Roberts Thomas, boot and shoemaker
Thomas William, farmer
Llanyblodwell is a parish on the western verge of Shropshire, adjoining the county of Denbigh, comprising the townships of Abertannat, Blodwell, Bryn, and Lynclys, which together, at the census of 1841, contained a population of 961 souls and 200 houses. The parish is bounded on the east by Offa’s-dyke, noticed at the preceding page.
ABERTANNAT,
a village and township one mile S.E. from Blodwell, contains 1073a. 3r. 17p. of land, 19 houses, and 102 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,135. 12s 5d. The land has mostly a strong soil, upon the limestone, considered good for grazing purposes. The proprietors are Lord Godolphin and John Hamor, Esq. Earl Powis is lord of the manor. The tithes have been commuted for £90. 2s. 2d., of which £39. 7s. has been apportioned to the Rev. R. Williams; £13. 9s. 10d. to the Rev. R. M. H. Hughes; and £37. 5s. 4d. to the Rev. John Parker. Abertannat Hall is the pleasantly situated mansion of John Edwards, Esq. The scenery in the vicinity is most beautiful and picturesque. Upon the towering heights of some of the hills are seen prospects of unbounded extent. The lands abound with game, and the rippling stream of the Tanat meanders at the foot of the hills, well stocked with trout and other fish.
Directory.—John Edwards, Esq., The hall; James Davies, farmer, Llan; Robert Edwards, farmer, Cafn; Thomas Jones, shopkeeper; Charles Jones, gamekeeper; John Jones, farmer, Garth-issa; William Jones, farmer, Gath-ucha; Richard Jones, gamekeeper; William Lloyd, blacksmith and vict., Horse Shoe Inn; Richard Lewis, farmer, Tynycoed; John Morgan, huntsman; William Pritchard, farmer, Cafn; Matthew Roberts, schoolmaster.
BLODWELL
is a pleasant village in a hilly and romantic country, six miles S.S.W. from Oswestry, having 87 houses and 384 inhabitants. The township contains 1677a. 1r. 18p. of land. Rateable value, £1777, 1s. 9d. Gross estimated rental, £1989 18s. 9d. The principal landowners are the Earl of Powis, Earl of Bradford, Mrs. Aubrey, Rev. John Parker, John Bonner, Esq.; John Edwards, Esq.; and John George Edwards, Esq.; the former is lord of the manor. The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a venerable fabric, the exterior of which is now undergoing a complete reparation at the expense of the present incumbent. The body of the church is divided into two compartments, and has a pitched roof, supported by columns and arches in the Norman style of architecture. The chancel is tastefully decorated, and contains a splendid stained glass window; it is fitted up with stalls, and separated from the body of the church by an antique oak screen, richly carved. The church has had additions and alterations made at several different periods; in 1835 the accommodation of the church was increased by the addition of 47 sittings. The chancel contains several handsome memorials, one of which remembers the Bridgemans, of Blodwell; another very elegantly designed is commemorative of the late Sir John Bridgeman, Bart.; there are also monuments to the Godolphins, Matthews, and others. The living is a vicarage valued in the king’s books at £7. 12s. 6d., and now returned at £271 in the patronage of the bishop of St. Asaph, and incumbency of the Rev. John Parker, M.A. Divine service is performed alternately in the Welsh and English languages. The vicarage is a modern and commodious erection of brick, in the decorative style, with ornamental chimneys, and is situated a short distance from the church; a considerable portion of the house has been built by the present incumbent. The bishop of St. Asaph is the impropriator of the large tithes, which are commuted for £211 9s. 6d., and the small tithes payable to the vicar are commuted for £36. 9s. 3d.
Blodwell Hall, a modern stuccoed mansion delightfully situated, is the residence of William Lyons, Esq. The hills above the hall command a scene of sublimity and beauty, perhaps unsurpassed in any part of Wales. The summits of innumerable mountains are seen at once, rising in every variety of ridge, the distant in softest azure, and the near clothed in the richest verdure, with hanging woods, fertile meadows, and the bright rivers, Vernieu and Tanat, meandering at the foot of the hills, on their way to join the sunny waters of the magnificent Severn. Turning towards England, a perfect contrast is presented, in the fertile and expansive plains of Shropshire, richly wooded, and profuse in luxuriant vegetation, terminated on the south by the noble Wrekin, and on the north and east by the faint outline of the distant hills of Cheshire and Stafford. The river Tanat is crossed by a stone bridge at the point of separation of this township and that of Abertannat; at the Grove about a mile and a half below Blodwell it has its confluence with the river Vernieu, which here separates Shropshire and Denbighshire.
The School is endowed with £100 bequeathed by Ursula Bridgeman in 1713; £100 the gift of Sir John Bridgeman in 1739; and £100 given by Judith Bridgeman. In 1825 it was discovered that there was £300 stock in the old south sea annuities standing in the names of trustees, but that no dividends had been received thereon since the 6th April, 1801. In September, 1825, £211. 10s. was received for the arrears of dividends, out of which sum £57. 10s. 6d. was paid for the expense of recovering them, of transferring the stock, and of the new trust deed, and £123. 7s. 2d. was expended in 1826 and 1827 in re-building the school. Out of the dividends amounting to £9 per annum, £7 is paid to the schoolmaster, the residue having hitherto been reserved for repairs. According to the deed of 1753 the master is entitled to three-fourths of the dividends; 50 scholars attend the school, which is partly supported by the vicar.