The History of Oswestry / Comprising the British, Saxon, Norman, and English eras; the topography of the borough; and its ecclesiastical and civic history; with notices of botany, geology, statistics, angling, and biography: to which are added sketches of the environs

by William Cathrall

LLANYBLODWEL,

Although now included in the county of Salop, is nevertheless on the borders of Montgomeryshire, and is in the diocese of St. Asaph. It is a rectory (cum cap. Morton), dedicated to St. Michael, and is valued in the King’s books at £39 5s. Patron, the Bishop of St. Asaph. It is situated six miles from Oswestry, on the east side of the river, below Abercynllaeth, and above Aber-tanat. In Domesday Book it is called Bodowan-ham, and in an old deed of the Fitz-Alans Blodwel (dated in the time of Henry 6th,) Vawre Villata, which means “the village of Great Blodwel.” Welsh etymologists contend that the name of the place is derived from Blodau, a flower, the spring there being very early; whilst other writers say that the name originated in the Saxon “blood” and “wold,” in consequence of the bloody and inhuman battle fought there between the Mercians and the Cymry (or Welsh). In this parish is Blodwel-Hall, the deserted seat of the Tanats, descended from Einion. The heiress of the house, Jane, married John Matthews, of Court, and the heiress of the Matthewses, Ursula, married Sir John Bridgman, grandson to the Lord-Keeper, Sir Orlando, and ancestor to the present Earl of Bradford, who inherits the estate. The rector of the parish is the Rev. John Parker, son of the late Thomas Netherton Parker, Esq., of Sweeney Hall, near Oswestry, and distinguished for his taste in ecclesiastical architecture and decorations.