LLANTRISANT

llantrisant, a small town and a contributory parliamentary borough of glamorganshire, wales, picturesquely situated with a southern aspect, commanding a fine view of the vale of glamorgan, in a pass on the mountain range which separates that vale from the valley of the taff. the population of the parish in 1901 was 10,091 and of the contributory borough 2057. a branch of the taff vale railway running from pontypridd to cowbridge and aberthaw has a station, cross inn, 1⁄2 m. below the town, while nearly 2 m. farther south it passes (near the village of pontyclun) through llantrisant station on the great western railway main line, which is 1561⁄4 m. by rail from london and 11 m. n.w. from cardiff. the castle, which according to g. t. clark was "second only to cardiff in military importance," dates from the reign of henry iii. or edward i. of the original building nothing remains, and of a later building only a tall and slender fragment. it was the head of the lordship of miskin, a great part of which was in the hands of native owners, until the last of them, howel ap meredith, was expelled by richard de clare (1229-1262). since then it has always been in the hands of the lord of glamorgan. it was in the near neighbourhood of the town that edward ii. was captured in 1327. in 1426 the then lord of glamorgan, richard, 5th earl of warwick, granted to the residents a charter confirming grants made by his predecessors in 1346, 1397 and 1424. the corporation was abolished in 1883, and its property (including 284 acres of common land) is administered by a town trust under a scheme of the charity commissioners. the "freemen" of the borough, however, still hold a court leet in the town-hall. the market formerly held here has been discontinued, but there are four annual fairs. the church was dedicated to three saints (illtyd, gwyno and tyfodwg), whence the name llantrisant. originally a norman building, most of the present fabric belongs to the 15th century. there are numerous chapels. welsh is still the predominant language. oliver cromwell's forbears were natives of this parish, as also was sir leoline jenkins, secretary of state under charles ii. there are tinplate works at pontyclun and numerous collieries in the district. llantwit major (welsh _llan-illtyd-fawr_), a small market town in the southern parliamentary division of glamorganshire, south wales, about 1 m. from the bristol channel, with a station on the barry railway, 5 m. s. of cowbridge. pop. (1901) 1113. about 1 m. n.n.w. of the town there were discovered in 1888 the remains of a large roman villa within a square enclosure of about 8 acres, which has been identified as part of the site of a roman settlement mentioned in welsh writings as caer wrgan. the building seemed to have been the scene of a massacre, possibly the work of irish pirates in the 5th century, as some forty-three human skeletons and the remains of three horses were found within its enclosure. etymological reasoning have led some to suggest that the roman station of bovium was at boverton, 1 m. e. of the town, but it is more likely to have been at ewenny (2 m. s.e. of bridgend) or perhaps at cowbridge. on the sea coast are two camps, one known as castle ditches, commanding the entrance to the creek of colhugh, once the port of llantwit. in the time of henry i. a small colony of flemings settled in the district. the town and church derive their name from st illtyd or iltutus, styled the "knight," a native of brittany and a great-nephew of germanus of auxerre. having come under the influence of st cadoc, abbot of llancarvan, 6 m. e.n.e. of llantwit, illtyd established at the latter place, about a.d. 520, a monastic college which became famous as a seat of learning. he attracted a number of scholars to him, especially from brittany, including samson, archbishop of dol, maglorius (samson's successor) and paul de leon, while his welsh students included david, the patron saint of wales, gildas the historian, paulinus and teilo. the college continued to flourish for several centuries, sending forth a large number of missionaries until, early in the 12th century, its revenues were appropriated to the abbey of tewkesbury by fitzhamon, the first norman lord of glamorgan. a school seems, however, to have lingered on in the place until it lost all its emoluments in the reign of henry viii. the present church of st illtyd is the result of a sequence of churches which have sprung from a pre-norman edifice, almost entirely rebuilt and greatly extended in the 13th century and again partially rebuilt late in the 14th century. it consists of an "eastern" church which (according to professor freeman) belonged probably to the monks, and is the only part now used for worship, a western one used as a parochial church before the dissolution, but now disused, and still farther west of this a chantry with sacristan's house, now in ruins. the western church consists of the nave of a once cruciform building, while in continuation of it was built the eastern church, consisting of chancel, nave (of great height and width but very short), aisles and an embattled western tower built over the junction of the two naves. a partial restoration was made in 1888, and a careful and more complete one in 1900-1905. in the church and churchyard are preserved some early monumental remains of the british church, dating from the 9th century, and some possibly from an earlier date. they include two cross-shafts and one cross with inscriptions in debased latin (one being to the memory of st illtyd) and two cylindrical pillars, most of them being decorated with interlaced work. there are some good specimens of domestic architecture of the 17th century. the town is situated in a fertile district and the inhabitants depend almost entirely on agriculture. its weekly market is mainly resorted to for its stock sales. st donats castle, 2 m. to the west, was for nearly seven centuries the home of the stradling family. as to the roman remains, see the _athenaeum_ for october 20 (1888), and the _antiquary_ for august (1892). as to the church, see the _archaeologia cambrensis_, 3rd ser. iv. 31 (an article by professor freeman), 5th ser., v. 409 and xvii. 129, and 6th ser., iii. 56; a. c. fryer, _llantwit-major: a fifth century university_ (1893). (d. ll. t.)