Pentraeth (Pen-Traeth) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
PENTRAETH (PEN-TRAETH), a parish, in the hundred of Tyndaethwy, union and county of Anglesey, North Wales, 5 miles (N. W.) from Beaumaris; containing 985 inhabitants. The name of this place, signifying "the head or point of the sands," is derived from its situation at the head of a small bay of the Irish Sea, called Traeth Côch, or "the red sands," and sometimes Red Wharf Bay. The parish comprises a considerable tract of arable and grazing land, which is inclosed and cultivated, and a large portion of common, affording tolerable pasturage for sheep and young cattle. Several of the inhabitants are employed in the quarries of marble and limestone that are worked here, and as seamen on board the vessels engaged in conveying the produce of the quarries to its destination; there is also a fulling-mill in the village, affording occupation to a few persons. The whole of the western side of the Traeth Côch, which is the place for shipping the marble and limestone found on this part of the island, is within the parish; and the sands on the shore of the bay, which are dry at low water, are so intermixed with sea-shells, as to form a substitute for lime, and to be used as manure for many miles round, even constituting a considerable article of export to the neighbouring coasts. The village, which is very neat and of prepossessing appearance, is pleasantly situated in a narrow sheltered vale, on the turnpike-road from Beaumaris to Llanerchymedd. Plâs Gwyn, a seat here, is a spacious and handsome mansion, surrounded with thriving woods and plantations, and formerly containing a valuable collection of ninety-one volumes of manuscripts, chiefly in the Welsh language, brought together by the late Mr. Panton. Fairs are held on May 5th, June 24th, and September 20th.
The living is a perpetual curacy, with that of Llanbedr-Gôch annexed, in the gift of the Bishop of Bangor. The tithes of the parish have been commuted for a rent-charge of £290. 11. 3.; and there is a glebe of about one acre and a half, valued at £1. 10. per annum. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is a small neat edifice, put into a complete state of repair in 1821; it is one of the only two churches in the island of Anglesey noticed by the learned Grose in his Antiquities of Great Britain, and in the church and churchyard are some monuments bearing the armorial shields of various families in the vicinity. The name of the village of Pentraeth is more properly Llanvair-Bettws-Geraint, and it is therefore thought that before the erection of the present church, here was a church in honour of Geraint, an early British saint. There are places of worship for dissenters. A day school in connexion with the Established Church is endowed with £4 per annum, arising from a bequest of £100 by Dr. JohnSs Jones, Dean of Bangor, in 1719; it is principally supported by subscription and school-fees, and the master has a house and garden. Two Sunday schools are supported by the dissenters.
Anne Williams left £50, the interest of which, £2. 10., is paid to the poor by the owner of Plâs Gwyn on Good Friday and St. Thomas's day. In 1715, Rowland Jones left a messuage and land called Gors las, containing about five acres and a quarter, for the use of the poor of this parish, and of that of Llansadwrn, to which half an acre was added on the inclosure of the common of Mynydd Llwydiarth, about thirty years since; the whole now paying a rent of £4. 10. per annum, a moiety of which is distributed on St. Thomas's day. Under the same inclosure act six acres were assigned for fuel to the poor, which have been allotted to indigent families, who are allowed to possess the portions during their lives. Other sums for the relief of deserving objects are, 18s. charged by a mortgage deed upon lands in the parish, and commonly termed the poor's money; and 15s. divided among three widows of the parishes of Pentraeth, Llanddona, and Llandegvan, and payable by the proprietor of Plâs Gwyn. Poor men from the parish are entitled to share in the advantages of a residence in the almshouse at Penmynedd. Towards the repairs of the church there is a rent-charge of 20s. upon a farm of twenty acres named Tŷ'n-y-Lôn; and two payments of 8d. and 4d. are received out of small parcels of land called glebe-lands. A charity of £4. 10. has been lost by the insolvency of the parties entrusted with the money. Dr. Jones, Dean of Bangor, who bequeathed extensive benefactions to various places, principally for educating children, was born at Plâs Gwyn in the parish. |
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