Newborough - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
NEWBOROUGH, a parish, and formerly a borough, in the poor-law union of Carnarvon, hundred of Menai, county of Anglesey, in North Wales, 4 miles (N. W. by W.) from Carnarvon; containing 895 inhabitants. This place, which derives its present name from its having been constituted a free borough by Edward I., was at one time called Rhôs Vair, from a small church, dedicated to St. Mary, that stood at the head of the manor; or, according to Mr. Rowlands, more properly Rhôs Hîr, from its situation in an extensive marshy plain on the eastern side of the Malldraeth sands, and near a long dorsal ridge covered with heath, which extends from this parish to Mynydd Llwydiarth. Though at present a very inconsiderable place, it was anciently of great importance, and is said to have been for many years the residence of the Princes of North Wales, who appear to have had a palace here, where, or at Aberfraw, on the opposite side of the Malldraeth sands, they occasionally fixed their seat of government, as the exigencies of that turbulent period might require. At the time of the final conquest of Wales by Edward I., the place seems to have been the chief town in the island, as well as the seat of justice for the whole comot of Menai, and was annexed by that monarch to the royalties of the Prince of Wales. The latter incorporated the burgesses, and granted them a guild mercatory and other privileges, which were afterwards confirmed by a charter of the 17th of Edward II., by a parliament held in the 1st of Edward III., and by charters of Richard II. in the 2nd year of his reign, of Henry V. when Prince of Wales, Henry IV. in the 2nd of his reign, and Henry VI. in his 4th year. In the time of Henry VII., upon a misrepresentation made to that sovereign, the assizes and other county business were removed from Beaumaris, where they had previously been held for more than 250 years, to Newborough, which thus became the county town.
In the 15th of Henry VIII. the burgesses obtained a new charter, in which all the privileges conferred by former ones were recited and confirmed, but which was surrendered in the following year; and in the 27th of this reign, Newborough, as the county town, in conjunction with its contributory boroughs, returned a member to parliament; a privilege it continued to exercise till the 2nd of Edward VI., when, having greatly declined from its former importance, it was exempted on its own petition from contributing to the expense of supporting a member, and the franchise was confined exclusively to Beaumaris. In the 2nd and 3rd of Edward's reign, the assizes, sessions, and general county business, were removed from this town, which had been found incommodious for the purpose, and restored to Beaumaris, after having been held at Newborough for forty-five years. Notwithstanding these enactments, the burgesses of Newborough still claimed the privilege of sharing in the election of a member for Beaumaris; but the claim was strenuously resisted by the freemen of the latter place, and the case was brought to issue in the House of Commons, in 1709, when the right was declared to be in the mayor, bailiffs, and capital burgesses of Beaumaris alone. Similar efforts to recover the franchise were made in 1722 and 1724, but with the same result.
The Town, which has now dwindled into an insignificant and obscure village, is situated near the southern extremity of the island, bordering on the extensive sea marshes of Malldraeth, and near the mouth of the small river Braint, which falls into the Menai strait near Abermenai ferry. The inhabitants are partly employed in the manufacture of matting, nets, ropes, and cordage, which are made of the rushes that grow in profusion upon the marsh; a few are likewise engaged in fishing. The Chester and Holyhead railway passes within two miles and a half of the town. The market, which was held weekly, has been discontinued for many years; fairs take place on May 11th, June 29th, August 16th, September 25th, and November 11th. The corporation continued to exercise the powers conferred upon them by their charters, until the year 1814, when, through some misunderstanding, the mayor and recorder resigned their offices, and the body was voluntarily dissolved. The government was vested in a mayor and recorder, appointed by the freemen, the former for a year, and the latter during pleasure; and in two bailiffs, one of whom was chosen by the mayor, who, upon his election, named another to serve with him. It was the practice to admit to the freedom any respectable inhabitant proposed by a burgess. Prior to the passing of an act of parliament, 55 George III., "for inclosing lands in the parishes of Llangeidwen and Newborough," the inhabitants extensively exercised a right of common over a large tract of land lying towards the sea, upon which horses, cows, and sheep were allowed to graze, and from which many thousand loads of turf for fuel were annually procured. Since the enactment of that measure, these privileges have ceased; for, although a certain portion of the land was allotted to the burgesses, it was shortly seized, to pay the expenses of the act, as it was alleged; nor was the quantity assigned of equal value with the advantages of which the poor were deprived. The rushes, also, above-mentioned, which were obtained in large quantities for the manufacture of matting, must now be purchased; and on the whole, to use the language of the commissioners for inquiring into municipal corporations, in 1833, "the state of the poor, since the loss of their right of common, is on all hands stated to be one of severe deprivation."
