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Llangathen

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"LLANGATHEN (LLAN-GATHAN), a parish, in the union of LLANDILO-VAWR, lower division of the hundred of CATHINOG, county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Llandilo-Vawr; containing 1108 inhabitants. This parish is delightfully situated in a fertile district of considerable extent, celebrated for the richness and the diversity of its scenery . . . It comprises by admeasurement 5513 acres, of which 1873 are arable, 3400 meadow and pasture, and, by computation, 240 woodland and roads . . . the cultivation of wheat, barley, and oats, with the rearing of cattle, forms the principal employment of the farmers. . . The village, situated on the turnpike-road from Carmarthen through Aberguilly to Llandilo-Vawr, has a cheerful appearance, and is much enlivened by the number of travellers passing through it . . . The church, dedicated to St. Cathan, and standing on a lofty eminence [accomodates] 400 persons . . . There are two places of worship in the parish for Calvinistic Methodists . . ." [From A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (S. Lewis, 1844).]

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Church History

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

  • Llangathen Parish Church David Evans, Vicar, Broad Oak
  • Elim Chappel Babtist Erected in 1817 "A day school and Sunday School has lately been arisen in the Neighbourhood within half a Mile" John Davies, Minister, Penllwyne
  • College CM Erected before 1800 William Morgan, Deacon
  • Cross Inn CM Erected in 1792, re-erected in 1830 (deleted) "Cross Inn Chapel is Situated near the Confines of the parishes of Llangathen and Llanegwad, nearly half the congregation from each parish" David Simpson, Steward, Glantowy
  • Carthendy Church, Llangarthen (sic) Erected in 1836 (Built by the Rev George Wade Green of Court Henry at his own expence for the accomodation of his own family and neighbourhood) Wm Morgan, Informant

Parish entry for Llangathen with Llanfihangel Cilfargen from The Welsh Church Year Book, 1929 (Cd by (Archive CD Books).

  • St Michael & St Michael (Llanfihangel Cilfargen) & St Mary's, Court Henry
  • Incumbent and Curates; J A Williams (---, J J Jenkyns)
  • Rural Deanery of Llandilo
  • Acreage 5,609 & 525 ; Population 653

    Colour transparency showing the Rudd monument at Llangathen Church, produced by Iain Wright, June 2004.  - on the People's Collection Wales site

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    Church Records

    Dyfed FHS have photographs and data relating to various churches and chapels on their site

    Parish registers: Christenings (1747-1972), Marriages (1747-1969) and Burials (1747-1965) are at the Carmarthenshire Record Office.

    Copy ts PR index C (1813-1972) M (1747-1970) B (1813-1965) at NLW and Carm.RO

    Bishops' Transcripts, covering the period (1678-9, 1682, 1684, 1696, 1715, 1717-22, 1725-31, 1738-45, 1753-6, 1758-91, 1794-8, 1800, 1802-38, 1844-60, 1865) are at the National Library of Wales, and have been microfilmed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    Marriage index for this parish - see Dyfed Marriages, 1813-1837, Vol. 17 - Cathinog Hundred (Dyfed Family History Society, c1989)

    See Bap/Mar/Bur data on FreeReg

    Nonconformist Chapels:

    • Cross Inn (Calvinistic Methodist, 1742), Court Henry Births and baptisms (1818-37) PRO RG4/3828, LDS 828113, IGI On Dyfed FHS (under Llanfihangel Cilfargen) Cross Inn Dryslwyn CM chapel - still open in 2006
    • DRYSLWYN WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL, DRYSLWYN - built in 1792, rebuilt in 1850 and restored in 1878. The chapel closed in the 1970s and by 1997 had bn converted to residential use.  coflein
    • The College (Calvinistic Methodist, bef 1800), Llangathen village On Dyfed FHS Coleg Broad Oak CM chapel - still open in 2006
    • Capel Penrheol Independent chapel, Llangathen SN58412455 Built 1880. Still open 1998 Coflein On Dyfed FHS Pen-'rheol Ind chapel (no parish) shown as still open on the Union of Welsh Independents site (Dec 2006)
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    Description & Travel

    The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales., byJones, I.G. & Williams, D. UWP, Cardiff, 1976. These statistics for this parish are extracted from this book which in turn got them from the 1851 census itself;

