Llangadwaladr (), formerly spelt Llancadwaladr in some sources, is an isolated mountain parish in

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It was formerly in the historic county of

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

, and from 1974 to 1996 was in

Clwyd Clwyd ( , ) is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English cerem ...

. Some 7 miles west of the nearest town,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

, it covers an area of sparsely settled

hill farming Hill farming or terrace farming is an extensive farming in upland areas, primarily rearing sheep, although historically cattle were often reared extensively in upland areas. Fell farming is the farming of fells, a fell being an area of uncult ...

country around the valley of the Afon Ysgwennant beneath

Gyrn Moelfre Gyrn Moelfre is a mountain in Powys, mid-Wales, near the border with Shropshire. It stands to the south-east of the Berwyns, from which it is separated by Afon Ysgwennant. The village of Llansilin lies on its south-west slopes. It was historica ...

History

The parish was originally a chapelry of

Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant () is a village and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales; about 9 miles west of Oswestry and 12 miles south of Llangollen, on the B4580 road. It lies near the foothills of the Berwyn range, Berwyn mountains on the r ...

, but was later formed into a separate parish, consisting of the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Tre'r Llan, where the parish church was located, and those of

Tregeiriog Tregeiriog (a Welsh name translating roughly as "settlement n theRiver Ceiriog") is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is in the community of Ceiriog Ucha on the B4500 road between Glyn Ceiriog and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog. The ...

(the only village, in the neighbouring valley) and Nantyr, both of which were entirely detached from Tre'r Llan and surrounded by other parishes.Llangadwaladr

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

Samuel Lewis's 1849 ''Topographical Dictionary of Wales'' described the parish as having 234 inhabitants and covering 2900 acres in total. In the late 1980s, Tregeiriog and its surrounding areas were transferred to the parish of

Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog (; often referred to as Llanarmon DC or locally simply as Llanarmon) is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies on the River Ceiriog and is at the end of the B4500 road, south-west of Glyn Ceiriog and no ...

.St Cadwaladr's church
, Llanfyllin Deanery There was a corresponding

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Llangadwaladr, but following 1974 boundary and administrative changes, some of the area is now part of the civil

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Llansilin Llansilin () is a village and community (Wales), community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales, west of Oswestry. The community, which includes Llansilin village, a large rural area and the hamlets of Moelfre and Rhiwlas as well as the remote par ...

; the remaining parts of the civil parish are now in Ceiriog Ucha in

Wrexham county borough Wrexham County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough, with city status in the United Kingdom, city status, in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire and Shropshire to ...

. Before the rural depopulation of the late 19th century, the area was almost exclusively Welsh-speaking. The 1891 census recorded that 99.5% of the inhabitants of Llangadwaladr parish spoke Welsh, and that 88% knew no English whatsoever.Davies, J. 'Welsh', in Price, G. (ed.) ''Languages in Britain and Ireland'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2000, p.90 A correspondent in ''By-gones, relating to Wales and the Border Counties'', stated that an elderly local had told him about a form of "mob" or "folk" football formerly played between the parishes of Llangadwaladr and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, where the opposing teams would "contend from morning even until night, and sometimes ..fresh help would be fetched up in the evening".''Bye-gones, relating to Wales and the Border Counties'', Oswestry: 1899, 175

St Cadwaladr's church

The Church in Wales parish church is dedicated to Cadwaladr Fendigaid and was mentioned as "Bettws Kadwaladr" as early as 1291. It is sheltered by yew trees, some of which are 1000 years old. Some of its current fabric dates from the 15th century, with major alterations made in 1883 by W. H. Spaull of Oswestry: a re-set mediaeval window survives in the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

.Church of St Cadwaladr, Llangadwaladr
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust Lewis noted that St Cadwaladr's church possessed a "very elegant set of communion plate" presented by Sir John Trevor of

Brynkinallt Brynkinalt Hall (; or simply Brynkinalt ()) is a Grade-II* listed private property, built in 1612, near Chirk, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The hall is surrounded by an estate including of agricultural land and of woodland. Part of the est ...

Robert Williams

The Rev.

Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Train %26 Williams#Robert Edmund Williams, Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect a ...

(1810–1881), author of the ''Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum'', the first Cornish-English dictionary, was the vicar of Llangadwaladr from 1837 to 1879 and

perpetual curate Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England and Ireland from 1800 to 1871). The term is found in common use mainly ...

of Rhydycroesau from 1838 to 1879. A native of Conwy, where his father was Vicar, he was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, graduating MA, and was appointed a Cursal Canon of

St Asaph Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saints Asaph and Cyndeyrn, commonly called St Asaph Cathedral (), is a cathedral in St Asaph, Denbighshire, north Wales. It is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of St Asaph. The cathedral dates back 1,400 years, while t ...

in 1872. In 1879 he became Rector of Culmington, near Ludlow, in Herefordshire, where he died and was buried in the churchyard in 1881. His gravestone is the only one there made of slate; it has a Welsh and Cornish inscription and was provided by public subscription in 1899.Thomas 1900, p. 441.''Bye-gones'' 5 July 1899, p. 155.

References

{{authority control Historic Montgomeryshire parishes Former subdivisions of Wales Villages in Powys