Llangiwg - Gazetteers

Extract from A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833) by Samuel Lewis.

"LLANGUICKE, otherwise LLANGUIC (LLANGIWG), a parish in the hundred of LLANGYVELACH, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles (N. N. W.) from Neath, containing 1847 inhabitants.

This parish is pleasantly situated on the river Tawe, which flows through a beautiful and romantic vale to which it gives name, affording in some parts pleasing and picturesque views, and sheltered on both sides by lofty hills of varied appearance and rich in mineral wealth.

The mines of stone coal, culm, and iron-ore are almost inexhaustible, and are here worked to a very considerable extent by Messrs. Gough, I. D. Berrington, G. Crane, &c., who employ together several hundred men, but neither the exact number nor the quantity of coal raised can, owing to constant fluctuation, be satisfactorily ascertained.

The Swansea canal, which passes through the parish, affords the means of conveying large quantities of mineral produce to the port of Swansea, from which it is shipped to various parts of the kingdom ; and a road from Swansea to Brecknock, which passes by the village, gives a facility of intercourse with the neighbouring districts.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Carmarthen, and diocese of St. David's, endowed with £ 600 royal bounty, and £ 1,200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Mrs. Leach. The church is dedicated to St. Ciwg. There are two places of worship for Presbyterians.

The late Mrs. Turberville, of Kilybebill Place, bequeathed £5 per annum, which is annually distributed in bread among the poor of the parish.

The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £ 280. 5."

"PARCEL-MAWR, a hamlet, in the parish of LLANGUICKE, union of NEATH, hundred of LLANGYVELACH, county of GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 6 miles (N. N. W.) from Neath; containing 710 inhabitants. At the lower end of this hamlet the parish church is situated." [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis 1833  © Mel Lockie 2016]