Pembrokeshire 
Contents
Parish based
sketch map
of the
hundred"BEGELLY (BUGELI), a parish, in the union of and hundred of NARBERTH, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (S. by E.) from Narberth, on the road to Tenby; containing, with the chapelry of Williamston, which supports its own poor, 1159 inhabitants. The substratum of the soil in this parish is coal, of excellent quality, and in great request for the drying of malt and hops by the proprietors of breweries and distilleries. . . The church is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, with a lofty tower, and is pleasantly situated near Begelly Hall, by the trees surrounding which it is partly concealed. The chapel of Williamston is a rude structure without a tower, standing in the hamlet of that name. The parsonage-house is situated on part of a stratum of coal, which has been wrought all round it, and, if the excavation had been continued, it would have endangered the stability of the building. There is a place of worship for Calvinistic Methodists. Here is a day school, in which from 20 to 30 children are instructed at the expense of their parents; and there are two Sunday schools conducted gratuitously, and in one of which, in connection with the Established Church, are about 220 children; and in the other, which belongs to the Calvinistic Methodists, are about 25. . ." [From A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (S. Lewis, 1844).]
The 1851 census for this parish has been indexed by Dyfed Family History Society.
Census Returns for this parish have the following LDS Call Numbers:
Some church and chapel data from The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales. Ed. by I.G Jones, & D. Williams. UWP, Cardiff, 1976. The names are those of the informants
Parish entry for Begelly with East Williamston and Coedcenlas from The Welsh Church Year Book, 1929 (Cd by Archive CD Books).
Parish registers: Christenings (1759-1934), Marriages (1771-1933), and Burials (1759-1934) are at the National Library of Wales with copy Mf at Pem.RO
Copy ts PR/BT (1757-1800) at Pem.RO
Bishops' Transcripts, covering the period (1685-6, 1799-1809, 1811-88, 1892, 1896-7) are at the National Library of Wales, and have been microfilmed by the LDS - Call Number: 0105128.
See Bap/Mar/Bur data on FreeReg
Nonconformist Chapels:
East Williamston: An ancient chapelry whose PR are included in those of Begelly (see also under Williamston parish)
Dyfed FHS have published a series of indexes of baptisms, marriages and burials from Pembrokeshire hundreds for various periods.
Places, villages, farms etc within Begelly parish as shown on the parish map on the CD of Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. (Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R.). (Extracted by Barry Johnson)
Transcript of complete entry in Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Wales of 1844.
Morgan, W.R. A Pembrokeshire countryman looks back, Crymych, Dyfed, W.R. Morgan (1988) 223 p.Chapter headings ;-The Village; Farming; The Drovers; Coal Mining; Education; Religion; Village Water Supply; Postal Services; Roads and Toll Gates; The Coming of the Railway; The Union Workhouse. There is also an earlier book by the same author called Story of Begelly.
A Pembrokeshire Mining Community
on Jon Mein's site
- Some thoughts on the history of the coalmining community around Begelly and
Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire.
Including a feature on 'The Importance
of the Thomas Chapel Colliery Disaster' - in 1838 6 miners were drowned at this
pit nerar Begelly.
[Gareth Hicks: 31 Oct 2011]
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