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A History of Carmarthenshire

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Lloyd, Sir John E., (Ed.). 2 vols., Cardiff, London Carmarthenshire Society (1935, 1939).

With the kind permission of the publishers sundry snippets from this book have been extracted by Gareth Hicks onto some parish pages, these below are in random order.

Here is a list of the book's contents and contributors.


Griffith Jones (Llanddowror)

" His ancestors and collateral descendents had their home at the farm of Penterefel in the parish of Penboyr.......his father, John ap Griffith, died in 1684, and by his will bequeathed a sum of money to the cathedral church of St David's and another sum to the church at Cilrhedyn..........Griffith Jones in early manhood was a wood turner, and the Rev Mr Evans vicar of Cledey and Cilrhedyn was his tutor and spiritual guide. After a period of preparation at Carmarthen Grammar School, he was ordained by Bishop Bull in 1708, possibly to assist at Cilrhedyn.


Nonconformity and Methodism

Early Puritanism, 1620-1660

"......the central Committee for Plundered Ministers sitting in London.............later ordered to turn out unworthy clergymen, supply their vacant livings with new ministers.........approve as Puritan ministers Anglican clergy who were found satisfactory..........The two men approved in Carmarthenshire, both in 1646, were David James, rector of Cilrhedyn, and ............., receiving an increase of £24 a year in his stipend...........Did the London Committee know that David James was prebendary at Caerfarchell since 1644, besides being deeply engaged with squires and clergy both by descent and marriage ?.................Never were mortal men, where Welsh matters were concerned, so innocent and credulous as this hard headed London committee."

Calvinistic Methodism

"William Richards (in charge of Pembrokeshire) supervised Newcastle Emlyn, Cilrhedyn, Llangeler, and other Carmarthenshire societies."


Boundaries and local divisions

"One of the seven cantrefs of Dyfed was Emlyn, occupying the south bank of the Teifi from the Tyweli to the Broyan. It was an important lordship, with a castle at Cilgerran overhanging the gorge of the Teify, until, about 1240, its owner, Gilbert Marshall, earl of Pembroke, gave the portion which lies east of the river Cuch to Maredudd ap Rhys, who built, in the parish of Cenarth, the 'New Castle' ever since known by that name. The two halves of the ancient cantref were never again united , and in Henry VIII's groupings of lordships into counties Emlyn Uch Cuch went to Carmarthenshire and Emlyn Is Cuch to Pembrokeshire. The former comprised the parishes of Penboyr, Llangeler, and Cenarth, with the hamlet of Cwm Morgan in the parish of Cilrhedyn; thus the river Cuch, familiar to legend as the scene of the hunting of Pwyll, prince of Dyfed, forms the county boundary throughout its length."


Castles, Boroughs and Religious Houses

Monastic Lands & Revenues

"The lands that fell into the possession of the monastic houses were carved into manors and vills and were administered precisely as any other lordship. On them were established granges or farms where conversi tilled the land, and, if they were situated at some distance from the abbey, were housed.........Whitland possessed.......................and Clydey, Cilrhedyn in Pembroke......Llwynyrebol in the parishes of Clydey, Cilrhedyn, Ludchurch, Llangolman and Llandysilio............"


Prehistoric and Roman Times

List of Carmarthenshire Megaliths

A schedule of Standing Stones includes ;  "Cilfach y Gweision Stone, Cilrhedyn East."


Gareth Hicks