The History of the Parish of Llandybie 
Roberts, Gomer R (Rev) ; 1939. 
Translated by Mr Ivor Griffiths; 1995 
With the kind permission of the translator sundry extracts from this book have 
been extracted by Gareth Hicks , these snippets below are in random order. 
Here is a contents listing and an Index by Gareth Hicks --- the book is 
available for lookups on the South/West Wales Lookup Exchange 

Llandyfan 
What was the connection between Llandyfan and the furnace in Ynyscedwyn, 
Ystradgynlais ? An inhabitant of Ynyscedwyn said this; 
"Mr Parsons, the owner, only made crude iron, which was melted into pig-iron at 
Ynyscedwyn. He hired the forge in Llandyfan, along with six mules owned by the 
owner of the forge to haul the iron over Mynydd Du. After this, a lot of 
pig-iron went to Llandyfan, and all the remainder to Neath....It was not long 
before Mr Parsons set up a new forge in Clydach, and when it was ready, he gave 
up the one in Llandyfan completely. I am certain that no iron has gone from 
Ynyscedwyn to Llandyfan for 70 years except for one hammer for the forge, which 
was sent about 67 years ago." 
It appears therefore that the sending of iron from Ynyscedwyn to Llandyfan 
stopped c 1789 

Quakers 
The few Quakers living in the parish of Llandybie usually went to worship in 
Llandeilo fawr[see that parish]. 
In 1790 a monthly meeting was held in "Llandebea" and in the records of that 
meeting we read about one John Morgan expressing a desire to join the Society. 
This was not the first time the Quakers had held a meeting in Llandybie; there 
was one in 1788 and there were present from Carmarthenshire;-Thomas 
Rees[Caer-groes]; John Griffiths; and Job Thomas]Pen-y-waun], and a father and 
son from Swansea with the name William Padley. 
Job Thomas was a remarkable man, very faithful to the Quaker order, and 
regularly at the monthly meetings from 1788 until his death in 1807.He was 
buried in the Quaker graveyard in Bryn-maen near Llandeilo Fawr, possibly the 
last to be buried there. 

C17 Llandybie-a brief description 
At the end of the C17 Llandybie was just a small village around the church; " A 
village consisting of 9 houses", and among these 9 houses can be included the 
Vicarage and the Mansion. 
There were a substantial number of farmhouses in the parish, with several 
mansions of the "Gwyr Mawr" [ Gentry] such as Derwydd; Piode ; Meddynfych ; 
Cilyrychen ; and Aber-Lash. 
Lluyd noted two bridges in the parish; Pont gerrig over the Marlais in the 
village, and Henbont about a mile higher up across the same river. 
The parish was divided into 9 hamlets,  the names given by Lluyd are; Fferen 
fawr ; Fferen y Garn ; Derwydh ; Tir Rosser ; Pistyll ; Piodeu ; Y Blaenau ; 
Glyn Tay.[which totals 8 !] 
The common land related to the parish was on flat land on Mynydd Mawr on the one 
hand, and the Black Mountain     [ its lower flanks in the direction of Carn 
Bica] on the other hand. 

Overseers 'Account 
The "accompt of Harry David Harry, one of ye overseers of ye poor of the parish 
of Llandybye for the year 1723" totalled £12.7.0 3/4 for the year . He paid out 
to 9 of the poor who received sums between 6s:8d and £2:10:0 , here are some 
details from the accounts; 
  Item, pd for her shroud.......3: 0. 
  Item, pd Mr Thomas Morgan for a warrant wh. he had from Mr Middleton against 
  Rees David Evan [to] compell him to ye office of an overseer.............1:0. 
  Paid to a constable.........1:0. 
  Item, pd for killing a badger..........1:0. 
At a Llandybie Vestry meeting in May 1732 it was decided to divide the sum of 
£20 :1:6 between 14 persons, the amounts varying between 8s. and £3. A poor tax 
of 6d in the pound, and a church tax of 2d on the pound was imposed, and this 
arrangement was confirmed with the names of eight of the parishioners. 

