Llanfair Clydogau - Extract from 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' by Samuel Lewis 18

"LLANVAIR CLYDOGAU (LLAN-VAIR-Y-CLYWEDOGAU), a parish in the upper division of the hundred of MOYTHEN, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Lampeter, containing 385 inhabitants. This parish is pleasantly situated in the upper part of the Vale of Teivy, and on the eastern bank of that river, at a short distance from the turnpike road from Lampeter to Trêgaron bordering on the county of Carmarthen. The surrounding scenery is characterized generally by those features which prevail in this part of the principality, and the views from the higher grounds embrace extensive prospects over a richly diversified tract of country : the soil, though various, is in general fertile, and the substratum abounds with mineral wealth. A valuable mine of lead-ore, containing a considerable proportion of silver, and in which also are found quartz, spar, and a small quantity of copper-ore, has been worked for the last twenty years with considerable success, though in dry seasons during that period the works have been frequently suspended from want of water sufficient to give motion to the machinery employed: these works are at present carried on at a depth of two hundred and fifty feet below the surface, and offer sufficient encouragement for the continuance of the operations : the average produce of this mine, which is the property of Lord Carrington, is twenty-five tons of ore per annum, each ton of which contains upon an average from seventy-five to eighty ounces of pure silver. The living, is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Cardigan, and diocese of St.David's, endowed with £800 royal bounty, and in the alternate patronage of the Earl of Lisburne and Lord Carrington, to whom the tithes of the parish are jointly appropriated. The church dedicated to St. Mary, is a small and very ancient structure, not possessing any architectural details of importance. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists: a Sunday school is supported by subscription. Contiguous to the lead mines was an ancient family mansion of the Lloyds, one of whom represented the county in parliament in the reign of Charles I, but vacated his seat upon the condemnation of the unfortunate Strafford : a contemporary historian describes Mr. Lloyd as a         " gentleman and a scholar, nobly just in his deportment, and naturally fit to manage the affairs of his country." This mansion latterly belonged to the family of Johnes of Havod and was the residence of the father of the late lord -lieutenant of the county till his marriage, after which time it was suffered to fall into a state of decay. It was a building of very great antiquity : the walls were in some parts five yards in thickness, and in several parts of the building there was the date 1080 : it is now a ruin, having fallen down within the last few years. On the hills in some parts of the parish are the remains of ancient earthworks, but not of sufficient interest to require minute description. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor is £ 99.2."

[Gareth Hicks: 10 December 1999]