Llanfihangel Penbedw

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Llanfihangel Penbedw
Church of St. Michael - geograph.org.uk - 572000.jpg
St Michael's Church, 2007
Pembrokeshire UK location map.svg
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Llanfihangel Penbedw
Location within Pembrokeshire
OS grid reference SN2039
Community
Principal area
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Boncath
Postcode district SA
Dialling code 01239
Police Dyfed-Powys
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Pembrokeshire
52°01′29″N4°37′04″W / 52.024795°N 4.617692°W / 52.024795; -4.617692 Coordinates: 52°01′29″N4°37′04″W / 52.024795°N 4.617692°W / 52.024795; -4.617692

Llanfihangel Penbedw is a parish in the former Hundred of Kilgerran in northeast Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish, a joint curacy with Capel Colman, in the Diocese of St David's in the Church in Wales, included the village of Boncath and part of the village of Blaenffos. The parish church is abandoned and the civil parish has been absorbed into Boncath Community.

Contents

Name

Llanfihangel refers to St Michael the Archangel, to whom the parish church is dedicated. Penbedw refers to a headland of birch trees, which relates to the similarly named Birkenhead on Merseyside. Penbedw has also been translated as birch-covered hill. [1]

History

The earliest recorded date of the parish is 1325, with the patronage before that date belonging to the Earl of Pembroke. [2]

Llanfihangel Penbedw (as Llanyhangel Penbedu) appears on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. [3] The living of the parish was presented to George Owen Harry (or Henry) in 1594 by George Owen, Lord of Cemais. Harry held the living until his death in 1614. [4] Richard Fenton the Welsh topographer and poet in his 1811 work A Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire made liberal use of Harry's manuscripts. [5]

Parish records exist from the 17th century to 1970, with the last recorded burial in 1916. [6] The church was rebuilt on the old foundations in the 19th century. [7]

Throughout the 19th century the population of the parish remained relatively constant at between 200 and 350. [1] In 1833 the parish had 353 inhabitants [8] and was under the patronage of the Crown with the 1,000 acres (400 ha) valued at £70 10s. [9] Falling under Cardigan Union, the Poor Law Commissioners reported that an average of £88 was expended on the poor of the parish between 1834 and 1836. [10] Tithe maps and archives of 1840 are held at the National Archives. [11]

The land in the parish was described as "good Sporting Country and surrounded by well-preserved Estates" in a notice of 1869 where over 1,000 acres (400 ha) of arable, grass and woodland across five parishes was for sale freehold. [12] The parish area was 2,410 acres (980 ha) in the 1870s and had a population of 287. [13] In 1881 the majority of males in the parish were working in agriculture. [14]

The perpetual curacy of Llanfihangel Penbedw and Capel Colman resulted in joint events; for example, the 1878 Harvest Thanksgiving Service was held at Capel Colman in the morning and at Llanfihangel Penbedw in the afternoon, with sermons and services in English and Welsh by clergy from several neighbouring parishes. All the clergy were invited to dinner by Mrs Lloyd of Kilrhue. [15]

The final extension of the railway line from Whitland to Cardigan was completed in 1886, with a station at Boncath. The line passed within about 100 yards (91 m) of the church. The line was closed in 1962 and the track lifted.

In 1888 David Worthington was appointed to the curacy of Llanfihangel Penbedw and Capel Colman, [16] replacing David Lewis. [17]

In 1891 the parish, with twelve other neighbouring parishes, was the subject of an alert regarding possible difficulties in collecting tithe arrears totalling £500. While neither the bailiff nor the chief-constable of Pembrokeshire expected violence, in the opinion of some of the clergy the possibility could not be dismissed. [18]

In 1897 Rev. Morris James Marsden BA was appointed. [19]

By 1961 the number of houses (66) in the parish had fallen from 86 some 120 years earlier. [20] The number of Welsh speakers fell to 75% in the last quarter of the 20th century. [1] The church was abandoned during the same period [2] and was described in 2004 as "miserably abandoned and overgrown"; [21] the growth was cleared subsequently but the church remains in a poor state internally.

Today

The name of the former civil parish continues in Llanfihangel Ward in Boncath Community.

Related Research Articles

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Llangoedmor Human settlement in Wales

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Perpetual curate

Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland. The term is found in common use mainly during the first half of the 19th century. The legal status of perpetual curate originated as an administrative anomaly in the 16th century. Unlike ancient rectories and vicarages, perpetual curacies were supported by a cash stipend, usually maintained by an endowment fund, and had no ancient right to income from tithe or glebe.

