ABERCONWY. 1-5J* 



time of the bishops of Bangor; but it has been in 

 ruins even before Lelancl's time, who notices the 

 circumstance in his Itinerary : " Ther is by Con- 

 way, on the hither side of Conway water, an arme 

 like a peninsula called Gogarth, lying against 

 Prestholme, and ther be the Ruines of a Place of 

 the Bishops of Bangor." The church is dedi- 

 cated to St. Tudno, who lived in the beginning of 

 the sixth century : he was one of the sons of 

 Seithenyn, king of the plain of Gwyddno, whose 

 land was inundated, and he was a saint of the 

 Bangor Dunod, or the college at Bangor, in Flint- 

 shire. There is a curious old screen in the church 

 which is of great antiquity ; it is made of wood, 

 and supposed to have been brought from the cha- 

 pel at Gogarth. Being situated on the north side, 

 the church is exposed from the bleakness of its si- 

 tuation, to violent gales in winter, and it is far re- 

 moved from any dwelling. The gwyl mahsant, or 

 festival day of the patron saint is the fifth of June. 

 The tithes are appropriated to the archdeaconry ol 

 Merioneth. On an eminence above the village is 

 Dinas, which, as its name implies, was a fortified 

 post of the ancient Britons. A wall of great 

 thickness encircles the summit of the hill, and 

 within the area are great numbers of hollow cir- 



