217 



CAERMARTHENSHIRE. 



CAERNARVON. 



218 



delightful situation, and has a very respectable appearance. The 

 church, an old and substantial edifice; is dedicated to St. Cadog, 

 whence the name of the town is derived. There are several Dissenting 

 meeting-houses. A modern bridge of five arches crosses the Towy. 

 Coal and limestone are worked in the neighbourhood. The coal is 

 sent partly by canal to Swansea, and exported from thence. A short 

 distance to the south of Llangadock is a hill called Tri Chrug, or the 

 Three Hillocks; on the summit are three barrows, whence it has 

 received its name ; near them are vestiges of a British encampment. 

 The village of St. Clear, 9 miles from Caermarthen towards Milford, 

 is situated at the confluence of the Gynan with the Taf, and exports a 

 considerable quantity of corn, butter, and other agricultural produce: 

 the parish had in 1851 a population of 1240. There are some remains 

 of an alien priory of Cluniac monks. St. Clear had once a strong 

 castle, the site of which is indicated by an artificial mound of earth. 

 This village attained considerable notoriety a few years back from 

 having been the head-quarters of the 'Rebecca' rioters. AbrrywiUi, 

 two miles E. from Caermarthen, is n small town, in which is the 

 palace of the bishop of St. David's. There is an Endowed school in 

 the town : the population of the parish in 1851 was 2325. Pembrey, 

 on the right bank of the Burry aestuary, 12 miles 8. from Caermarthen : 

 the population of the parish in 1851 was 3310. In this parish is 

 Pembrey Harbour, or Burry Port, which has been rendered capable 

 of containing 80 large coasting vessels. A small mineral railway 

 connect- some mines with the harbour, and a canal unites Pembrey 

 with the Kidwelly and Llauelly Canal. The coal-mines and iron- 

 works furnish considerable employment. Perrytidc is a small 

 watering-place on the left bank of the scstuary of the Towy, about 

 8 miles S. from Caernarvon. The parish of St. Ishmael's, in which 

 it is situated, had in 1851 a population of 968. Ferry side is a good 

 deal resorted to for bathing by the inhabitants of Caermarthen, and 

 is a very quiet pleasant little village. 



IHvitimt far Eccletiattical and Legal Purpose*. This county is in 

 the diocese of St. David's, and for the most part in the archdeaconry 

 of Caermarthen ; a very small part is in the archdeaconry of Cardigan. 

 The number of parishes, according to the population returns, is 76. 

 The county is divided by the Poor-Law Commissioners into five 

 Unions : Caermarthen, Llandilc-vawr, Llandovery, Llanelly, and 

 Newcastle-in-Emlyn. These Poor-Law Unions include 83 parishes and 

 townships, with a population in 1851 of 123,738. The area included 

 within the boundaries of the Unions is larger than that of the county. 

 The county is in the South Wales circuit ; the assizes are held at 

 Caermarthen, also the Epiphany, Easter, and Michaelmas sessions ; 

 the Midsummer sessions are held at Llandilo-vawr. County courts 

 are held in Caermarthen, Llandilo-vawr, Llandovery, Llanelly, and 

 Newcastle-in-Emlyn. The county returns two members to the 

 Imperial Parliament ; before the Reform Act it returned only one. 

 Caermarthen with Llanelly returns one member ; and Newcastle is 

 united with Adpar (Cardiganshire) as a contributory borough to 

 Cardigan. 



Hiilory, Antiquities, <tc. To the Roman general Julius Frontinus 

 are ascribed two Roman roads, the ' Via Julia Maritima ' and the 

 ' Via Julia Montana,' which cross this county ; the first near the 

 coast, probably through Neath and Loughor (Glamorganshire), and 

 Caermarthen ; the second, more inland, by Llangadock and Llandilo- 

 vawr. These roads seem to have united at Maridunum (Caermarthen), 

 and thence to have been continued to the neighbourhood of Menapia 

 (St. David's), probably in a direction nearly due west. Other Roman 

 roads have been traced. Near Llanboidy, west of Caermarthen, are 

 the remains of a British or Roman camp, at the entrance of which in 

 1 692 were found 200 Roman silver coins, of early date, buried in two 

 leaden boxes just under the surface of the ground. 



