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Extract from 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' by Samuel Lewis 1833

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Llanddewibrefi townships

"CUGIAN (GOGOIAN), a township in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI, lower division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 5 1/2, miles (N. E.) from Lampeter, containing 111 inhabitants. This township is situated on the left bank of the river Teivy, which is here crossed by a bridge, and at the western declivity of some elevated ground. It separately supports its own poor : the average annual expenditure is £29.11."

"DOTHIE-CAMDDWR (DEUTU-CAMDDWR), a township in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI ,upper division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 14 1/2 miles (E. N. E.) from Lampeter, containing 150 inhabitants. This place takes its name from the river Camddwr which falls into the Towy at the junction of the counties of Cardigan, Brecknock, and Carmarthen. In 1074 , a sanguinary battle was fought here, between Rhys ab Owain and Rhydderch ab Caradog, princes of South Wales, on the one side, and Gronw and Llewelyn, the sons of Cadwgan ab Bleddyn, on the other, to avenge the murder of the late prince, their grandfather, in which the latter were victorious, and Rhydderch was slain, but Owain was, nevertheless, allowed to retain the sovereignty of South Wales. On the western bank of the river Camddwr there is an ancient military work, called Castell, constructed by Owain and Rhydderch on this occasion; and the place where Gronw and Llewelyn crossed the river by a ford is still named Rhyd y meirch, " the ford of the cavalry." The ground in the neighbourhood of this place is rugged and mountainous. The township separately supports its own poor: the average annual expenditure is £44.7."

"DOTHIE-PYSCOTTWR (DEUTU-PYSGOTWR), a township in the parish of LLANDEWI-BREVI , upper division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 12 1/2 miles (N. E. by E.) from Lampeter, containing 132 inhabitants. This township is situated near the source of the Piscottwr stream, which unites with the Dothie, previously to the latter joining the river Towy on the border of Carmarthenshire. It separately maintains its own poor: the average annual expenditure is £24.15."

"GARTH, a joint township with Ystrad, in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI, upper division of the hundred of PENARTH,county of CARDIGAN,SOUTH WALES, on the banks of the river Teivy, containing,with Ystrad,110 inhabitants, who are exclusively engaged in agriculture."

"GODWIDD (GORWYDD), a township in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI, upper division of the hundred Of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 7 1/2 miles (N. E. by E.) from Lampeter, containing 610 inha-bitants. This is the most populous township of the parish, containing the town of Llandewy-Brevi, with its church, and occupying the vale through which the stream, on which that town is situated flows into the Teivi, as well as the lofty mountain protecting it on the north and east. A separate assessment is made for the maintenance of the poor, the average annual expenditure amounting to £ 115. 3."

"GWYNVIL, a township in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI, lower division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 6 3/4miles (N. E.by N.] from Lampeter, containing 315 inhabitants. A chapel, dedicated to St. Gwynvil, which formerly existed here, is now in ruins. There are a few respectable and ornamental residences overlooking the vale of the Teivy. The poor are maintained by a separate assessment, the average annual expenditure being £28.3."

"LLANIO, a township in the parish of LLANDEWY BREVI, lower division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 8 miles (N. E.) from Lampeter, containing 125 inhabitants. It is traversed by the high road between Trêgaronn and Lampeter, which passes along the vale of the Teivy, and contains so many remains of Roman antiquity, as leave no doubt of its having once contained a station of that people. The site of the Roman Loventium is placed by antiquaries between the right bank of the Teivy and the road, at a place still called Caer Castell, where numerous vestiges of foundations are discernible, and whence the Roman Via Occidentalis, or, as it has subsequently been termed, Sarn Helen branched off in a northerly and a south-westerly direction. Three inscribed stones are still preserved, two of them built in the walls of two cottages, and the third, on which can be traced the words Cohors Secunda Augustae Fecit Quinque Passus, (affording evidence that a cohort of the second Augustan legion erected a certain portion of the walls,) is used as a seat in the porch of one of them. One of the other stones is placed over the chimney, and is inscribed OVERIONI; and on the third, which is inserted in the wall, near the door of the second cottage, can be decyphered Caii Artii manibus (or memoriae ) Ennius Primus. Other vestiges of this people have been discovered in the neighbourhood at various times, such as coins, domestic utensils, bricks, &c., and on one occasion a large piece of unwrought lead. This township is divided into the Higher and Lower portions, and is separately assessed for the maintenance of its own poor, the average annual expenditure amounting to £33.15."

"PRISK (PRYSC), a joint township with Carvan, in the parish of LLANDEWI-BREVI, upper division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN,SOUTH WALES, containing, with Carvan, 149 inhabitants.  These names signify a coppice on the ridge of an eminence, in allusion to the situation of the township. The population is exclusively agricultural. A separate assessment is made for the support of the poor, the average annual expenditure amounting to £55.17."

"YSTRAD, a joint township with Garth, in the parish of LLANDEWY-BREVI, upper division of the hundred of PENARTH, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 8 miles (N. E.) from Lampeter. The population is returned with the township of Garth. It is situated on the right bank of the Teivy, and the old Roman road from Llanio to Pennal passed through it, from which latter circumstance its name is supposed to be derived."

Gareth Hicks;  17 December 1999