Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LLANFAES, or LLANVAES

LLANFAES, or LLANVAES, a parish in the district of Bangor and county of Anglesey; on Beaumaris bay, and partly within Beaumaris borough, 1 mile N of Beaumaris, and 6½ NE of Menai-Bridge r. station. Post town, Beaumaris, Anglesey. Acres, 2,297; of which 1,057 are water. Pop., 243. Houses, 55. Pop. of the B. bor ough portion, 192. Houses, 43. The property is divided among a few. Baron Hill, near Beaumaris, is the seat of Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley, Bart. The Friars is another house belonging to him; and took its name from a Franciscan friary, founded, in 1237, by Llewclyn ap Jorweth, to the memory of his wife Joan. The friary w as re founded by Edward III.; suffered great damage in the wars of Owen Glendower; and was given, at the dissolution, to the Whytes. Four monuments anciently in it were carried off to Beaumaris, Llanbeblig, Llandegai, and Penmynydd, and a stone coffin, said to have been that of the Princess Joan, was used for upwards of 200 years as a horse trough, and afterwards taken into careful preservation. Henllys, situated on wooded banks above the church, is the seat of J. L. Hampton Lewis, Esq.; and has an ancient bedstead, which belonged to Owen Tudor. Tro'r-Castell, near the shore, within Penmon, is mainly a recent mansion, but includes portions of an ancient one of the time of Edward I.; and that ancient one was a chief seat of the Tudor family, and supplied from its cellars some famous metheglin to Queen Elizabeth. Tros-yr-Afon, also within Penmon, is the seat of R. Williams, 1E sq. Castell-aber Llienawg, situated on a rising ground densely covered with thicket, likewise within Penmon, is a square fort, with a circular tower at each angle; was founded, in 1098, by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, when he overran Anglesey; and was occupied in 1645. A sanguinary battle was fought within Llanfaes parish, between the Welsh and the Saxons under Egbert; and it probably gave rise to the name Llanfaes, as a corruption of Llamaes, which may be taken to signify ''the meeting place of the battle field." The coast is suffering some abrasion by the sea; and skulls and bones are occasionally washed out from a portion of it, and are supposed to be relics of the battle. The living is a p. curacy, united with the p. curacy of Penmon, in the diocese of Bangor. Value, £153. Patron, Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley, Bart. The church was rebuilt in 1845, is in the decorated English style, has a broach spire, and contains armorial bearings of the Whytes. Charities, £38.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Llan Faes AP/CP       Anglesey AncC
Place names: LLANFAES     |     LLANFAES OR LLANVAES     |     LLANVAES
Place: Llan Faes

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