Loughor, or Castell-Llychwr - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
LOUGHOR, or CASTELL-LLYCHWR, a borough and parish, in the poor-law union of Llanelly, hundred of Swansea, county of Glamorgan, South Wales, 7 miles (W. N. W.) from Swansea, 50 miles (W. by N.) from Cardiff, and 211 (w.) from London; containing 854 inhabitants, of whom 570 reside within the limits of the borough. This place derives its names from its situation on the river Llychwr, or Loughor; the latter name of the town signifying "the fortification on the Llychwr." It is supposed by many to have been the Leucarum of Antoninus; and this opinion is corroborated by the similarity of the names, and the discovery, at various times, of numerous relics, among which may be mentioned a coin of the Emperor Trajan, found in the bed of the river, about 200 yards westward from the town. The supposition is also confirmed by the direction of the Roman Julia Strata, which from the station Nidus, at Neath, passed westward through this town, and near a place in its vicinity still called Câdle, or "the field of battle," where, at some remote period, a conflict is thought to have taken place, of which no particulars have been related. Loughor was anciently designated Trêv Avanc, from the great number of beavers abounding in the neighbouring rivers; Avanc being the old Welsh, or Celtic, name of the beaver. Few historical events in connexion with it are recorded; the castle is said to have been erected by Henry Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, who, in or about the year 1099, entered Gower, and having made himself master of considerable territories, built this fortress and the castles of Swansea, Penrice, and Llanrhidian. In 1150, Meredydd and Rhŷs, sons of Grufydd ab Rhŷs, attacked and laid waste the country of Gower, and made themselves masters of the town and castle of "Aberllychwr," the former of which, according to Warrington, they levelled with the ground, after plundering the inhabitants, and the latter they completely dismantled. In the reign of Edward II. the castle was granted by that monarch to Hugh le Despencer, by whom it is supposed to have been rebuilt; but it seems never to have regained its original importance, nor the town to have entirely recovered from the desolation it had previously suffered.
The parish is situated on the western confines of the county, and is bounded on the west by the river Loughor, which separates it from the county of Carmarthen, and discharges itself into the Bristol Channel: this river is fordable for two hours before, and two hours after, low water. Loughor is bounded on the north by Llandeilo parish, on the south by Llanrhidian, on the east by Llangyvelach, and on the south-east by Swansea; and comprises by admeasurement 3029 acres, of which 1029, consisting of 283 arable and 746 pasture, are within the limits of the borough, and of the remaining 2000 acres, 700 are arable and 1300 meadow. The surface is undulated, and the chief produce wheat and oats. Though of very small extent, and mostly of rather mean appearance, the town contains a few genteel residences, one of which, called the Sanctuary, is supposed to have been anciently part of the manor of Millwood, or St. John, near Swansea, and the property of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The river Loughor flows on the northern side of the town, whilst the Llyw, which falls into the former a short distance southsouth-westward from the church, runs on the southern; and as the tide regularly flows and ebbs in these rivers twice in every twenty-four hours, the air is rendered salubrious, and the situation of the town is consequently deemed remarkably healthy. An act of parliament was obtained some fifteen or twenty years since for erecting a bridge over the Loughor, and for constructing a turnpike-road from the town to Carmarthen, which improvements have greatly contributed to its prosperity. The South Wales railway, also, now in progress, will pass by the town, and cross the river by a bridge, just below the present bridge.
The whole parish, which is divided into two parts, called respectively the Parish and the Borough, abounds with mineral wealth; and several veins of excellent coal, of considerable thickness, extend entirely through it, in a direction from east to west, and have been worked to a depth of from twenty to forty fathoms. Chemical works were formerly carried on, and there was a manufactory for zinc: on the western bank of the river, in Carmarthenshire, immediately opposite the town, are the Spytty copper-works, which, after having for some time been wholly discontinued, were lately re-opened, and are now in active and increasing operation. In the year 1846 an act was passed authorizing the construction of a railway from the Coalbrook collieries, near Loughor, to Swansea; the name of the line to be, Cameron's Coalbrook Steam-coal and Swansea and Loughor Railway. The river, from the bridge to its mouth, a distance of twelve miles, is called Burry River. It is navigable at high tides for vessels of 200 tons' burthen; and during spring tides there are from eleven to fourteen feet of water in the wharfs here, productive of great advantage to the trade of the place, which is principally carried on with Ireland, the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, France, &c. There is no market; but fairs for the sale of live-stock are annually held on the first Monday in June, and October 10th.
