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Llancarfan - Gazetteers

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A Topographical Dictionary of Wales  by Samuel Lewis 1833

"LLANCARVAN (LLAN-CARVAN), a parish in the hundred of DINAS-POWIS, County of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 6 miles (S. E.) from Cowbridge, comprising the Eastern and Western divisions, and containing 734 inhabitants, of which number, 411 are in the Eastern, and 323 in the Western, division.

In this parish was established the first choir of saints before the institution of monasteries by St. Germanus, who came to England to suppress the doctrines of Pelagius. Here he placed certain religious men for the instruction of the people in the Christian religion. The first principal was St. Dubrig, or Dubricius, who was afterwards raised to the see of Llandaf of which he was the first bishop. He was succeeded at Llancarvan by St. Cadoc, or Cattwg, in honour of whom several churches were subsequently erected throughout the principality. To this saint Hungy, a British chief, gave lands for the benefit of the institution, which rose on the ruins of the old British choirs : it flourished under the ancient Latinized name of Carbani Vallis, and the abbot, who was considered to be one of the principal ecclesiastics in the diocese, assisted at a council held at Llandaf, in 560, which passed sentence of excommunication upon Meurig, King of Morganwg, or Glamorgan.

The village is situated in a retired dell, which presents no particular features of interest : the substratum of the parish is limestone, of which considerable quantities are quarried to be burned for manure. Within the parish are several farms, forming an extra-parochial district, called Llanoethin, where were formerly some vestiges of an ancient chapel : this district comprises the farms of Caer-Maen, Llanbithon, and Velin Vach ; and those of Carn Llwyd, Llanbythery, Llancadle, and Treguf, which are each subject to a modus.

A fair is held on the Wednesday before Easter.

The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Llandaf, rated in the king's books at £8. 13.9., and in the patronage of the Crown. The Dean and Chapter of Gloucester are impropriators of the great tithes. The church, dedicated to St. Cattwg, an ancient and spacious structure, now in a dilapidated condition, is said to have been built in the twelfth century by Walter de Mapes, chaplain to Henry I.: the altar-piece, which is elaborately embellished, and a portion of the ancient stone screen still remaining, convey some idea of its former grandeur. At present it consists of two aisles : in the north chancel is a remarkably fine window, measuring eleven feet by twelve, the mullions and tracery of which were destroyed during the civil commotions of the seventeenth century, by a fanatic named Bush. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists.

Mrs. Mary Loughor, in 1745, bequeathed £50, the interest of which sum is annually divided among the poor at Christmas. In the parish are some remains of an ancient intrenchment, called the Castle Ditches ; also a mineral spring, called Llancarvan Well, the water of which is said to be efficacious in the cure of scorbutic and cutaneous diseases.

Caradoc of Llancarvan, the historian of Wales from the abdication of Cadwaladr to his own times, and cotemporary with Geoffrey of Monmouth, was a native of this parish : he wrote his work in Latin, and it was afterwards translated into English by Humphrey Llwyd, who accounts for the different periods to which the history is continued in different copies (in some of which it is brought down to within two years of the death of the last Llewelyn), by attributing to the monks of the abbey, in which they were deposited, an annual addition to the original, by way of continuation. The English version, with a continuation to the reign of Elizabeth, was published in 1585, by Dr. David Powel, and is considered as the standard history of Cambria.

Walter de Mapes, son of Blondel de Mapes, who accompanied Fitz-Hamon into Glamorganshire, and obtained for his services the lands of Gweinydd ab Seisylt, lord of Llancarvan, a writer of some celebrity in the twelfth century, was born in this parish : he built the church and a mansion for himself, and also the village of Walterston, a hamlet in this parish : he married the only daughter of Gweinydd, and, with unusual liberality, restored to their original native proprietors part of the estates which he inherited from his father.

The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £389."

"LLANOETHIN, an extra-parochial district; locally in the parish of Llancarvan, hundred of DINASPOWYS, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 34 miles (E. S. E) from Cowbridge; containing 29 inhabitants. This district is situated near the left bank of the river Ddaw, and contains within its limits the farms of Llanhithou, Caer Maen, and Velin V&A, which are exempt from church, poor, and county rates; but those of TrZgtif[?], Carn Llwyd, Llancadle, and Llanbythery, are each subject to a modus. A chapel formerly existed here." [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis 1833  © Mel Lockie 2016]

 

A Topographical Dictionary of The Dominion of Wales by Nicholas Carlisle, London, 1811.

"LLAN CARFAN, in the Cwmwd of Is Caeth, Cantref of Brenhinol (now called the Hundred of Dinas Powys), Co. of GLAMORGAN, South Wales: a discharged Vicarage valued in the King's Books at £8..13..9: Patrons, The Dean and Chapter of Gloucester: Church dedicated to St. Carfan.  The Resident Population of this Parish, in 1801, (consisting of the Hamlets of Liege Castle, Llan Carfan, Llan Castle, Llan Beddery, Moulton, Pen Non, Tre yr Gusse, and Walterston) was 631.  The Money raised by the Parish Rates, in 1803, was £318..11..6 1/2, at 1s. 6d. per acre.  It is 4 m. S.E. from Cowbridge.  

This Parish contains about 4000 acres of Land.  The Abbey is said to have stood in a Meadow, adjoining the Village, called The Culvery.  According to Tradition, there was a Chapel at Liege Castle; and also a Roman Camp.  It is celebrated for being the Birth-place of Caradog, the Historian, who wrote the Chronicle of Wales, from the abdication of Cadwaladyr, in the year 686, to his own Time.  The present worthy Curate, The Rev. THOMAS THOMAS, very obligingly adds, "The Church of Llan Carvan is one of the largest in this part of the County."  The Chancel North Window measures eleven feet by twelve.  

One Farmer Bush, a hot-headed Fanatic, in the time of the great Rebellion, battered down the freestone bars of it, crying, "Down with the great Whore of Babylon".  The name of the Farm, where he lived, has ever since been called Whitton Bush, to distinguish it from another, called Whitton Rhos hir.  This Parish contains the Extra-Parochial place, called Llan Oethin, where there were formerly some vestiges of a Chapel to be seen.  Llan Oethin comprises four Farms, and some other attached Parcels, estimated at the yearly value of about £600., which neither pay Church, Poor, nor County Rates.  At the time of the late Scarcity (in 1799), there were no less than Twelve persons maintained by Llan Carfan, who were all legal Parishioners of Llan Oethin: and their orders of Removal have been severally quashed, because there were no Overseers nominated there.  Pity it is, that the Legislature does not rectify this palpable defect in the Poor Laws, as there are many such places in the Principality of Wales!  The Clay of Llan Carfan Well is noted for its efficacy in the King's Evil.  According to the Diocesan Report, in 1809, the yearly value of this Benefice, arising from Tythes, and Rent of Glebe, was £74..10..3.  St. Cadocus is said to have built a Monastery here, about A.D. 500."

[Last Updated : 11 Jan 2005 - Gareth Hicks]