﻿8«7 



IIOXTGOMERYSHIRE. 



MONTPELLIER. 



833 



and noi-th-west ; Machynlleth, west; Llanidloes, south; Montgomery, 

 south-t-aat ; Newtown, central. The county is divided into four Poor- 

 Law Unions : — Llanfyllin, Machynlleth, Montgomery and Pool, and 

 Newtown and Llanidloes. These Unions include 69 parishes and 

 townships, with a population in 1S51 of 73,238. County courts are 

 held in Machynlleth, LlaufjUiu, Llanilloes, Newtown, aud Welsh- 

 pool The principal towns, Llanpylujt, Llanidloes, Machynlleth, 

 ' MoNTOOMEBT, Newiown, and Pool or- Welshpool, are described in 

 separate articles. 



Uanfair, or Llanvair Caer Einion, population of the parish 2727 in 

 1851, is about 11 miles N.W. from Montgomery, on the right bank of 

 the Vyrnwy. It is neatly built and of pleasing appearance ; the two 

 principal streets intersect nearly at right angles. The town-hall is neat 

 and commodious, witu a market-house underneath. The church is an 

 ancient building. There are several Diaaentini^ places of worship. 

 Flannel is manufactured to a small extent. There is a market on 

 Saturday, and several yearly faii-s are held. Roman antiquities have 

 been dug up in the neighbourhood. 



Llanbrynmair, population 19S2, on the road between Llanfair and 

 Machynlleth, is surrounded by fine scenery. The church is an ancient 

 structure, adorned with some fine specimens of carved oak. In the 

 neighbourhood are two stone circles. Llangi/iinog, population 563, is 

 on the road from Llanfyllin to Bala, in .Merionethshire, in a pleasant 

 but narrow vale, watered by the T^mat, an^l inclosed by lofty and steep 

 mountains. There are many det iched farm-houses in the valley. The 

 church is a sm^ll ancient building. Many of the inhabitants are 

 employed in slate-quarries and lead-mines. 



Of smaller places the following may be noticed ; the population when 

 given is that of 1851 : — 



Catr-Svo; a village at the junction of the Camo with the Severn. 

 A Roman intrenched camp of square form and covering four acres is 

 close to the village : it commanded all the passes round, and was con- 

 nected with 5 Roman roads. A farm-house now stands in the centre 

 of the area of the camp. Cemmet, a suiall village 7 miles N. t^. from 

 Machynlleth uu the left bank of the Dovey, has suiue curious old houses 

 and remains of a rude amphitheatre. In the parish of lAunwHn, popu- 

 lation 768, which comprises a portion of the county on the right bank 

 of the Dovey, is Maihaearn, where Henry VII. slept on his way from 

 Hilford Uaven to Bosworth. The parish church of Llanwrin is four 

 miles from Machynlleth, and is 163 feet long. Metfad, a well-built 

 thriving little place two miles farther east on the left bank of the 

 Vyrnwy, is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station, Medio- 

 lanam. It has a commodious Norman church and a very large church- 

 jraid. Several encampments are seen in the neighbourhood. 



The county is chiefly in the diocese of St. Asaph. Nearly the whole 

 of the hundred of Montgomery is in the diocese of Hereford. The 

 hundred of Llanidloes is a peculiar of the bishop of Bangor. Mont- 

 gomeryshire is included in the North Wales circuit. Tlie assizes are 

 held at Welshpool The county jail and house of correction are at 

 Mootgomeiy, where the quarter-segsiims are held. The county returns 

 one member to Parliament, and Montgomery with its contributory 

 boroughs returns one member. 



Hutory and Anltqaitiet. — Montgomeryshire was, with the neigh- 

 bouring counties, iucluded in the territory of the Ordovice^, and on 

 the reduction of the island under the Roman power, in the province 

 of Britannia Secunda. Various Roman antiquities have been fouad 

 near ICacbynlleth. The site of a Roman camp is traceable at Caer 

 Swa, about 6 miles west of Newtown. There are other marks of 

 intrenchments near it, and traces of a Roman road called 'Sam Swsan.' 

 Ancient camps, cairns, and tumuli abound. 



This county was the scene of hostility between the Welsh and the 

 Mercians under OSU. The celebrated 'dyke' made by OSa traverses 

 the county from north to south, passing a little to the east of Welsh- 

 pool and Montgomery, and includmg ttie eastern part of the county in 

 the Saxon territory. The re^t of the county was included in Puwys 

 or Powysland, a designation which bad previously been given to this 

 part of Wales. In the latter part of the 9th century Powys became a 

 wparate principality, under chieftains who had their residence at 

 Mathrafel, near the banks of the Vyrnwy, above Meifod. There are 

 ■ome earthworks and other traces of the castle of the princes of Powys 

 at Mathrafel 



In 694, in the reign of Alfred, the Danes entered the county. After 

 the Conquest, Powys became the continual object of attack by the 

 Norman lords of the marches or frontiers. These hostilities led to 

 the erection uf the castles of Montgomery by the Normans, and 

 Powys, near Welshpool, by the Welsh, and to a continued aud severe 

 struggle for the possession of these strongholds. In the latter part 

 of the llth century a desperate engagement was fought on the hills 

 of Camo, between the forces of Oryffyild ap Cynan, lawful claimant 

 of the throne of Owynedd, or Ncnth Wales, assisted by Rhys ap 

 Tewdwr, prince of South Wales, against those of Trahaiarn ap Cara- 

 dog, bis usurping competitor. The engEigement whs the most bloody 

 of any recorded in the Welsh annals, and ended in the death of 

 Trabaiam and the entire defeat of his army. 



