respectively, about 14 m. apart. From Padarn rises the Seint, called Rothell in its upper part. Dolbadarn Castle is a circular tower near the foot of Peris lake. Dolbadarn means the “Padarn meadow.” Several Welsh churches are dedicated to Padarn. In the castle Owen Goch (Owen the Red) was imprisoned from 1254 to 1277, by the last Llewelyn, whose brother Dafydd held it for some time against Edward I. During the time of Owen Glendower (temp. Henry IV. and Henry V.), the castle often changed hands. Near is Ceunantmawr waterfall. The Vaenol slate quarries are here, and hence is the easiest ascent of Snowdon, with a railway to the summit. From the road over the fine Llanberis pass towards Capel Curig, a turn to the right leads to Beddgelert, through Nant Gwynnant (“white” or “happy valley,” or “stream”), where Pembroke and Ieuan ap Robert (for the Lancastrians) had many skirmishes in the time of Edward IV. Gwynnant Lake is about 1 m. long, by 14 m. broad, and below it is the smaller Llyn Dinas.
LLANDAFF, a city of Glamorganshire, Wales, on the Taff Vale
railway, 149 m. from London. Pop. (1901) 5777. It is almost
entirely within the parliamentary borough of Cardiff. It is
nobly situated on the heights which slope towards the southern
bank of the Taff. Formerly the see of Llandaff was looked upon
as the oldest in the kingdom; but its origin is obscure, although
the first two bishops, St Dubricius and St Teilo, certainly
flourished during the latter half of the 6th century. By the
12th century, when Urban was bishop, the see had acquired
great wealth (as may be seen from the Book of Llandaff, a collection
of its records and land-grants compiled probably by Geoffrey
of Monmouth), but after the reign of Henry VIII. Llandaff,
largely through the alienations of its bishops and the depredations
of the canons, became impoverished, and its cathedral was
left for more than a century to decay. In the 18th century a
new church, in debased Italian style, was planted amid the ruins.
This was demolished and replaced (1844–1869) by the present
restored cathedral, due chiefly to the energy of Dean Williams.
The oldest remaining portion is the chancel arch, belonging
to the Norman cathedral built by Bishop Urban and opened in
1120. Jasper Tudor, uncle of Henry VII., was the architect of
the north-west tower, portions of which remain. The cathedral
is also the parish church. The palace or castle built by Urban
was destroyed, according to tradition, by Owen Glendower in
1404, and only a gateway with flanking towers and some fragments
of wall remain. After this, Mathern near Chepstow
became the episcopal residence until about 1690, when it fell into
decay, leaving the diocese without a residence until Llandaff
Court was acquired during Bishop Ollivant’s tenure of the see
(1849–1882). For over 120 years the bishops had been non-resident.
The ancient stone cross on the green (restored in
1897) is said to mark the spot on which Archbishop Baldwin, and
his chaplain Giraldus Cambrensis, preached the Crusade in 1187.
Money bequeathed by Thomas Howell, a merchant, who died
in Spain in 1540, maintains an intermediate school for girls,
managed by the Drapers’ Company, Howell’s trustees. There is
an Anglican theological college, removed to Llandaff from
Aberdare in 1907. The city is almost joined to Cardiff, owing
to the expansion of that town.
Llandaff Court, already mentioned, was the ancient mansion of the Mathew family, from which Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff (b. 1826), was descended. Another branch of this family formerly held the earldom of Llandaff in the Irish peerage. Henry Matthews, a barrister and Conservative M.P., whose father was a judge in Ceylon, was home secretary 1886–1892, and was created viscount in 1895.
LLANDEILO GROUP, in geology, the middle subdivision of the British Ordovician rocks. It was first described and named
by Sir. R. I. Murchison from the neighbourhood of Llandeilo in
Carmarthenshire. In the type area it consists of a series of
slaty rocks, shales, calcareous flagstones and sandstones; the
calcareous middle portion is sometimes termed the “Llandeilo
limestone”; and in the upper portion volcanic rocks are intercalated.
A remarkable feature in the history of the Llandeilo
rocks in Britain, more especially in North Wales and Cumberland,
was the outbreak of volcanic action; vast piles of Llandeilo
lava and ashes form such hills as Cader Idris, and the Arenigs
in Wales, and Helvellyn and Scafell in Westmorland and
Cumberland. The series is also found at Builth and in Pembrokeshire.
