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

"LLÊCHRHYD   (LLÊCHRYD), a parish in the lower division of the hundred of TROEDYRAUR, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 3 miles (S. E.) from Cardigan, containing 392 inhabitants. This place is by some historians supposed to have been the scene of a sanguinary engagement which took place between Rhys ab Tewdwr, sovereign of South Wales, and the three sons of Bleddyn ab Cynvyn who, in a previous insurrection, had compelled that sovereign to seek refuge in Ireland. Rhys returning thence, in 1087, with a powerful army to recover possession of his dominions, landed on the neighbouring coast, and was met at a place called Llêchryd by the sons of Bleddyn, who resolved to give him battle before his army should be increased by the number of his friends who were hastening to join him ; and an obstinate and severe battle was here fought, in which the sons of Bleddyn were totally defeated, and two of them slain on the field. A place of this name in Radnorshire has been generally reputed the scene of this engagement, to which opinion Mr. Jones, the historian of Brecknockshire, has afforded some negative sanction by deriving its name from a stone which may have been raised there to the memory of Riryd, one of Bleddyn's sons who fell in the encounter. But there are numerous a circumstances which conspire to give the greater degree of probability to the former opinion, among which, the situation of Llêchryd in Cardiganshire, in the direct route of this sovereign's march through his own territories, where he might reasonably expect the assistance of his friends, in his progress towards the seat of his government at Dynevor or Carmarthen is not the least important, The parish is pleasantly situated on the river Teivy, which is navigable for small vessels to Llêchryd bridge, an ancient structure mantled with ivy, and forming a truly picturesque feature in the scenery of the place. The turnpike road from Cardigan to Newcastle-Emlyn passes through the village, the inhabitants of which derive a considerable profit from the drying of salmon, of which great quantities are taken in the river. An extensive manufactory of tin plates, which was formerly carried on, has for some years been entirely discontinued, and the buildings have been demolished. Llêchryd though now a parish of itself, was formerly only a chapelry in the adjoining parish of Llangoedmore. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Cardigan, and diocese of St. David's, endowed with £ 1200 royal bounty, and in the alternate patronage of Thomas Lloyd and Charles Richard Longcroft Esqrs. The church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, is an ancient edifice, undistinguished by any interesting details. There are places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists and Presbyterians, the latter is said to have been originally built by Major Wade, an officer under Oliver Cromwell. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £44.19."

[Gareth Hicks: 11 December 1999]