Eglwyswrw Human settlement in Wales

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Cilgerran Hundred

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Manordeifi Human settlement in Wales

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Boncath Human settlement in Wales

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Clydau Human settlement in Wales

Clydau is a community and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Bridell Human settlement in Wales

Bridell is a small settlement and parish in north Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish includes the village of Pen-y-bryn. Together with the parishes of Cilgerran and Llantood, it is in the community of Cilgerran.

Castellan, Pembrokeshire Human settlement in Wales

Castellan is an ancient hamlet and, until 1974, was a parish in the Hundred of Kilgerran, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated in the north of the county on the slopes of Frenni Fawr, one mile (2 km) north of Crymych and included much of the village of Blaenffos.

Eglwyswen Human settlement in Wales

Eglwyswen is a scattered rural settlement and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north slopes of the Preseli Hills, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northwest of Crymych. The south-western part of the parish is in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and includes the settlements of Pontyglasier and Penygroes. The parish is part of the community of Crymych.

Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Human settlement in Wales

Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn is an ancient parish in the upper division of the hundred of Ilar, Ceredigion, West Wales, 7 miles south east from Aberystwyth, on the road to Rhayader, comprising the chapelry of Eglwys Newydd, or Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Uchaf, and the township of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Isaf. It was also known as Lower Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, Lower Llanfihangel y Croyddin and Lower Llanfihangel y Croyddyn. This parish is situated on the rivers Ystwyth, Mynach and Rheidol and intersected by various other streams. An ancient parish was a village or group of villages or hamlets and the adjacent lands. Originally they held ecclesiastical functions, but from the sixteenth century onwards they also acquired civil roles. The parish may have been established as an ecclesiastical parish. Originally a medieval administrative unit, after 1597 ecclesiastical units acquired civil functions with the Elizabethan Poor Laws, which made the parishes responsible for welfare. The civil function was exercised through vestry meetings which administered the Poor Law and were responsible for local roads and bridges.

Blaenffos Human settlement in Wales

Blaenffos is a small village of around 200 inhabitants in the north of Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the community of Boncath. It sits on the boundary between the former parishes of Llanfihangel Penbedw and Castellan Chapelry.

Scleddau Human settlement in Wales

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Llantood Human settlement in Wales

Llantood is a hamlet and parish in Cilgerran community, north Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Capel Colman Human settlement in Wales

Capel Colman is a parish in northeast Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the community of Boncath. Formerly in the Hundred of Cilgerran, Capel Colman is a small, rural parish of some 750 acres (300 ha) surrounded by the larger parishes of Cilgerran, Manordeifi, Clydau, Penrydd and Llanfihangel Penbedw. The parish is in the Manordeifi group in the Church in Wales Diocese of St David's.

Monington, Pembrokeshire Human settlement in Wales

Monington is a small settlement and parish in the community of Nevern, north Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the Nant Ceibwr that flows through Moylegrove and into Ceibwr Bay. Part of the parish lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pembrokeshire History". Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 "The derelict miscellany" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Penbrok comitat". British Library.
  4. ↑ Pembrokeshire Historian, No.6, 1979 . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Harry, George Owen".
  6. ↑ "Dyfed FHS" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  7. ↑ Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Wales. HMSO. 1925. p. 165. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "GENUKI - Llanfihangel Penbedw" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  9. ↑ A topographical dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland. Chapman and Hall. 1833. Retrieved 8 July 2014. Llanfihangel Penbedw.
  10. ↑ Annual report of the Poor Law Commissioners. 1837. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "National Archives" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Freehold Estates" . Essex Standard. British Newspaper Archive. 26 November 1869. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "A Vision of Britain through time - Llanfihangel Penbedw" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Industry statistics" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Harvest Thanksgiving Service" . Western Mail. British Newspaper Archive. 27 September 1878. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "Ecclesiastical Intelligence" . Ipswich Journal. British Newspaper Archive. 4 May 1888. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Ecclesiastical News" . York Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 4 May 1888. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "Tithe agitation in West Wales" . Western Mail. British Newspaper Archive. 27 January 1891. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "Ecclesiastical Intelligence" . Hampshire Advertiser. British Newspaper Archive. 13 February 1897. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  20. ↑ "Housing statistics" . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  21. ↑ Lloyd, Orbach and Scourfield (2004). Pembrokeshire. Yale University Press. p. 130. ISBN   0300101783 . Retrieved 8 July 2014.
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