The Tarannon shales, grey and blue slates, designated by A. Sedgwick the “paste rock,” is traceable from Conway into Carmarthenshire; in Cardiganshire, besides the slaty facies, gritty beds make their appearance; and in the neighbourhood of Builth soft dark shales. The group is poor in fossils with the exception of graptolites; of these Cyrtograptus grayae and Monograptus exiguus are zonal forms. The Tarannon group is represented by the Rhyader Pale Shales in Radnorshire; by the Browgill beds, with Monograptus crispus and M. turriculatus, in the Lake district; in the Moffat Silurian belt in south Scotland by a thick development, including the Hawick rocks and Ardwell beds, and the Queensberry group or Gala (Grieston shales, Buckholm grits and Abbotsford flags); in the Girvan area, by the Drumyork flags, Bargany group and Penkill group; and in Ireland by the Treveshilly shales of Strangford Lough, and the shales of Salterstown, Co. Louth.
The Upper and Lower Llandovery rocks are represented in descending order by the Pale shales, Graptolite shales, Grey slates and Corwen grit of Merionethshire and Denbighshire. In the Rhyader district the Caban group (Gafalt beds, shales and grits and Caban conglomerate), and the Gwastaden group (Gigrin mudstones, Ddol shales, Dyffryn flags, Cerig Gwynion grits) lie on this horizon; at Builth also there is a series of grits and shales. In the Lake district the lower part of the Stockdale shales (Skelgill beds) is of Llandovery age. In south Scotland in the central and southern belt of Silurian rocks, which extends across the country from Luce Bay to St Abb’s Head, the Birkhill shales, a highly crumpled series of graptolitic beds, represent the Llandovery horizon. In the Girvan area to the north their place is taken by the Camregan, Shaugh Hill and Mullock Hill groups. In Ireland the Llandovery rocks are represented by the Anascaul slates of the Dingle promontory, by the Owenduff and Gowlaun grits, Co. Galway, by the Upper Pomeroy beds, by the Uggool and Ballaghaderin beds, Co. Mayo, and by rocks of this age in Coalpit Bay and Slieve Felim Mountains.
Economic deposits in Llandovery rocks include slate pencils (Teesdale), building stone, flag-stone, road metal and lime. Lead ore occurs in Wales. (See [Silurian].)
(J. A. H.)
LLANDRINDOD, or Llandrindod Wells, a market town, urban district and health-resort of Radnorshire, Wales, situated in a lofty and exposed district near the river Ithon, a tributary of the Wye. Pop. (1901) 1827. Llandrindod is a station on the Mid-Wales section of the London & North-Western railway. The town annually receives thousands of visitors, and lies within easy reach of the beautiful Wye Valley and the wild district of Radnor Forest. The saline, sulphur and chalybeate springs of Llandrindod have long been famous. According to a treatise published by a German physician, Dr Wessel Linden, in 1754, the saline springs at Ffynon-llwyn-y-gog (“the well in the cuckoos’ grove”) in the present parish of Llandrindod had acquired more than a local reputation as early as the year 1696. In the 18th century both saline and sulphur springs were largely patronized by numbers of visitors, and about 1749 a Mr Grosvenor built a hydropathic establishment near the old church, on a site now covered by a farm-house known as Llandrindod Hall.
LLANDUDNO, a seaside resort in the Arfon parliamentary division of Carnarvonshire, North Wales, in a detached portion of the county east of the Conwy, on a strip of sandy soil terminating in the massive limestone of Great Orme’s Head. Pop. of urban district (1901) 9279. The town is reached by the London & North-Western railway, and lies 227 m. N.W. of London. A village in 1850, Llandudno is to-day one of the most flourishing watering-places in North Wales. Sheltered by the Great Orme on the N.W. and by the Little Orme on the E., it faces a wide bay of the Irish Sea, and is backed by low sandhills. A Marine Drive encircles the Great Orme. The Little Orme has caverns and abounds in sea birds and rare plants. Close to the town are the Gloddaeth woods, open to visitors. On the Great Orme are old circular buildings, an ancient fortress, a “rocking-stone” (crŷd Tudno) and the 7th-century church of St Tudno, restored in 1885. Druidical and other British antiquities are numerous in the district. At Deganwy, or Diganwy, 2 m. from Llandudno, is a castle, Dinas Gonwy (Conwy fort), known to English historians as Gannoc, dating from the 11th or (according to the Welsh) earlier than the 9th century.
LLANELLY, a market town, urban district, and seaport of Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated on the north shore of the broad estuary of the river Loughor (Llwchwr), known as Burry river, which forms an inlet of Carmarthen Bay. Pop. (1901) 25,617. Llanelly is a station on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway. The town is wholly of modern appearance. The mother-church of St Elliw, or Elli (whence the town derives its name) has been practically rebuilt (1906), but it retains its 13th-century tower and other ancient features of the original fabric. Its situation on a broad estuary and its central position with regard to a neighbourhood rich in coal, iron and limestone, have combined to make Llanelly one of the many important industrial towns of South Wales. Anthracite and steam-coal from the collieries of the coast and along the Loughor Valley are exported from the extensive docks; and there are also large works for the smelting of copper and the manufacture of tin plates.