parish boundary marks the former course of the stream. On the west the boundary is formed by the parish of Llansantffraid-Deytheur, and runs in a zig-zag line to the south from the river Vyrnwy, crosses the main road from New Bridge to Trederwen at the Gutter Cottage, passes up the small stream which bounds Cae Mawr Wood, over the hill, through Coed Mawr farmyard, and on to the south-west extremity of the parish, near the little coppice on the right, by the turning from Court House to Deytheur. From this point the southern boundary runs to the eastward through the Court House Dingle, and the meadows between Rhysnant Hall and Farm, and then follows the course of the Rhysnant or School-Brook, crosses the Shropshire Union Canal, the Welshpool Road, Cambrian Railway and Llandrinio Road, takes a sudden turn to the south for more than half a mile, following the brook, and leaving a long narrow strip of land, belonging to the parish, between the brook and Offa's Dyke, forming a sharp promontory projecting into the parish of Llandrinio. The boundary line then crosses Offa's Dyke at the most southerly point of the parish, and runs to the north along the Dyke for about threequarters of a mile, turns again to the north-east through Sarn Wen, across the road near the City, and then to the east, following the Sarn Wen brook and the boundary of the townships of Domgay and Haughton, till it joins the east side, near Sychpwll, on the Vyrnwy. The parish is situated in the Marches of Wales, and was allotted to Montgomeryshire in 1535 by Act 27 Henry VIII, ch. 26, when the Marches were assigned to their adjoining counties. The form of the parish is an irregular oval, the extreme length from east to west being 43 miles, and the greatest breadth, from Llanymynech Railway Bridge on the north to the southern boundary point on Offa's Dyke, just 2 miles. The area is about 5 square miles, and the average length of the parish may be estimated at 4 miles and the breadth at 11 miles. The acreage is stated in old accounts as 3,081 acres, but the measurement by the latest Ordnance Survey, which may be considered perfectly correct, gives 3,199.473 land, and 77.436 water, or a total of 3,276.909 acres. The accompanying map is taken from the 6-in. Ordnance Survey. Owing to the scale being much reduced, it is unfortunately somewhat indistinct, and requires the aid of a magnifying glass in examining it. The church is situated pretty nearly in the centre of the parish, the exact latitude being 52° 45′ 58′′ north, and the longitude 3° 5' 8" west. The true time at the church will thus be 12 minutes and 20 seconds behind Greenwich meantime. The village itself consists of a number of substantiallybuilt, mostly modern, houses, scattered at a considerable distance from each other at various points along the main roads, which traverse the parish almost at right angles from the four points of the compass, and which meet at the Four Crosses, more than half a mile from the church. This point, being near the Cambrian Railway Station, may be now considered as the centre of the village, and it is about this spot that any future extension of the village may be looked for. No traces of old houses of the former century are to seen, and the picturesque black and white cottages, with their thatched roofs, have entirely disappeared from the immediate neighbourhood. That part of the village which lies about a quarter of a mile past the Four Crosses on the road to Oswestry is called "The Street," a name derived no doubt from the old Roman "Strata." The great Roman road from Uriconium (Wroxeter), passing by Shrewsbury and Alberbury, crossed the Severn at a spot near where Llandrinio 1 A paved highway. Bridge now stands, ran past the Four Crosses on to Clawdd Coch (most probably the great Roman station, Mediolanum), up the Tanat Valley, crossed the Berwyn mountains past Llangynog, and thence to Caergai, and onwards to Segontium, the modern Carnarvon. The Romans followed the straightest line in constructing their roads; and it would not be surprising if in the course of a few years some enterprising company adopted almost this very route for a new and more direct railway from London to Porth Dinlleyn, on Carnarvon Bay, and thus shorten the journey to Ireland by some hours. At or near the Four Crosses the road from Uriconium cut almost at right angles the road from Llanymynech and the north, and which passed up the valley of the Severn to meet, near Buttington, another great Roman road, leading from Uriconium, through Stretton, to the important station at Caersws. Offa's Dyke, which runs through the parish from south to north, intersected the Roman road at the Street; and there was no doubt a great gate, or passage, through the Dyke at the