Llangiwg - Farms in the area generally

(See also Farms, a selection of census entries and historical snippets for the GCG/Cwmgors villages)

From History of Pontardawe and District by John Henry Davies 1967.

"At a Baron Court of the Rt Hon. William Earl of Pembroke held at Noyadd Wen on the 19th day of April, in ye 8th year of King James ye 1st and the year of our Lord 1610 ", a  list of farms in the Manor of Kaegurwen and their annual rents were given. All the farms can be recognised today, for instance ;

• Eskair y llwn kyll [Cwmllynfell], 1/0 1/2d
• Bryn Yeddis Gwylfa, 1 1/2d
• Tir Vellen dew, 2 1/2d
• Tyn y nant llwyd, 2 1/2d
• Tir Nant y Gurnos alias Coed y ffalde, 5 1/2d
• Pant y bara, 5 1/2d
• Blaen nant meilir, 5 1/2d
• Tir nant y gaseg, 5 1/2d
• Cwm nant hopkin, 5 1/2d
• Tir llwyn tanglus, 11 1/2d
• Tir y Wayn, 1 1/2d
• Blaen y hir, 11 1/2d
• Tir y Kae dy, 11 1/2d
• Tir y bryn dy, 5 1/2d
• Glan y Garnant with free ingress to the Commons of Gwayn cae gerwen, 5 1/2d
• Brynllefrith, 5 1/2d

In the Survey of 1650 , which may be called the the "Domesday Book of Gower", under the seal of the Rt Hon Oliver Cromwell, Lord General of the Parliamentary Forces, 1650, the following list gave the rent per annum of the various tenements ;

"Parcell Rhundwy Clydach"

"Names of Freeholders with their severall Rents"

• Margaret Penry, widdow for Llychard Vach, 1/3
• David Williams for tenement called Llychard Vawr in the hands of William Powell, 1/0d
• Rees David of Pwlle Watkin in the hands of Rees ap Richard, 6d
• Gelly lyog, 1/0d
• Ynisdderw, 4d

"Llanguicke tenements"

• Gellygron, 4d
• Kevin y llan, 6d
• Alltycham, 1/0d
• Ynismeydow ycha and Ynis medow isha, 1/9d
• Keven y llan, 1/2d
• Gelly vowis, 5d
• Gelly lwcha, 1/0d
• Llwyn y pryfed, 7d
• Krayth lwyn, 4d
• Bettinge and Keven y gwrche, 1/8d
• Gelly varog, 1/2d
• Parke y granod, 3d
• Alltygreeg, 1d
• Keel vach y haidd, 4d
• Gwrid, 1d
• Gelly vowis mawr, 1d
• Gelly vowis vach, 1d
• Nant y gasseg, 1/2d
• Llwyn y meydow, 1/6d
• Ynisgelynen, 4d
• Ty wrth y bont, 4d

Another survey of the Seigniories of Gower and Kilvey was made in 1764 by Gabriel Powell. The manuscript is in the Royal Institution of South Wales.
A large number of Freeholders, Tenements and Tenants as well as the rent per annum was given.The rents had not risen since Cromwell's time. The spelling was different but the names could still be recognised from the ones in general use at the present time.

In the "First Report signed June 29, 1894, on an enquiry into the conditions and circumstances under which lands in Wales is held, occupied and cultivated, Mr Richard Rees ......."[called and examined various people, one of whom, Mr J. Jeffrey Jones, Plas, Gellionnen, Pontardawe, furnished names of the modern farms which included these;