The parish includes the small remains of that of Llanddwyn, formerly a very extensive district, situated to the west of Newborough, on the shore of St. George's Channel, and of which the whole has been destroyed by the encroachments of the sea, or buried under the sands that, during the prevalence of strong westerly gales, are drifted over considerable portions of the parish of Newborough. Of the ancient church of Llanddwyn only a small eastern portion, with the east window, is now to be seen. It was situated on a flat near the sea-shore, and was a fine structure, said to have been originally founded by Dwynwen, the tutelar saint of lovers, to whom it was dedicated, about the year 465. The fund arising from the offerings to the shrine of St. Dwynwen, by her numerous votaries, was very great: and in process of time the church became an abbey for monks of the Benedictine order, who derived a large revenue from the resort of strangers, who came to inquire into their future destiny, which was predicted by the leaping of fish, and the appearance of the water of a well, still called Fynnon Vair, or "St. Mary's well." In the time of Henry IV. its income was greater than that of any other religious house in North Wales, and in the survey of Henry VIII. it was the richest prebend in all the principality. At present not a vestige exists of this noble abbey, and even the place where it stood is scarcely with certainty known. The last rector of the parish of Llanddwyn was Richard Kyffyn, afterwards Dean of Bangor, who, according to Mr. Pennant, in conjunction with Sir Rhŷs ab Thomas and other Welsh chieftains, concerted a plan for placing on the throne the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., with whom, at that time in Brittany, they carried on a correspondence by means of fishing-vessels from this place. Numbers of vessels were formerly lost on the rocks on this part of the coast; but the evil has been materially lessened by the erection of two beacons on the most prominent rocks, and the construction of a breakwater at no great distance, which have been found highly beneficial to vessels navigating St. George's Channel. These important improvements were made by the trustees of the harbour of Carnarvon. Near Llanddwyn was the ferry of Abermenai, now deserted.
The living of Newborough is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 10., and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor; present net income, £214. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, stands on an eminence in a bleak and exposed situation. It is one of the most interesting churches in this part of the county; the style is principally decorated English, and portions of the choir present an example unequalled in Anglesey for purity of design, and excellence of material. The whole building forms a single aisle, consisting of a nave and choir with a screen at the junction. It is very nearly one hundred feet long externally, and forty-three feet wide, though not of greater elevation than twentyfour feet to the point of the highest gable. A relic of a previous church is still preserved, in the font; this is probably of the twelfth century, but it has been defaced by later workmen, and has received successive coats of whitewash. The windows of the choir are exquisite specimens, on a small scale, of the decorated style. A piscina occurs in the southern wall close to the altar; on the northern wall is a crossed stone, and in the southern wall of the choir the priest's door, low in elevation, and of beautiful detail. The church was originally erected, it is said, under the invocation of St. Anno or Amo, a Welsh saint whose date is uncertain. There are places of worship for Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists; and two Sunday schools, one belonging to the Calvinists and the other to the Wesleyans, are conducted by gratuitous teachers. The parish claims to participate in a benefaction of £3 per annum by Ellen Owen, in the parish of Llangeinwen, for apprenticing a poor boy; but it has shared in the gift only once, when there was no applicant in that place. Two other small bequests have been rendered void under the statute of Mortmain. In the parish is an upright stone with a mutilated Latin inscription, supposed to have been erected in commemoration of some warrior; it is six feet high, and, from the form of the letters, may probably be referred to some date anterior to the ninth century. John Morgan, a blind musician, and the most celebrated of the latest performers on the ancient instrument called the crwth, was a native of the place. Newborough gives the title of baron in the peerage of Ireland to the family of Wynn. |
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