Domgay estates agreed to give up all claim to the pews on the north and south sides of the communion table (which had been alloted to his predecessor in 1755) on the understanding that he should be relieved of the obligation to repair the chancel. The parish undertook to repair the chancel if the rector (the bishop of the diocese) declined to do so, but did not bind themselves to rebuild the chancel should that be necessary. The Rev. John Poole, who had recently been appointed curate, offered to undertake the reconstruction of the gallery so that it should contain eighty sittings, and to remove the old tower, and build a new one at the west end of the church, on condition that the parish allowed him £20, and the proceeds (£15) of a pew sold to Mr. J. J. Turner, towards defraying the cost. The cost of the new gallery and repairs of the roof was estimated at £50, and the tower and staircase at £36 5s., so that the young curate took upon himself the responsibility of paying the additional fifty guineas out of his scanty salary. A specification of the work to be done in re-seating and improving the church was very carefully drawn up, and it was stipulated that the whole of the woodwork should be "of well-seasoned English oak, free from sap." The detailed accounts of these repairs have unfortunately been lost, but from a memorandum among the church papers it appears that a sum of £228 was received from the landed proprietors for the erection of pews, and £12 from the parish for two pews near the door, which were to be free sittings. The work appears to have been well carried out by local contractors, and no important repairs were required to the interior of the church for some thirty-five years, when the church was rebuilt. Part of the woodwork of the pews was then used to panel the schoolroom.

The Rev. Rowland Williams, Vicar of Meifod, and

1 Father of Dr. Rowland Williams, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; Vice-Principal of Lampeter, and the author of Rational

A

the Rev. C. T. C. Luxmoore, Vicar of Guilsfield, were appointed by the Committee in conformity with the resolution passed by the Vestry on November 1st, 1883, to allot the pews among the inhabitants of the parish, and they drew up their award on May 20th, 1834. reduced copy of the plan, which was annexed to the award, will be found on p. 26. The award, which is signed by the two arbitrators, minister, and churchwardens, states that it is "a fair and proper appropriation of the sittings in the said church, regard being had to prescriptive rights (as far as they exist) and the relative importance of the several tenements.' The allotment of the sittings was as follows:

Godliness; and of the article on "Bunsen's Biblical Researches" in

Essays and Reviews, etc.

In addition to the above pews there were about eighty seats in the gallery, which were used by the choir, the school children, and as free sittings.

The only road from the highway to the church was, up to 1835, through the yard of the Church-House Farm, adjoining the churchyard. In April 1835 a meeting of the "Inhabitants of the Parish" was held in which it was agreed that a "new line of Carriage Road be made through a piece of land belonging to William Ormsby Gore, Esq., on the south-east side of the church; this road, not for the purpose of heavy carriage, to be used only by the Parish and Mr. Fitz Hugh, the proprietor of the cottage near the churchyard." No mention is made in the minutes of the permission of Mr. Ormsby Gore having been asked or obtained for the making of this road through his property; but it is to be presumed that his consent had been given. This road to the church is the one now in use; it appears to have cost £9 only in the construction, and it is kept in repair at the expense of the parish.

Adjoining the Church-House Farm buildings, near the road to Llanymynech, there formerly stood a cottage, with garden, and 1 rood 28 perches of land belonging to the parish. No record is to be found as to how this cottage came into the possession of the parish, but it appears to have been used as a sort of local poor-house. The question of selling this property had been discussed at several vestry meetings, and it was finally resolved on December 9th, 1842, in a meeting of the "Ratepayers and Owners of Property" in the parish, that the Guardians of the Poor of the Llanfyllin Union be empowered to sell the said premises in such manner and subject to such regulations touching such sale, the conveyance of the property and application of the proceeds for the permanent advantages of the parish, as the Poor Law Commissioners shall direct. One of the conditions of sale appears, from the minutes dated September 29th, 1842, to have been that the purchaser of the property should "do the repairs of the churchyard wall; that the parish thenceforth relieve private owners who are subject to a portion of the repairs of the wall from all further liability, and repair the whole at the parish expense.1

No further mention is made in the Vestry books of this sale till February 13th, 1849, when in a memorandum of that date it is certified "that the said purchaser has long since built the wall required, and that the whole of the churchyard is now walled round, and further that the churchyard fence is repaired by the parishioners generally." A Terrier was drawn up on the same day, in which it is stated that the "Church

1 The property was sold in May, 1843, to Mr. J. J. Turner for £54, which sum, after deducting sale expenses and costs, gave a net result of £45. Os. 2d. By an order of the Poor Law Board, dated Nov. 11th, 1852, the Guardians were directed to apply this sum in part payment of a debt of £5,250, contracted by the several parishes in the Union in 1837. It would seem, however, that there is still a balance of £11 7s. 6d. in the Union Books due to Llandysilio parish from the proceeds of the sale of this property.

yard Fence (with the exception of the chief Entrance Gate, which is repaired by the Rector) is repaired by the Parishioners generally."

In October, 1844, we find a resolution passed in a Vestry meeting "that the salary of the Sexton be raised to one guinea a year." The salary, it seems, had previously been only half a guinea per annum. A curious circumstance was that "the Sexton" at that time was woman named Mary Daniel, who had succeeded to the office on the death of her husband, Thomas Daniel, in 1814. She performed the duties of Sexton for many years, even tolling the bell and digging the graves with her own hands. She died in 1855, but during the latter years of her life she was assisted by her son, Edward Daniel, who was afterwards

sexton.

In May, 1846, it was resolved" that the Pulpit and Reading Desk, having been found inconvenient for the purpose of hearing by the persons sitting at the Western extremity of the church, be removed to the position which they formerly occupied on the South Wall." The expense of this alteration was not defrayed out of the church rates, but was probably met by the open-handed curate (this year made rector), at whose request, and owing to whose delicate health, the change was made. The pulpit and desk remained in the middle of the church against the south wall until the building was taken down in 1867.

On or about the night of the 30th October, 1849, the church was entered by burglars, the iron chest taken out of the masonry of the south wall, placed in the aisle, and the lid there broken by a heavy hammer. The chalice, given by Roger Williams of Cefn Briw, and the paten, given by Mrs. S. Godolphin, were taken out. Owing to the smallness of the aperture the thieves were unable to extract the whole of the large flagon given by Isaac Clopton, a part weighing about 26 oz. being left behind." No trace of the burglars or of the stolen property was ever discovered.