The imlependeiics of Powys wa* overthrown before the final sub- 

 jugation of North Wales : it became an English lordship, which 

 remained for ujany years in the posterity of John de Charlton, who, 

 in the time of Kdward II., married the heiress of the Welsh chief- 



tains. The barony aud title passed to the Greys, a Northumberland 

 fimily, until it became extinct in the reign of Henry VIII. The ouly 

 remaining castles or ruius of castles worth mentioning, are those of 

 Montgomery and Powys, which are uotieed uudr AIonigomery and 

 Pool respectively. There are no monastic ruiua in the couuty of 

 importance, 



StcUutks. — The registration county (which included a population in 

 1851 of 9807 more ttuiu the couuty proper) contained in March 1851, 

 when the Census was taken, 346 places of worship, of which 89 

 belonged to Calviuistio Methodists, 78 to Wealeyan Methodists, 66 to 

 the Church of Eaglaud, 53 to Indepeudeuts, 26 to Baptists, and 23 

 to Primitive Methodists. The total number of sittings provided was 

 62,886. The number of day schools was 127, of which 72 were 

 public schools with 4854 scholars, aud 55 were private schools with 

 1340 scholars. Of Sunday schools there were 312 with 23,001 

 scholars; and of evening schools for adults there were 6 with 130 

 pupils. There were three literary societies with 271 members — one 

 of these societies possessed 300 volumes in its library. In l!553 there 

 two savings banks ia the couuty, at Machynlleth and Welshpool. 

 The amount owing to depositors on November 20th 1853 was 

 64,903t 0>. 5d. 



MONTIONAC. [DoBDOOXE.] 



MUNTIGNY-LEROI. [Mabne, Hadtb.] 



MO.VTILLA. [ConD0VA.J 



MONTLUyON. [Allieb.] 



MONTLUEL. [Ai.n.J 



MONT.\lARAULT. CAlubb.] 



MoNT-UARTRE. [Pabis.] 



MoNTMEUY. [Mkdse.] 



MONTMIUAIL. LM^B-"**;] 



MONTMoRILLON. [Vienne.] 



MONa'^.>LIEU. [ACDB.] 



MO.VTONA. [ISIBIA.] 



MON roRO. LCOBOoVA.] 



MiJXrPELLII:.R, a city in the south of France, capital of the 

 departiue.it of U^rsult, is situated on a hdl near the Lez, in 43' 36' 44" 

 N. lat., 3' 52' 57 ' E. long., at aa elevation uf 145 feet above the level 

 of the sea, 30 miles by radway S.VV. from Nlmes, 20 miles N.W. from 

 Cette its port, aud has a population of 40,222 in the commune. The 

 town was built in the 10th ceutury to replace the episcopal town of 

 Mauguelonue, wliicn stood on an islaud in a neighbouriug lake, and 

 had been destroyed by order of Charles Martel for favouring the 

 Saracens. The town had at an early period lords of its own, who 

 distinguished themselves in the crusades aud other wars against the 

 Mohammedans in the llth and 12th centuries. Beujamin of Tudela 

 describes the town as one of the chief commercial stations of France 

 aud of the world. 



The lordship of MontpelUer was at this time in the hands of the 

 kings, firot oi Aragou, and subsequently of Majorca, a younger branch 

 uf tae same house. These princes held theur lordship immediately 

 of the bisbops of Mauguelouue, who divided with them the jurisdic- 

 tiou of the city, under the suzerainty of the kiugs of France. The 

 portions both of the bishop and the king were uuited to the French 

 crown by purchase in the 13th and 14th centuries respectively. The 

 lordship was subsequeutly conferred ou Cliarles le Mauvais, king of 

 Navarre (1371), iu oxchauge for certain lordships ceded by him to 

 the King of France ; but on the forfeiture of that king's domains for 

 treason (1378), it was re-united to the French crown. In 1538 the 

 bishopric of Mauguelonne was transferred to MontpelUer. Mont- 

 pelUer came into the bauds of the Huguenots in the reigu uf Henri III. 

 After enduring a long siege it surrendered to Louis Xlll. (1622), who 

 ordered ttie coustructiou of a citadel to retain the place in suujection. 



Montpellier ia situated on an einiueuce, from which there is an 

 extensive view over the Mediterranean and the adjacent coasts. 

 Except some of the gates aud the citadel, there are lew remains of 

 the old fortihcations. The citadel is of little strength ; it is however 

 well kept up, and has a good parade. The streets are narrow, crooked, 

 and steep ; but the houses, wtiich ore almost all of st jue, are sub- 

 stantially built. Moat of the squares are small aud of irregular form ; 

 the public fountains are numerous. There are two town-walks, the 

 esplanade between the town and the citadel, aud the Peyrou, a terrace- 

 walk planted with trees and covered with turf, Ou the upper part of 

 the terrace there is a hexagonal tower adorned with columns, aud 

 inclosing a reservoir, which is supplied with water by an aqueduct 

 about 5 miles long. The water from this reservoir falls in a cascade 

 over artificial rocks, and supplies the various fountains of the city. 

 The cathedral presents little that ia worthy of notice. The former 

 amphitbeatre of St, -Come, now the exchauge, is adorued with a haud- 

 some Corinthian portico, aud is perhaps the haudsomest buddiug in 

 the city. The modern auatomicitl theatre is a due building, aud the 

 gate of Peyrou, a triumphal arch opening on the promenade uf I'eyruu, 

 is aUo haudsome; but tue former episcopal palace, uow occupied as a 

 medical school, the court-house, tha prefect's house, &c., are of 

 ordinary appearance. 



The manufactures of Montpellier are considerable, aud trade is 

 prosecuted on a l.irge scale. There are several bankiug-housea. 

 L.iqueurB, perfumery, preserves, dried fruits, verdigris, alum, cream of 

 tartar, vitriol an' I uqu.ifortis, woollen-cloth, muslins, printed cottons, 