The government of the town, which is a borough by prescription, under the style or title of "The Portreeve, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the borough of Loughor," is vested in a steward, portreeve, recorder, twelve aldermen, and an unlimited number of burgesses, assisted by two serjeants-at-mace, a layer-keeper, an ale-taster, and two haywards. The steward and recorder are appointed by the Duke of Beaufort, lord of the borough. The portreeve is annually chosen from among the aldermen at Michaelmas, and, having qualified at the quarter-sessions for the county, may act as a magistrate within the borough; the serjeants-at-mace, layer-keeper, &c., are elected at a court leet, and sworn in before the recorder, and the portreeve going out of office. Loughor was one of the contributory boroughs which, with Cardiff, returned a member to parliament; the right of voting was in the aldermen and burgesses at large, in number 212, of whom forty-five were resident in the borough. By the act of 1832, for "Amending the Representation of the People," it has been included in the newly-formed district composed of the boroughs of Swansea, Aberavon, Kenvig, Loughor, and Neath, to send a representative to parliament. The elective franchise is now vested in the old resident burgesses, if duly registered according to the provisions of the act, and in every male person of full age occupying, either as owner, or as tenant under the same landlord, a house or other premises in the borough of the annual value of at least £10, provided he be capable of registering as the act demands. The number of tenements of this value within the limits of the borough, which were not altered by the act, is thirty-five.
The freedom is inherited by all the sons of a freeman, and may be acquired by seven years' apprenticeship to a resident freeman, by marriage with a freeman's daughter, or by gift, in which latter case it is conferred by a jury of twenty-four burgesses, chosen indiscriminately from the burgesses at large, and of whom the portreeve for the preceding year is always the foreman. The freemen exercised a right of common on the waste lands of the borough; but in 1833 an act of parliament was passed for inclosing those grounds, amounting to about 600 acres; under the provisions of which, after setting apart a sufficient portion of the property to be sold to defray the expenses of the act, one-fourteenth part in value of the waste was to be allotted to the lord of the borough, and the remainder to the portreeve, aldermen, and burgesses; the right of the lord to the mines, being reserved to him. The corporation are empowered by prescriptive right, recognised by statutes of the 34th and 35th of Henry VIII., to hold a court of record, every third Monday, for the recovery of debts to any amount; but this privilege does not appear to have been exercised within the last sixty years, nor is there evidence of any process to hold to bail having ever issued from the court. A court baron was formerly held monthly, before the portreeve, recorder, and a jury of six burgesses, for the recovery of debts to any amount within the limits of the borough.
The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 10. 5., and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor: the tithes have been commuted for a rentcharge of £210; and there is a glebe of eight acres, with a glebe-house. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, and situated within the limits of the borough, occupies the summit of an eminence commanding an extensive prospect over the surrounding country; it is a small modern structure, of neat appearance, and contains about 300 sittings, which, though appropriated to the different estates, are all free, except those in the chancel. At a place called Groft-yCapel was formerly a chapel of ease, as the name and ancient maps indicate; but nothing is now visible, beyond an undulated form of the ground, beneath which probably the foundations are concealed. There is a small place of worship for Calvinistic Methodists. A day school is held, in connexion with the Established Church; and the parish has three Sunday schools, one of them conducted on Church principles, and the others belonging to the Calvinistic Methodists, and Independents. No charitable trusts have ever been confided to the corporate body, and the only one in the out-parish was one of £10, supposed to have been the gift of William John, the interest of which used to be distributed among the poor till the sum was expended many years ago on the repairs of the roads, since which no interest has been paid.
Of the ancient castle there are yet some remains, consisting principally of a square tower, thought to have been the keep, and still in a tolerable state of preservation; it occupies the summit of an artificial mount, which is considered to have been originally thrown up by the Romans, and is surrounded by a double intrenchment. The remains of an old watercourse, also conjectured to be of Roman construction, by which water for the supply of the garrison was conveyed from the small river Llyw, are likewise plainly discernible. Traces of the Julia Strata may be seen upon the Carmarthenshire hills on the western side of the river Loughor, pointing directly to this place; and within the grounds of the rectory is preserved a large stone rudely wrought, which may have been a Roman milliary, though by others it is supposed to have belonged to the sanctuary of the Knights of St. John before alluded to. In the vicinity of Câdle, and near the boundary of the parish, are two small square encampments of Roman origin, on a common designated Mynydd Carn Gôch. The ancient town, which was destroyed by the sons of Grufydd ab Rhŷs, is said to have occupied an eminence to the south-east of the castle; and the site still retains the name of the Borough: at a short distance to the south, on the marsh, stood the old church, the site of which is still called Story Mihangel. The strata in the coal districts in the parish furnish specimens of fossilized vegetable remains, including fern, acorns, leaves of various trees, pine and oak timber, &c., which substances have been found in that state at a depth varying from seventy to eighty feet below the surface. A celebrated performer on the violin, named Hugh, who is reported to have composed many of the most popular airs in the "Beggar's Opera," was a native of this place. |
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