Vainor, or Vaynor (Y Faenor or Maenor) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
VAINOR, or VAYNOR (Y FAENOR or MAENOR), a parish, in the union of MerthyrTydvil, hundred of Pencelly, county of Brecknock, South Wales, 3½ miles (N. by E.) from Merthyr-Tydvil; containing 2286 inhabitants. This parish comprises the hamlets of Coedycummer, Dyfryn, and Gelly, in which last is the church; and is situated on the Lesser Tâf river, about two miles to the left of the turnpike-road from Brecknock to Merthyr-Tydvil. It comprises 6660 acres, of which about 4000 are common or waste land; the remainder produces very good crops of grain, and excellent pasturage for sheep and cattle. The surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified, and the country abounds with interesting objects; the views over the counties of Brecknock, Monmouth, and Glamorgan, are extensive and picturesque. Limestone is found in various parts, and the procuring of it affords employment to a portion of the inhabitants; the people are chiefly engaged in agriculture, and in the ironworks at Merthyr-Tydvil. For the accommodation of persons occupied in the works of that place the village of Coedycummer, in this parish, appears to have arisen; it is built upon a tract of common, without any regard to regularity or order, and is almost exclusively inhabited by persons employed in the works, since the establishment of which the parish has greatly increased in population. Some leadore has been occasionally discovered above Coedycummer, near the turnpike-road, though not in sufficient quantity to remunerate the labours of the miner. Two woollen manufactories have been carried on for some years; but the number of people engaged is very inconsiderable.
The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £8. 3. 11½., and in the patronage of the Crown; present gross income, £292, arising from tithes producing £260, and the glebe land £32. The advowson, prior to the Reformation, was vested in the lords of Brecknock, but was forfeited on the attainder of the Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII., since which time it has remained with the princedom of Wales. The church, dedicated, according to some authorities, to St. Gwundoline, and, as others state, to St. Gwenvrwi, is an ancient edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, and small tower, and is pleasantly situated on the western bank of the Lesser Tâf, upon a shelving ledge of ground, which appears to have subsided from the adjoining hill, or to have been torn from it by some violent convulsion. It is a dark, low building, not possessing any architectural claim to notice. In the outside wall is a stone commemorating the decease of a woman who lived during seven successive reigns, and died at the advanced age of 108 years. The parsonage-house is an indifferent building, with about twenty-seven acres of glebe land attached. There are places of worship for Independents, Calvinistic Methodists, and others; two Sunday schools in connexion with the Established Church, and four connected with the dissenters.
An ancient stone, with an inscription greatly defaced, and which is supposed to have been part of an old cross, was formerly placed within a hundred yards of the twelfth milestone on the turnpike-road from Brecknock to Merthyr, as a gate-post in a wall on the right-hand side of the road. At present, however, it is not to be found, having been removed of late years. These crosses, in remote periods, were used for a variety of purposes: they were principally set up as landmarks, for the division of property; when placed in a hedge, they prohibited foot-passengers from making a path across the field; when on the road-side, and inscribed with the name of one of the primitive fathers of the British Church, they were intended to denote that Christianity had been preached in that place, and to inspire sentiments of devotion in the minds of travellers. In process of time they multiplied exceedingly, and there is scarcely a parish in the principality which did not once contain several of them. There are numerous carneddau, or heaps of stones, in the parish; two of which are particularly distinguished, and are named respectively Y Garn Wen, and Y Garn Ddû, or "the white" and "the black cairns." Near the church is a natural cavern, called Ogov Glaig, from which issues a small brook; and in the same vicinity is an artificial mound, or barrow, but nothing is known of its origin, though it may probably have been raised over the remains of some persons of eminence interred here. In various parts are pannau, or cavities, which are very common in limestone tracts. Hywel Rhŷs, a poet of considerable genius, though poor and unlettered, and who was author of several productions of considerable merit, was born in the parish; he died in 1799. |
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