The Romans appear to have been aware of the mineral riches of 

 Caermarthenshire. On the left bank of the Cothy, near Pumpsant, 

 is a mine called the Gogdfau, or Ogofau, which, according to the 

 traditions of the county, was wrought by the Romans in search for 

 gold. 



After the departure of the Romans this district was included in 

 the principality of Ceredigion (Cardigan) ; but in the 9th century it 

 was subject to Rhodri Mawr, or Roderick the Great, who united the 

 whole of Wales into one kingdom. Upon the division of his territories 

 among his three sons, Ceredigion, including Caermarthenshire and 

 nearly all the rest of South Wales, fell to the lot of Cadell, the seat 

 of whose government was at Dinas Fawr, or Dynevor, where Rhodri 

 had built a palace. The division of Wales among the sons of Rhodri 

 was a fatal step ; dissensions broke out among the brothers ; Cadell 

 conquered Powia (a district between the Wye and the Severn), the 

 heritage of his brother Merfyn. He was himself subsequently attacked 

 by his other brother Anarawd, king of Gwynedd, or North Wales ; 

 and in this war Caermarthenshire was ravaged by Anarawd with a 

 powerful force supported by some Saxon auxiliaries. Cadell was 

 succeeded in 907 by his son Hywell, who subsequently united the 

 whole of Wales under his sceptre ; and became, under the name of 

 Hywell Dda (or Howell the Good), celebrated as the legislator of his 

 kingdom. A fresh division of the kingdom after Hywell's death 

 brought new troubles ; the occasional re-unions which resulted from 

 mere force were not permanent; and to the misery of these civil 

 broils were added the ravages of Danish invaders. In these contests 



Caermarthenshire had its share, and two remarkable engagements 

 were fought within its borders ; one in 1020 at Abergwilli, near 

 Caermarthen, in which Llewellyn, at that time sovereign of the whole 

 of Wnles, defeated and slow a Scottish adventurer, Run, who per- 

 sonating one of the Welsh princes had raised a force among the 

 disaffected chieftains ; another in 1021, in which Llewellyn defeated 

 two native princes, who were supported against him by the Irish and 

 Scots, but fell himself in the action through treachery. This battle 

 was fought near Caermarthen. Throughout these contests Dynevor 

 continued to be the seat of government for South Wales. 



Some years after the conquest of England by the Normans, the 

 great feudal lords whose possessions bordered upon Wales began a 

 series of encroachments upon the principality of South Wales, by 

 which it was gradually reduced to the counties of Caermarthen and 

 Cardigan ; even these were for some time in the possession of Henry I. 

 of England. A considerable part of the principality of Dynevor was 

 given up by Henry I. to a Welsh prince who appears to have been a 

 feudal subject of the crown of England. Gradually the princes of 

 Wales sunk into the character of subjects of England, and their hos- 

 tilities with each other and with the neighbouring Norman lords 

 assumed more the character of the struggles between a powerful and 

 restless nobility for territory or pre-eminence than of the resistance 

 of one nation to the aggression of another. In the wars between 

 Llewellyn, prince of North Wales, and Henry III., Caermarthenshire 

 became the scene of contest ; and in a severe action the English, who 

 were besieging Dynevor castle, were entirely defeated by the troops 

 of Llewellyn, aided by some chieftains of South Wales. In the final 

 contest between Llewellyn and Edward I. the Welsh were entirely 

 defeated near Llandilo-vawr, and Llewellyn was subsequently beset 

 by the English and killed while apart from his army. When the 

 complete subjugation of Wales took place in the reign of Edward I., 

 Caermarthen became the seat of courts of law which that prince 

 established for South Wales. The subsequent revolts of the natives 

 were repressed and punished as acts of treason. During the revolt of 

 Owen Glyndwr, at a subsequent period, Caermarthen castle was taken 

 by a body of French sent to support that chieftain. 



