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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.


Nonconformity and Methodism

The census of 1676

"......in 1676, to all appearances, they had not even made their first home at Pal in the parish of Cyffig. There was not a sectarian soul in the neighbourhood, neither in the three Pals nor in the whole parish."

The Independents, 1687-1715

".......Under the sunshine of freedom, fed by increasing numbers, reinforced with sound sense, the subsidiary meeting places became separate causes..........(but)........the historic church of Henllan refused to follow the general policy of decentralisation, and fixed the position of its new home as a central meeting ground for its outlying members in the parishes of Llanboidy and Cyffig."

The Older Dissent--Expansion and Organisation

"It may be well to exemplify this process (of expansion) by giving some detail of the 'life history' of one or two of the 'mother-churches'...............No better example could be chose than the historic Presbyterian-Independent church of Henllan Amgoed. Henllan meeting house itself (1696-7) was but the metropolis of a far flung community which straggled over the whole of Carmarthenshire west of the river Cynin, and even strayed across the eastern Cleddau and the Crunwear brook into Pembrokeshire. Its members had been worshipping at private houses, duly registered in accordance with the Toleration Act; such were..................and Pal Mawr in Cyffig. The householder at Pal died, and the house ceased to be available, whereupon its congregation was diverted in part to Cefn Farchen, becoming in 1696 the Henllan congregation proper................"


The Anglican church

After the restoration......Bishop Lucy became bishop of St David's in 1660.............from the replies to this bishop's enquiries...................in 1672........." everything was out of repair at ......Cyffig............."


Prehistoric and Roman Times

Early Bronze Age

"Two beakers have been found in the county, one at Pale Bach in the parish of Cyffig........the fragments of the former were found in a cist in the gateway of the farm .(the book shows the beaker in diagramatical form). When reconstructed it stands 6-8 inches high....................The bar chevron ornament is a common pattern, occurring on many South Wales beakers.......................No human bones were found with the Cyffig beaker, but the fragments may have been overlooked (with beaker burials we should expect to find a contracted inhumation burial)."

Middle and Late Bronze Age

List of Bronze Age Barrows containing cists/urns/signs of Cremations, includes;

  • Lower Castle Ely Tumulus  (Cyffig)--- "black ash, charcoal, slight traces of bone"

New Stone Age

A list of stone axes found within the county includes;

  • On the Pale Plateau in the parish of Cyffig, now in private possession

List of Carmarthenshire Hill Forts, Hill Forts with Earthen Ramparts, includes;

  • Castell Ely Camp, Cyffig


Gareth Hicks