Abergwili

 B&B's/Guesthouses in Abergwili:
 Tynewydd
       Abergwili
       Carmarthen
       Carmarthenshire
       SA31 2JW 
 01267 237265
 stewart_cooper@uk2.net

 Places of Worship in Abergwili:
 St Davids Church
       Wellfield Road
       Abergwili
       Carmarthen
       Dyfed
       SA31 2JQ
 01267 234189

Aberguilly (Aber-Gwili) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
ABERGUILLY (ABER-GWILI), a parish, in the union of Carmarthen, lower division of the hundred of Elvet, county of Carmarthen, South Wales, 2 miles (E. by N.) from Carmarthen, on the road from that town to Llandilo-Vawr; containing 2366 inhabitants. This place is principally distinguished for its palace, which is the residence of the diocesan. It derives its name from its situation on the river Guilly, near its junction with the Towy. About the year 1020, a desperate battle was fought near the village, between Llewelyn ab Sitsyllt, Prince of Wales, and Rhûn, a Scottish adventurer, who, pretending to be the son of Meredydd ab Owain, obtained the assistance of several powerful chieftains of South Wales, the disaffected subjects of Llewelyn, and assembled an army sufficiently strong to hazard an engagement. Llewelyn, returning from North Wales, at the head of his own forces, hastened to attack the adventurer, who had arrayed his army here in order for battle; after a long and obstinate conflict he obtained a complete victory over the rebels, and slew their leader in the pursuit.

The village is pleasantly situated, and the meadows in the neighbourhood are watered by the rivers Towy and Guilly, over which latter is a neat substantial stone bridge of three arches. The parish comprises 10,748 acres, and abounds with roofing-slate of excellent quality, of which two quarries are at present open, affording employment to about fifty persons, and furnishing an abundant supply of that material for the use of the neighbourhood. Pettysessions are held here once a month.

The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £3. 6. 8., endowed with £200 private benefaction and £200 royal bounty, and augmented in 1841, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to £150 per annum, out of the fund raised by the suspension of certain canonries and prebends. The Dean and Canons of Windsor are patrons and impropriators; but from his residence in the parish, the Bishop of St. David's is by courtesy allowed to present. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £700. 6., and the vicarial for one of £50; with a vicarial glebe of one acre and a half, and a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Maurice, and situated near the bank of the Towy, was made collegiate by Dr. Beck, Bishop of St. David's, in 1287, for twenty-two prebendaries, four priests, four choristers, and two clerks. In 1334, some alterations were made by Bishop Gower, who added a precentor, chancellor, and treasurer. This establishment, the revenue of which was £42 per annum, was removed by Henry VIII. to his newly erected college at Brecknock. In the church is a monument to Bishop Richard Davies; and in the churchyard, which is planted with evergreens, is a stone to the memory of Dr. Adam Ottley, bishop of the diocese, who died in 1723. At Llanvihangeluwch-Guilly is a chapel, endowed with £1200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Aberguilly. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Calvinistic Methodists. A National day and Sunday school for boys and girls, established in 1834, is supported by subscription, aided by payments from the parents; it is under the patronage of the bishop, and the schoolroom is spacious, and well-lighted and ventilated. At Pant-yGlaien is a school under the same patronage, commenced in 1840; at Llanvihangel is a Sunday school in connexion with the Established Church, and the dissenters have eight Sunday schools in the parish, five of them connected with the Independent denomination. A sum of £7. 10., the produce of bequests from different donors, is distributed about Christmas to the deserving poor: but a few other small charities have been lost.

The episcopal palace is situated on the banks of the Towy, whose meanderings through the grounds impart to it considerable beauty and interest, though, from the lowness of its site, it commands no extensive prospects. The scenery immediately surrounding it is cheerful, and pleasingly varied. The mansion, which had been suffered to fall into decay, was almost entirely rebuilt, in the Elizabethan style, at the expense of the late bishop, Dr. Jenkinson, and is now one of the most complete episcopal palaces in the kingdom. Cwm Guilly, the seat of Grismond Philipps, Esq., whose father represented the borough of Carmarthen in several parliaments; Gallt-y-Gôg, another residence; and Castle Piggin, which has been rebuilt by Walter Owen Price, Esq., are pleasantly situated in the neighbourhood. The defile of Cwm Guilly is one of the most romantic districts in this part of South Wales, extending some miles in length, and enlivened by the playful mountain stream of the Guilly: on each side rise lofty hills, which are clothed with wood to their very summits. Within a short distance of the village, and about four miles from Carmarthen, at a place called White Mill, is Merlin's Grove, a thick wood rising abruptly from the turnpike-road, celebrated as the abode of that renowned sage, and also as the place of his interment. The name is now usually applied to a neat family residence situated near it. The prophet is said to have lived in a cavern situated nearly in the centre of the wood, the supposed scene of his incantations, to which allusion is made by Spenser, in his "Faery Queene:" he is said to have been interred in a sequestered spot, near the extremity of the wood. The lordship of Vynne, belonging to the Bishop of St. David's, possesses some peculiar privileges, among which are those of holding a court leet, choosing a portreeve and appointing constables, and collecting tolls for the repair of its roads, which are kept in order independently of the parish rate; it does not however maintain its own poor, as an independent township, nor does it differ in any other respect from the rest of the parish.