Of the troublous period which preceded the conquest of South 

 Wales this county possesses several memorials in the baronial castles, 

 the remains of which are so numerous. Those of Caermarthen, Kid- 

 welly, Laugharne, Llangadock, Emlyn, and St. Clear, have been already 

 noticed ; Dynevor and Carreg Cennen are noticed under LLANDILO- 

 VAWB, and Llandovery under LLANDOVERY. Two others call for notice 

 here, Llanstuffan, or Llan Stephan, on a rock of great height on the 

 right bank of the Towy, near its mouth ; and Dryslwyn, in the vale of 

 Towy, on the right bank of the river between Llandilo-vawr and 

 Caermarthen. Llan Stephan Castle commands the entrance of the 

 river ; and from it there is a fiiie prospect on the one side towards 

 Caermarthen, and on the other towards Tenby in Pembrokeshire, 

 across a fine bay. The ruins form a picturesque object, whether 

 viewed from the land or the water ; and there is sufficient of them to 

 show that the area inclosed by the castle walls must have been large. 

 The ecclesiastical ruins at Caermarthen, Kidwelly, and St. Clear, have 

 been mentioned ; to these we may add Tallagh or Talley Abbey, in the 

 vale of the Cothy, founded by Rhuys ap Gruffydd, prince of South 

 Wales, who died in 1197, for Pncmonstratensian canons; Albaland*:, 

 or Whiteland Cistercian Abbey, on the left bank of the Tave, the time 

 of whose foundation is disputed ; the yearly revenue at the dissolution 

 was 1531. 17*. 2d. 



In the civil war of the 17th century this county, together with the 

 counties of Pembroke and Cardigan, was held for the king by Richard 

 earl of Carberry. The Parliamentary forces opposed to him were 

 commanded by General Laugharne, who took from the Royalists the 

 castles or Caermarthen and Laugharne. At a subsequent period 

 Laugharne went over to the Royalists ; and upon his defeat with hi 

 coadjutors by Colonel Horton, several skirmishes took place in Caer- 

 marthenshire as the defeated party retreated towards Pembroke castle, 

 where they were besieged by Cromwell and forced to surrender. 



There were in 1851 three savings banks in Caermarthenshire ; at 

 Llandilo, Llanelly, and Newcastle-Emlyn. The total amount owing 

 to depositors on the 20th November 1851 was 30.162/. 17*. 4d. 



CAERNARVON, the chief town of Caernarvonshire, and the capital 

 of North Wales ; a port, borough, market-town, and the seat of a 

 Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Llanbeblig and hundred of Is- 

 Gorfai, is situated on the east side of the Menai Strait, in 63 9' N. 

 lat, 4 15' W. long. ; distant 235 miles N.W. by W. from London 

 by road. Bangor, the nearest railway station, 8 miles from Caer- 

 narvon, is 238 miles from London by the North-Western and Chester 

 and Holyhead railways. The population of the borough of Caernarvon 

 in 1851 was 8674. The borough is governed by 6 aldermen and 

 18 councillors, one of whom is mayor, and with the contribu- 

 tory boroughs of Pwllheli, Nerin, Criccieth, Conway, and Bangor, 

 returns one member to the Imperial Parliament. The living of 

 Llanbeblig is a vicarage held with the curacies of Caernarvon and 

 Waenfawr in the archdeaconry and diocese of Bangor. Caernarvon 

 Poor-Law Union contains sixteen parishes and townships, with an 

 area of 43,405 acres, and a population in 1851 of 30,211. 



At Llanbeblig, about half a mile from Caernarvon, are the remains 

 of the Roman station Segontium, or Caer-seiont. Only some fragments 