    • Area 5513 acres; Population 489 males, 546 females, total 1035

      Llangathen Castle - on Castle Wales

      Aberglasney Gardens with timeline

      Various landscapes  - on the People's Collection Wales site

      Aerial photograph of Aberglasney Hall, Llangathen, 2002 - on the People's Collection Wales site

      You can see pictures of Llangathen which are provided by:

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      Gazetteers

      The transcription of the section for Llangathen from The National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

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      Genealogy

      Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

      • Evans of Aberglasney documents "Family and estate papers relating to the Rudd family of Aberglasney, mainly concerning the Rudd Charity, [17th cent.]-1907; deeds of the Dyer family of Aberglasney, 1720-1805; deeds, rentals, correspondence and accounts of the Phillips / Philipps family of Aberglasney, 1756-1940;..................; deeds and receipts of the Hughes family of Penhill in the parish of Llangathen, ........; ........................The archive also includes documents relating to Hafod Neddyn in the parish of Llangathen, 1722-1858 and Llygadyrhaul in the same parish, 1784-1898."

      Alderman, Mari. The Gabes or Gapes of Llangathen. Dyfed FHS Journal 6 (1998) p.192.

      Davies, Vaughan. Aberglasney and the Dyer family [of Llangadog and/or Llangathen]. Journal of Dyfed FHS Vol 7/2 Aug 2000.

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      History

      David, Penny . A Garden Lost in Time: The Mystery of the Ancient Gardens of Aberglasney. 1999 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 192pp. inc. foreword by Penelope Hobhouse, index. map of garden and family trees. lavishly illus. in colour. a history of the owners of Aberglasney and their families, as well as the archaeological and historical history of the garden and its restoration.

      David, Penny. Aberglasney: a garden lost in time: guidebook. Llangathen: Aberglasney Garden, 1999. 25p: ill(chiefly col), facsims, map, ports; 21cm.

      Hughes, A.D. Llangathen. J. of the Dyfed FHS, vol. 3, no. 9, (1991) pp.338-339.

      Lloyd, John A. The history of Court Henry and its families. Carmarthenshire Antiquary 27 (1991), p. 37-46

      Lloyd, Sir John E., (Ed.). A History of Carmarthenshire (2 vols.), Cardiff, London Carmarthenshire Society (1935, 1939). Extracts from this book can be accessed on some parish pages, see here for this parish.

      Rees, David. The grange and parish of Llanfihangel Cilfargen. Carmarthenshire Antiquary 28 (1992), p. 51-6

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      Land & Property

      Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

      • Court Henry Estate Records 1770-1905 "In 1749 Anna Maria, daughter of John Herbert of Court Henry, Carmarthenshire, married Francis Dyer, who settled at Court Henry .........."

      ABERGLASNEY - VARIOUS  - on the People's Collection Wales site

      Documents at the National Library of Wales:

      • Records of the family of Philipps of Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire, C17-C19. (Held at Carmarthen Archives).
      • Estate and family records of Lloyd of Mabws, Cardiganshire, Philipps of Hafodneddyn, Carmarthenshire, and Lloyd of Penty Park, Pembrokeshire, mostly relating to CMN and PEM, 1590-1916.
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      Maps

      Plan of Llangathen parish, Carmarthenshire  - on the People's Collection Wales site

      Parish map (Kain/Oliver)

      You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SN577230 (Lat/Lon: 51.887473, -4.068461), Llangathen which are provided by:

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      Names, Geographical

      Places, villages, farms etc within Llangathen as shown on the online parish map from 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 Gareth Hicks)

      • Llangathen (30); Aberglasney; Afon Dulas; Afon Myddyfi; Broad Oak (village); Castle; Cilsan Br.; Cilsan ; Cil-y-wern; Court Henry; Dryslwyn; Felindre; Garden Grove Fm.; Glan Dulas; Glan Lash; Glan Myddyfi; Grongar Hill; Hafod; Hafod-neddyn; LM & SR Central Wales/Carmarthen Ry.; Llangathen (village); Mill; Milton Court; Pant-gwyn; Penhill; Pentre Davies; Rhiw-yr-adar; River Towy; Ro-fawr; Site of Battle of Coed Llathen AD 1257;
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      Public Records

      Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

      • Llangathen Parish Council Records 1871-1974