Llandyfodwg - Gazetteers

A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis 1833

"LLANDYVODOG (LLAN-DYVODWG), a parish in the hundred of OGMORE, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 5 1/2 miles (N. E. by N.) from Bridgend, containing 309 inhabitants.

The soil is various, in some parts affording rich pasturage, and in others being less fertile; and the lands, which, with the exception of the wooded and mountainous parts, have been all enclosed for a very long period, are in a good state of cultivation.

In this parish, which is within the mineral basin of South Wales, the coal is principally worked for the supply of the immediate neighbourhood ; and numerous chalybeate springs of great efficacy are found, deriving their mineral impregnation from ores of iron, which abound throughout the vicinity.

The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Llandaf, rated in the king's books at £8. 13.4., endowed with £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Richard Turbervill Turbervill, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Tyvodwg. There are places of worship for Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists. In 1685, the sum of £ 10 was given to the parish by an unknown benefactor, the interest of which is annually distributed among the poor.

The existence of some remarkable caverns in this parish has given rise to numerous conjectures : by some they are supposed to be exhausted mines, wrought either by the Romans or by the ancient Britons, before the force of gunpowder was applied to the blasting of the rocks ; by others they are thought to be either natural, or formed for the purpose of concealment during the intestine and sanguinary contests which anciently disturbed the peace of the principality.

The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £ 159. 14."

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

"LLAN DYFODWG; in the Cwmwd of Maenor Glynn Ogwr, Cantref of Cron Nedd (now called the Hundred of Ogmore), County of GLAMORGAN, South Wales: a discharged Vicarage valued in the King's Books at £8..13..4: Patron, Richard Picton Turbervill, Esq.: Church dedicated to St. Tyfodwg. The Resident Population of this Parish, in 1801, Was 244. The Money raised by the Parish Rates, in 1803, was £155..9..0, at .5s. 6d. in the pound.

It is 5 1/2 m. N. N. E. from Bridgend. A small Market was formerly holden in this Parish at a Place, called Celli'r Fid, or, The Battle Grove, but when established is not known: it existed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but appears to have been soon afterwards discontinued. One or two Fairs were also holden here annually: but they have been so long disused, that the days whereon they were holden are not now remembered with certainty.

This Parish contains 2437 computed acres; of which, 780 acres are in Pasturage and Meadow, 400 are arable, 180 are Coppice-wood, and 370 are Mountain. The Soil is various, some places being good, others indifferent, but all capable of improvement and tillage: and the whole has been inclosed, for time immemorial, except the Coppice-wood and Mountain.

There are many excellent and powerful Chalybeate Springs, though but little noticed, which flow from the veins of Iron-ore and Coa1 that abound here. This Parish constitutes part of the Duchy of Lancaster, and its Inhabitants, as Tenants of the Crown, are Toll free in all, the Markets and Fairs of the Kingdom, except the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. There are some very remarkable Caverns at a place, called Craig Dinberth, which are supposed by some Persons to have been Roman mine-works, or those of the ancient Welsh before the art of blasting rocks with Gunpowder was known: Others suppose them natural Caverns, and some imagine that they were formed for the purpose of secreting persons and property during the ancient bloody feuds of the Principality; Some remains of very old and clumsy oaken Chests have been discovered therein, quite rotten, and which, on being brought into the open air, soon mouldered into dust. These Caverns are entered by deep Shafts downwards. According to the Diocesan Report, in 1809, the yearly value of this Benefice, arising from Tythes, &c., was £63.; but it is now much improved."

[Last Updated : 21 Jan 2005 - Gareth Hicks]