Llangiwg parish

• Alltacham
• Gelligron
• Godre'rgarth
• Garth-eithin
• Garth
• Nantygaseg
• Plasnewydd
• Pen-yr-heol
• Ty'n-y-coedcae
• Cwm-nant Hopkin
• Cwmgors
• Llwyn-hen
• Llwyn-rhidiau
• Beili-glas-uchaf
• Beili-glas-isaf
• Brynllefrith
• Llwyncelyn
• Gorsygranod
• Gilfach Goch
• Alltygrug
• Gilfach-yr-haidd
• Pant-y-gwanyd
• Carreg-Pentwyn
• Penlan-fach
• Pen-y-graig
• Coedcae mawr
• Pantygwin
• Bryn-glas
• Llwyn meudwy isaf
• Cefnllan uchaf
• Cefnllan isaf
• Pentwyn
• Cwrtybariwns
• Perthi-gwynion
• Blaen-egel
• Ty'n-y-coedcae
• Pen-y-waun
• Penhow
• Fforch-egel
• Ty gwyn
• Llwynpryfed
• Cwm-yr-heol
• Pen-y-garn
• Gellilwca fawr
• Gellilwca fach
• Cwmclyd
• Cwmtawe uchaf
• Cwmtawe isaf
• Ynysmeudwy
• Deri uchaf
• Deri isaf
• Pantydderi
• Gelliwarog
• Beting uchaf
• Beting isaf
• Gwrhyd uchaf
• Gwrhyd isaf
• Pant
• Pistyll gwyn
• Crach-llwyn
• Cwmnant-lleici
• Pendarren
• Cilmaengwyn isaf
• Gellifowy fach
• Gellifowy ganol

The farms mentioned in the parishes of Rhyndwyglydach, Cilybebyll and Ynysmwn have not been extracted.

The article  THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF A GLAMORGAN PARISH (Llangiwg); By Hugh Thomas, National Library of Wales journal Winter, 1975, Vol XIX/2 has the following references to local farms;

"Though the use made by the farmers of their land varied substantially and was determined by the quality of their soil and the location of their farms, they were all much more concerned with pastoral farming than arable. In 1782 the total acreage under the three main crops, wheat, barley and oats, amounted to no more than 503 1/2 acres which were apportioned as follows: wheat 97 1/4, barley 138 3/4 and oats 266 1/4.  The primary concern with the rearing of animals is reflected not only in the relatively small acreage under crops but also in the major crop, oats, which provided fodder for the cattle. This becomes abundantly clear if we examine individual farms. Betting Uchaf, one of the more fortunately situated, had 12 3/4 of its 101 acres under the three crops, of which barley was allowed 6 acres. Carreg Pentwyn, less fortunately placed, had only 3 of its 61 acres under the plough, all devoted to the growing of oats.  To confIrm the emphasis on animal husbandry in the parish the Tythe Composition of 1782 noted a total of 573 cattle and 333 calves on its farms. The record concerning sheep seems to have been rather more haphazard though a number of farms are credited with reasonably sized flocks - sixty sheep in the case of Gellilwca Fawr farm, thirty-seven and thirty-five in the cases of Llwynypryfed and Penygarn respectively" "Where a farm contained four or more fields the common practice was to allow one field to lie fallow every year - the summer fallow ( braenar haf) ...............................................   Barley would then be sown in the following Spring, during late April or early May. There were two kinds in fairly common use, the long-eared Spring barley (Barlys) which was considered good for malt making and the square-eared variety (Haidd) which was suitable for bread making. One of the local farms, Gilfach-yr-Haidd, took its name from this last crop."

"Industrial development and house-building inevitably had a profound effect upon the farms of the area, although the location of the settlements did tend to reduce the impact upon the farming economy. Some of the farms virtually disappeared --- the Ystalyfera ironworks, for instance, held the farms of Ystalyfera Isaf and Uchaf, Clyngwyn, Tir-bach, Maescwnrig, Tygwyn and Cwmtawe Uchaf with a part of Pantyffynnon.  The first five ceased for all practical purposes to function as farms, as did the part of Pantyffynnon occupied by the works.
Much of the land of other farms in the parish was occupied by the ironworks and coalmines --- Bryn Morgan at Cwm-twrch, Hendreforgan and Cwmllynfell at Cwmllynfell, Cwm-gors, Llwynrhidiau and Clynboidy in the Gwauncaegurwen-Brynaman district and Gellifowy in the hamlet of Parcel Mawr.
Farming land was also leased or sold to cater for the needs of some of the minor industries and for the building of houses and roads in the parish. The impact of all this on the farming of the parish was not as severe as might be expected for much of the house-building took place on land whose value to the farms concerned could not have been very substantial.
The heaviest concentrations of houses, for instance, were in the Craig Arw, Craig-y-merched and Gwern Fawr parts of the village of Ystalyfera. The first two of these were on the very steep, bare slopes of the Allty-grug mountain, the last on land which had been waste and woodland"