Llanidan, Anglesey

Historical Description

Llanidan, a parish in Anglesey, on the Menai Straits, 4 miles NNE of Carnarvon, and 4 SSW of Llanfair station on the L. & N.W.R. It contains the village of Brynsiencyn, which has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Llanfair (R.S.O.) Acreage, 4398; population, 1209. Llanidan House is a seat of Lord Boston. The parish is notable both for large connection with the ancient Druids and for military operations of the Romans; it formerly had many remains of both, which have disappeared; and it still retains, within distances of little more than a mile of the village, Tre-'r-Dryw, the spot where the Archdruid resided; Bryn-gwyn, a circular hollow where the Druidic tribunals were held; a cromlech, 9 feet long and 7 broad, at Perthiduon; a smaller but well-preserved cromlech at Bodowyr; semicircular dykes at Gwydryn and Castell Idris; vestiges of a Roman station at Caerwiech, and traces of a Roman road going thence to the Menai. Another great notability was the Maen Morddwyd or Thigh Stone, which was fabled and believed to possess the miraculous power of always returning to its site if moved away from it, and which figures thauma-turgically in the pages of Giraldns. The Romans effected their landings, under Suetonius and under Agricola, in the neighbourhood, and they here massacred the Druids. The living is a vicarage, united with the perpetual curacies of Llanedwen, Llanddaniel Fab, and Llanfair-yn-y-Cwmmwd, in the diocese of Bangor; net value, £156. Patron, Lord Boston. The church stands in Brynsiencyn, and is modern. The previous church stood near Plas Llanidan, succeeded one of 616, belonged to the priory of Beddgelert, and went into such decay as to be incapable of restoration. There are Calvinistic Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist chapels. Rowland the antiquary was vicar, and he described the antiquities of the parish in his " Mona Antiqua." Under the Parish Councils Act the parish is divided into two wards, with a council of fifteen members.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

For births, marriages, and deaths in Llanidan from 1837 to 1937 you should search for the Carnarvon Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Llanidan from 1937 to 1968 you should search for the Anglesey East Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Llanidan from 1968 to 1974 you should search for the Anglesey Registration District.

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Anglesey is online.

Maps

Online maps of Llanidan are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online:

• Western Mail
• The North Wales Chronicle