spot still known as the Bwlch. Traces of a Roman pavement were found at this place in 1896, in cutting the road to the house then being built there. The cluster of houses on the east side of the village, on the Shrewsbury road, is called "The City," a name which tradition assigns to the stay of Charles II in the place when in hiding after the fatal battle of Worcester. It is, however, quite certain that Charles was never near the spot. The battle of Worcester was fought on the 3rd of September, 1651 (ominous anniversary of the battle of Dunbar, and afterwards the date of Cromwell's death); and Charles's movements from day to day, including the romantic episode of the Boscobel Oak, are known with great accuracy up to the 15th October, when he reached the sea coast at Shoreham, in Sussex, and embarked for France. Along the Domgay Lane, which leads from the Street to the north-east portion of the parish, are a few poor cottages, which by some mistake or silly joke are marked in the Ordnance Map as "Kettle Row." This nickname is quite without authority in the parish, and it is to be hoped that it will henceforth be consigned to oblivion. It is much to be regretted that the Llandysilio railway station was called Four Crosses when the Cambrian line was first opened, as much trouble is caused by the mistakes which are made between this station and the place called Four Crosses in Carnarvonshire. Much confusion also arises from the post-office being known by two names, "Four Crosses" and "Llandysilio." It is to be hoped that the railway company and the post-office authorities will, at some time or other, think fit to restore to the parish its proper designation of Llandysilio, and use that name only in future. Situated on the borderland of England and Wales, Llandysilio may be geographically, geologically, and ethnologically considered as a transition parish; a stepping-stone from the fertile plains of Shropshire to the rugged slopes of the Welsh mountains. One half of the parish consists of the alluvial deposits of the Severn and Vyrnwy Valleys, and might be taken for a part of a typical English county; on the other side we see the first outlying spurs of the Welsh mountains, the Bryn Mawr and Court House hills, detached offshoots of the Berwyn range. On the one hand, alluvium, gravel, clay, and the conglomerate locally known by the name of "Catbrain," and on the other the dark-coloured laminated slaty shales belonging to the Bala beds of the lower Silurian system. The searcher for fossils will not be so richly rewarded as in the neighbouring carboniferous limestone rocks of Llanymynech and Treflach; still, a little patient investigation of the Bryn Mawr and Court House hills will put him in possession of a fair collection of specimens of Annelids, Orthidæ, and univalve Murchisonia. The language now used in the parish is almost ex clusively English, although among the local families Welsh surnames considerably preponderate. In the names of places we find a very curious intermingling of the two languages: for instance, "Court House and Gwerglodd beillieid," "Calcot Hall and Rhandregynwyn," "Haughton Grange and Gwernowddy," occur in the parish in immediate proximity to each other. In some instances we find the two languages used in one name, as, for instance, "Maes-yDingle," "Little Rhysnant," "Rhos Common," etc. The main roads in the parish are remarkably level. Llanymynech Bridge, which is the highest point in the parish on the Oswestry and Welshpool Road, is 225 ft. above the level of the sea, and the lowest point on this road is 213 ft., at a spot a few hundred yards distant near Rhandregynwyn. On the road which runs from east to west, from Llandrinio to Llansantffraid, the highest point is 249 ft., near Pentre Heylin gate, and the lowest 213 ft., near Sarnwen. The difference between the highest and lowest points on the one road is thus only 12 ft., and on the other 36 ft. The lanes and byroads on the west side of the parish are anything but level. The Court House Lane runs from 241 ft. at its point of junction with the Llansantffraid Road, to a height of 420 ft. on the bank near Cefn Briw. The lane which runs from Cefn Briw over the west side of Bryn Mawr is somewhat higher, and reaches the height of 445 ft.; and then, within the distance of half a mile, falls by a steep gradient to 245 ft. at its junction with the main road near Pentre Heylin. The highest point in the parish is the well-wooded summit of the Bryn Mawr, a hill which is a conspicuous object in the landscape for many miles around, and which attains the height of 585 ft. above sea-level.1 There are no lakes or sheets of water of any importance in the parish, the largest being the pool at 1 Barometric measurement.-T. P. |