The average thickness in Wales is about 2000 ft. The
group is usually divided in this area into three subdivisions.
In the Corndon district of Shropshire the Middleton Series
represents the Llandeilo group; it includes, in descending
order, the Rorrington black shales, the Meadowtown limestones
and flags, and the western grits and shales. In the Lake District
the great volcanic series of Borrowdale, green slates and porphyries,
8000 to 9000 ft. in thickness, lies on this horizon; and in the Cross
Fell area the Milburn beds of the Skiddaw slates (see Arenig)
appear to be of the same age. In Scotland the Llandeilo group
is represented by the Glenkiln shales, black shales and yellowish
mudstones with radiolarian cherts and volcanic tuffs; by the
Barr Series, including the Benan conglomerates, Stinchar limestone
and Kirkland sandstones; and by the Glenapp conglomerates
and Tappins mudstones and grits south of Stinchar.
Graptolitic shales, similar to those of southern Scotland, are
traceable into the north-east of Ireland.
The fossils of the Llandeilo group include numerous graptolites, Coenograptus gracilis being taken as the zonal fossil of the upper portion, Didymograptus Murchisoni of the lower. Other forms are Climacograptus Scharenbergi and Diplograptus foliaceus. Many trilobites are found in these rocks, e.g. Ogygia Buchi, Asaphus tyrannus, Calymene cambrensis, Cheirurus Sedgwickii. Among the brachiopods are Crania, Leptaena, Lingula, Strophomena; Cardiola and Modiolopsis occur among the Pelecypods; Euomphalus, Bellerophon, Murchisonia among the Gasteropods; Conularia and Hyolithes among the Pteropods; the Cephalopods are represented by Orthoceras and Cyrtoceras. The green roofing slates and plumbago (graphite) of the Lake District are obtained from this group of rocks, (see Ordovician).
LLANDILO, or Llandeilo Fawr, a market town and urban district of Carmarthenshire, Wales, picturesquely situated above the right bank of the river Towy. Pop. (1901) 1721. Llandilo is a station on the Mid-Wales section of the London & North-Western railway, and a terminus of the Llandilo-Llanelly branch
line of the Great Western. The large parish church of St Teilo
has a low embattled Perpendicular tower. Adjoining the town
is the beautiful park of Lord Dynevor, which contains the ruined
keep of Dinefawr Castle and the residence of the Rices (Lords
Dynevor), erected early in the 17th century but modernized
in 1858. Some of the loveliest scenery of South Wales lies within
reach of Llandilo, which stands nearly in the centre of the Vale
of Towy.
The name of Llandilo implies the town’s early foundation by St Teilo, the great Celtic missionary of the 6th century, the friend of St David and reputed founder of the see of Llandaff. The historical interest of the place centres in its proximity to the castle of Dinefawr, now commonly called Dynevor, which was originally erected by Rhodri Mawr or his son Cadell about the year 876 on the steep wooded slopes overhanging the Towy. From Prince Cadell’s days to the death of the Lord Rhys, last reigning prince of South Wales, in 1196, Dinefawr continued to be the recognized abode of South Welsh royalty. The castle ruins remain in the possession of the Rices, Lords Dynevor, heirs and descendants of Prince Cadell. At one period residence and park became known as New-town, a name now obsolete. Some personal relics of the celebrated Sir Rhys ap Thomas, K.G. (1451–1527), are preserved in the modern house. Dinefawr Castle and its estates were granted away by Henry VIII. on the execution for high treason of Sir Rhys’s grandson, Rhys ap Griffith, but were restored to the family under Queen Mary.
LLANDOVERY (Llan-ym-ddyffri), a market town and ancient municipal borough of Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated amid hills near the left bank of the Towy. Pop. (1901) 1809. Llandovery is a station on the Mid-Wales section of the London & North-Western railway. The old-fashioned town lies in the parish of Llandingat, and contains the two churches of Llandingat and Llanfair-ar-y-bryn. The slight remains of the castle stand on a hillock above the river Brân. The public school was founded here by Sir Thomas Phillips in 1847.
