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North Cornwall. He derives this from a legend of S. Nectan preserved at Hartland. So does William of Worcester (ed. Nasmith, 1778), from a notice of Brychan he found at S. Michael's Mount.

Among the daughters of Brychan known to the Welsh there is only one that might with any degree of probability be identified with her, and that is Dwynwen, and Mr. W. Copeland Borlase conjectured that the chapel of Advent was originally Llanddwynwen.1 But this is mere conjecture. The church is annexed to Lanteglos, and owing to this circumstance meets with no notice in the Exeter Episcopal Registers.

Dr. Borlase states that Advent parish church was originally dedicated to S. Tathan, as this name occurs, says he, in old deeds. Sir John Maclean quotes deeds in which the name is spelt S. Tawthan (1559), S. Adwen (1572), “Tathen alias Adventte" (1601), etc. But the Inquisitio Nonarum is the better authority for the dedication. See further under S. DwYNWEN.

S. AEDDAN, see S. AIDAN

S. AELGYFARCH, or ELGYFARCH, Confessor

NOTHING is known of this saint further than that he was one of the twelve sons of Helig ab Glannog,3 whose territory, called Tyno Helig, was overflowed by the sea in the sixth century. The Lavan Sands, between Anglesey and Carnarvonshire, formed a portion of the territory, which extended to the Great Orme's Head. After the loss of his land, Helig and his sons devoted themselves to religion. Most of them founded churches in various parts of Wales. They are said to have been members of the monastery of Bangor Iscoed in the first instance, but afterwards some of them went to Bardsey. No churches are dedicated to S. Aelgyfarch, nor is his name to be found in any Calendar.

1 The Age of the Saints, pp. 153-4, 159. Truro, 1893. Mr. Borlase supposes that Adwen is a corruption of Llan-dwyn, becoming Ladwyn and then Adwen. Carew calls her Athawyn, Survey, p. 92.

2 Deanery of Trigg Minor, sub nom. Advent, ii, p. 318.

3 Myv. Arch., p. 418; Iolo MSS., p. 124.

S. AELHAIARN, or ELHAIARN, Abbot, Confessor

THE parentage of this Aelhaiarn is unknown. He was a disciple of S. Dyfrig at Matle.1 He appears as witness to several grants made

to this saint, as that of Lann Iunabui,2 and that of Cum Barruc,3 and that of Cil Hal. He also witnessed the grant of Penally to Dyfrig. When, later, Cinuin, the king, regranted Cum Barruc to Bishop Elgistil, the same witnesses, both clerical and lay, are quoted, and the grant is apparently only a reaffirmation of the original transfer. When a grant was made to Bishop Comeregius, Aelhaiarn signed as Abbot of Lann Guruoe, i.e. Lann Guorboe. As such he also witnessed the grant of Lann Loudeu to Bishop Iunapeius.8

Lann Guorboe has been supposed to be Garway, but incorrectly; it was in campo Malochu. Mais mail Lochou, now represented by the name Mawfield for an older Malefield in Testa de Nevill and the Malvern Charters, was the name of Inis Ebrdil, and denoted the country between the Dore valley and the Wye from Moccas down to about Hereford, and the Worm. Guorboe = Gwrfwy in modern Welsh. For this note on the locality of Lann Guorboe we are indebted to Mr. Egerton Phillimore. Whether he migrated to Brittany with S. Teilo and so many bishops, abbots, and clerics on the breaking out of the Yellow Plague in 547 we do not know. Teilo, we do know, received grants from King Budic of Cornouaille, and it is significant that adjoining Plogonnec, near Quimper, where S. Teilo receives a cult, is S. Alouarn, who has given his name to a castle and to a canonry. Alouarn, apparently, is the hermit with staff, bearing a Celtic bell, represented in the same window with Teilo at Plogonnec, in glass of the fifteenth century. On his way through Cornwall along with Teilo, Aelhaiarn may have founded Lanherne, but the parish church is dedicated to the more important S. Maughan or Mawgan.

S. AELHAIARN, Confessor

AELHAIARN (" the Iron Eyebrow ") lived int he seventh century, and was a brother to SS. Llwchaiarn and Cynhaiarn.

The pedigrees of the Welsh saints show great variations on the

1 Book of Llan Dâv, p. 80.

2 Ibid., p. 73.

5 Ibid., p. 77.

8 Ibid., p. 164.

3 Ibid., p. 74.

• Ibid., p. 163.

Ibid., p. 75.
Ibid., p. 166.

part of the copyists in the genealogy of these brothers.1 The saint's own name is written Ael-, El-, and Al-haiarn, and out of the number of forms his father's name assumes, Hygarfael appears to be the best attested. This Hygarfael was a son of Cyndrwyn, a prince of that part of ancient Powys which included the Vale of the Severn about Shrewsbury, and he is said to have been "of Llystin Wynnan (or Wennan) in Caereinion in Powys," probably to be identified with Llysin, a township in the parish of Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire. The church of S. Aelhaiarn is by the same authorities said to be in "Cegidfa," i.e. "the hemlock-field," in Powys. The parish is called to-day in English, Guilsfield. It is near Welshpool.

Three other dedications have been given to this church-S. Giles (wrested from the parish name), All Saints (Browne Willis), and S. Tyssilio, the last from its having been from very early times a capella under the mother church of Meifod, as also from the fact that its festival, November 8, agreed with that of S. Tyssilio.

After Aelhaiarn was also named the ancient parish of Llanaelhaiarn in Merionethshire, which has for more than 350 years been annexed to the parish of Gwyddelwern. Its church or chapel is now extinct, but one of the townships still bears the name Aelhaiarn. It is given as "Eccl'ia de Lanhehaearn " in the Taxatio of 1291,2 and the instrument, "Unio capellæ de Llanalhaern ad vic. de Gwithelwern," dated 1550, is preserved in the Red Book of S. Asaph.3

The dedication here is to be accounted for by Aelhaiarn having been a pupil of S. Beuno, and Beuno was for a while settled at Gwyddelwern; so also his foundation at Guilsfield is explained, as Beuno was near the Severn before he moved to Gwyddelwern. When the master quitted Powys altogether, Aelhaiarn left as well, and accompanied him into Lleyn.

To Aelhaiarn is also dedicated the important church of Llanaelhaiarn, under the dominating height of Tre'r Ceiri in Carnarvonshire, and near Beuno's monastery at Clynnog. Here, and at his Well, a little distance to the north, the pilgrims rested on their way to Bardsey, and paid their devotions. Locally the church is called Llanhajarn, and is said to be dedicated to S. Elern, both corruptions. There is in the parish a large farm called Elernion (a name formed like Ceredigion and Edeyrnion), which is believed to be so named after him. Pennant, in his Tours, says the church is " dedicated to S. Aelhaiarn, or the Saint with an iron eyebrow, from a legend too absurd to relate. Near it is a fine well, once much frequented for its reputed sanctity." "4 1 Peniarth MSS., 16 and 45; Myv. Arch., pp. 418, 421-2, 424-5; Iolo MSS., p. 104; Cambro-British Saints, p. 267. 4 Ed. 1883, ii, p. 384.

2 P. 286.

3 Fol. 2, collations section.

S. AELHAIARN.

From Fifteenth-Century Stained Glass at Plogonnec,

Finistère.

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