish of Llanycil, amounting to 135 acres, and now yielding a
rent of £60, for the erection and endowment of an almshouse for five aged men and the same number of women. The almshouse
is situated about a quarter of a mile from the church, and is a substantial building of ten apartments, with a piece of
ground behind for the general use of the inmates, who receive 10s. a month each. The same benevolent individual likewise
devised £100, to be laid out in the purchase of land, the rent to be appropriated to supplying a certain quantity of bread
to the poor every Sunday, and meat on Christmas-eve; and with this sum, and the proceeds of Anwyll's and Hughes' bequests,
other premises and lands were bought at Llanycil, now worth £40 per annum, which is partly distributed in bread every
Sunday, in flannel and linen occasionally, and in small amounts at Christmas and Easter. From the same fund another small
purchase was made of two houses and a few acres of ground; one of the tenements is occupied by a pauper put in by the
parish, and the rent of the remainder is given to the deserving poor.