Llantilio-Cresseny, or Llantilio-Grossenny (St. Teilaw)

LLANTILIO-CRESSENY, or Llantilio-Grossenny (St. Teilaw), a parish, in the division and hundred of Skenfreth, union and county of Monmouth, 7½ miles (W. N. W.) from Monmouth; containing 699 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the west and south-east by the river Trothy, and situated on the road from Monmouth to Abergavenny. It comprises about 5480 acres; the soil is chiefly clay, the surface a good deal undulated, and the views are exceedingly fine, especially from the stately ruin of White Castle, which is encompassed by a deep moat, on the crest of an eminence about a mile and a half north-west of the church. Killough, now a farmhouse, was the principal seat of the Powells, or ap Howels; a younger branch of the family resided at Llantilio for about 270 years, and the last descendant was married to Mr. Serjeant Taddy, who has a mansion here. Old Court was the residence of Sir William Thomas, who married the daughter of Sir David Gam, whose services at Agincourt were rewarded by Henry V. with knighthood on the field of battle: Sir David occasionally made this a place of retreat from the vengeance of Owain Glendwr, by whom his castle of Peyton Gwyn, in Breconshire, was burnt to the ground. Remains exist of the moat of Old Court. A farm now called Park Farm, was the red-deer park belonging to Raglan Castle.

The living is a vicarage, with that of Penrose annexed, valued in the king's books at £10. 10. 5., and in the patronage of the Bishop, Archdeacon, and Chapter of Llandaff, the appropriators; net income, £270: there is a small parsonage-house, with a glebe of about 10 acres. The church, which is picturesquely situated on an artificial mound, part of the site of an ancient intrenchment, is a handsome cruciform structure of stone, with aisles, and a chapel on the north side of the chancel; it is chiefly in the early style, and has a tower surmounted by a lofty shingled spire, rising from the intersection of the transepts. In the chapel are several curious tombstones with effigies of the Powell family, and in the chancel are neat monuments to the family of Lewis, especially one by Flaxman to the memory of the lady of Mr. Justice Bosanquet: in the churchyard is a stone cross. A chapel of ease, capable of accommodating 180 persons, was erected by subscription, in 1842, at Llanvair-gil-Coed; where are remains of an ancient castle, and where was a grange belonging to the abbey of Dore, in Herefordshire. There is a place of worship for Primitive Methodists; also a school endowed with £40 per annum from bequests by James and John Powell, in 1645.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.