LLANVACHES is a parish close to the main road from Newport to Chepstow, 3 miles north from Magor station on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway and 9 north-east from Newport, in the Southern division of the county, lower division of the hundred of Caldicot, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Newport, rural deanery of Netherwent (middle division), archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff. The church of St. Dubricus is a small building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western saddleback tower, containing one bell: there are 100 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1796; marriages, 1754. The living is a rectory, commuted tithe rent-charge £215, average £163, net income £135, with 9 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of Lord Tredegar, and held since 1886 by the Rev. Thomas Edward Holland Wynne D.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. Here are Congregational, Baptist and Bible Christian chapels.

Extensive water works to augment the supply of water to Newport are now (1895) being constructed here, and will include a reservoir estimated to hold about thirteen hundred million gallons, connected by means of an underground aqueduct with another at Newchurch holding about four million gallons, and this by means of pipes with a third reservoir at Wentwood containing about twenty million gallons. The work is being carried out by James Young esq. contractor, of Glasgow, and will cost about £200,000. There have been various bequests to the poor, amounting in all to $10 yearly. On the land of Church Farm, the property of Mr. Samuel Baker, the site of the foundations, of a castle, situated about 250 yards north of the church, can be distinctly traced. In an orchard belonging to Talgarth farm, at the top of a conical hill, are some traces of an ancient encampment, probably British. Lord Tredegar and the Duke of Beaufort are lords of the manors. The principal landowners are the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Tredegar, Mrs. Wey, Mr. Jenkins and Mrs. Perry-Herrick, of Beaumanor park, Leicestershire. The soil is a clayey loam; subsoil, clay and stony brash. The chief crops are wheat, barley and roots. The area is 2,137 acres; rateable value, £1,467; the population in 1891 was 232.

Letters arrive through Newport at 10.30 a.m. The nearest money order office is at Magor & the telegraph office at Caerleon. The nearest Letter Box is at Penhow; cleared at 5 p.m

The children of this parish attend the United National school for this parish, Penhow & St. Bride's, which is situate in the latter parish

Thomas Rev. George (Congregational), The Manse
Wynne Rev. Thomas Edward Holland D.D. Rectory
Young James, jun

COMMERCIAL.
Baker Saml. farmer, Low. Milibrook
Duffield Edmund Chapp, jun. farmer, Rock farm
Gale George, farmer
Gibbey Frank St. John, engineer, Water works
James Thos. farmer, Forrester's oaks
Jones Samuel, farmer, Talgarth
Jones William, butcher
Keene Mary (Mrs.), farmer, Cayo farm
Miller James, woodward to the Duke of Beaufort
Marr James, cashier, Water works
Price John (Mrs.), farmer, Whitebrk
Roberts Evan, farmer
Roberts George, farmer
Sutherland Alex. clrk. of wrks. Wtr. wks
Waters Bertram, farmer
Williams Elizabeth (Mrs.), baker
Williams Morgan, frmr. Colvin farm
Young James, contractor, Water wrks
[Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire & South Wales, 1895]