LAMPETER

"LAMPETER, (or Llanbedr, or Lampeter-pont-Stephen), a parish, municipal borough, post and market town, in the hundred of Moyddyn, county Cardigan, 26 miles N.E. of Cardigan. It is a railway station on the Manchester and Milford and Vale of Towy and Aberystwith railways. The town is situated in a valley on the river Teifi, which is crossed at Stephen's Bridge, half a mile distant. It is a petty sessions town, polling place for the county elections, and fishing station, belonging to J. S. Harford, Esq., Blaire Castle, who is lord of the manor, and others. The principal attraction of Lampeter is St. David's College, founded by Bishop Burgess, in 1827, for 70 or more students. It is a quadrangular building, erected on the site of the ancient castle, of which no traces remain. It was designed by Cockerell, and cost £30,000. Lampeter is a contributory borough to Cardigan, with altered bounds under the Reform Act. It is nominally governed, under a charter of Edward II., by a portreeve, clerk, &c. Municipal meetings are held at the beginning of October. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. David's, value £240, in the patronage of the bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a modern structure situated on an eminence. The interior contains monuments of Lloyds of Millfield. Archbishop Baldwin, attended by the historian Giraldus, preached the Crusade here in 1188. Situated on a hill called Alltgoch are the remains of a Druidical circle. There are other remains of great antiquity in the neighbourhood. Lampeter Poor-law Union includes 14 parishes. Population, including the college, 1,400. The college was incorporated by a charter in the reign of George IV., and in the year 1852 her Majesty granted an additional charter for conferring a B.D. degree on ordained members, and in 1863 an order in council was granted for an additional endowment, and in 1865 a supplemental charter was given by her Majesty for conferring B.A. degrees on resident students after a residence of 3.1 years, and an examination by a board of three university examiners-two appointed by the vice-chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge respectively, and one by the principal. Fairs are held on the 11th January, Whit-Wednesday, 10th July, 27th August, 26th September, and 13th October. Market day is Saturday.

"MILLFIELD, (or Maes-y-felin), a demesne in the parish of Lampeter, and hundreds of Moyddyn and Troedyraur, county Cardigan, 4 miles N.E. of Lampeter, and 28 E.N.E. of Cardigan. It was a seat of the Lloyds, situated near the river Teifi.

"TREF-Y-COED, a hamlet in the parish of Lampeter, hundred of Troedyraur, county Cardigan, near Lampeter."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018