BRIEF ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF ST. MICHAEL'S, ABERYSTWYTH THE charming curiosity, the small building in the churchyard of St. Michael's, Laura Place, Aberystwyth, has recently become the centre of speculation. Not only has the proposed scheme to develop and improve the old churchyard raised the question of the future of this tiny building, but it has aroused interest in the history of the little ruin. Mr. Douglas Hague of the Ancient Monuments Commission has led the way in a brief article,1 and as pressure mounts concerning the future development of the site, it seems not untimely to give further details as to the history of this interesting relic-still very much a part of the existing church and its burial grounds-and indeed of the history of St. Michael's itself. Fuller details reveal a most attractive history. Although the medieval church at Llanbadarn Fawr served the needs of the village and surrounding district and the great castle of Aberystwyth a mile away possibly provided another point of worship, for reasons not clear a small chapel appears to have been built upon land now reclaimed by the sea just to the west of the castle itself, the present-day castle rocks. Thus a century and more before Cromwell's devastation of the castle a small sea-side chapel, like many others which are to be found around the British Isles, came into existence. The exact date of its founding is uncertain,2 although it is generally agreed that the church dedicated to St. Mary was to be used for services to Our Lady. Whether this was so because no hint of the rising tide of Protestant reforms had yet come to the Welsh valleys, or because religious practice at Llan- badarn Fawr was in constant need of supervision, is an interesting point of debate. Certainly accounts of the early history of the chapel seem to point the building of the chapel as early as 1530;8 and its provisioning rouses equally interesting issues, and is particularly well documented.* A nineteenth century writer takes up the point 6 By a document dated 25th May, 16 Elizabeth, being the record of a verdict in a cause tried at Hereford, in which the Queen's Attorney General on behalf of the Crown was plaintiff, and the inhabitants of Aberystwyth were defendants in an action respecting the title to a Mill at Aberystwyth called "Our Lady's Mill" it appears the right of the said Mill was established in the Crown. By letters patent dated 10th July, 27 Elizabeth, being a grant from the Crown of the aforesaid Mill for forty years to Richard Pryse, the son of John Pryse, Esq., deceased, on condition of performing service in the Chapel of Aberystwyth and under 6os. rent with suit of Mill,8 the Queen recognised the right of the Pryse family to the Mill "from