Church wardens Account 
The accompt of Henry Jones, Christopher Voyle, Church wardens of the parish of 
Llandybie for the year 1732  totals £4.4s.5 1/2d. and includes the following  
selection of items; 
  Item, pd att Easter Bishops Court........2s.0d. 
  Item, pd Mr Rees for a copy of the Registry.......2s.0d. 
  Item, for parchment to coppy the same.........6d. 
  Item, to John Dyer for colouring the windows......6d. 
  Item, for bread and wine att several times.....6s.0d. 
  Item, pd for 2 yds. and a half of Holand att 3s.6d. pr. for a table 
  cloth.......7s.10 1/2d. 
  Item, pd. for the Sun Dyal......3s.0d. 
  Item, pd. for Kibers to ye Porch....5s.4d. 
  Item, pd. John Howells for nails.....4d 
  Item, pd. for three hundred of Laths....3s.0d. 
  Item, pd. for 1,000 Lath Nails.......1s.8d. 
Apparently the "Sun Dyal" detailed above can still be seen today, except that it 
has been placed on the wall of the churchyard near the gateway. 

The Rev Thomas Rees writing to Bishop Anthony Ellis in 1755 
"We have morning and evening prayer every Sunday 
the service in English and Welsh, and the hours are 
eleven in the morning and four in ye Evening. 
I perform duty as Vicar of Llandebye. 
I do not serve any other cure. 
We have a monthly sacrament. 
We have about ninety Communicants and att Easter last 
there Communicated about forty. 
The nearest guess I can make we are about seven hundred 
[families in the parish], we have no meeting 
house but some Methodists among us. 
[The children] are Cathechised att Lent, and several 
other Sundays in the year. 
We have a Parchment Register Book duly kept for 
Registering Weddings. 
We have no Chapel in our said Parish of Llandebye. 
We have no publick or Charity school, but a small 
petty school. 
I reside in the Vicarage house." 

Report by parish curate Edward James to the bishop in 1789 
"Service is performed once on the Lords Day about 
eleven o'clock in the morning. On Christmas Day and 
Good Friday. There is no weekly service. 
I am a curate. I serve no other church. 
The Holy Sacrament is administered on the first 
Sunday of every month. The number of Communicants 
who generally attend is from 15 to 20. Their number 
at last Easter was from 30-40. Much about the same 
[as usual]. 
There are no papists or Popish school in the parish. 
There are good many Dissenters of the lowest and 
middle rank. There is one meeting-house which I think 
is licensed. The principle teacher is a Mr Davies of 
Llansamlet in Glamorganshire. 
It has not been customary to cathechise children in 
church along time ago in the parish. 
There are proper registers and are duly kept. 
I have never saw a Terrier. 
There is a rent charge of 50s. per annum on a tenement 
of land called Waun-clyn-cath for the poor of the 
parish. There is a house belonging to my cure. I do 
not live in it but I reside in the Parish within 
two miles of the Church. I know of nothing else." 

Early Education 
The first reference to education in the parish of Llandybie is in the report of 
the wardens to Bishop Lawrence Womack in 1684 where it states ; 
" one Griffith Rees keps a school, but whether he is licensed or no we know 
not." 
This was the first known school in the parish but it is not known where it was 
held. 
Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror, in his correspondence with Madam Bevan in 1736 
said; 
" Give me an account of your schools in Llandilo and Llandybie." 
William David and Griffith Rees in a  church wardens' report in 1739 said 
" We have two petty schools in our parish and the schoolmasters are persons of 
regular lives and sober conversation, and each of them attend and perform ye 
Business of his Station and train them upp in ye Church Cathechism." 
In 1738 one Anthony Rees was the schoolmaster in Llandybie. 
According to "Welsh Piety" there was a school in Llandybie in 1738/39 with 54 
scholars.  

Schooling in 1819 
Towards the end of 1819 details were prepared about the educational facilities 
of every parish in the country for the Select Committee that was dealing with 
the educational problem at that time. Here are the details about the parish of 
Llandybie; 
'Population; 1,787. Endowments ; None . Other Schools; A Boarding Day School and 
a Sunday School supported by charitable subscriptions, the former containing 
fifty, and the latter sixty children.' 
It is thought that the Boarding School was Piode School and the second the 
Wesleyan school. 

Dissenters 
In 1789 the Rev Edward James , the parish curate, said to the bishop; 
"There are a good many dissenters of the lowest and middle rank [ in the 
parish]. There is one meeting house which I think is licensed. The 
principle[sic] teacher is a Mr Davies of Llansamlet in Glamorganshire." 
He said something similar in 1804, about the nonconformist chapels; 
"There is but one. It is a Presbyterian chapel. There are dissenters from the 
established church, they are mostly Presbyterians.." 
The above Mr Davies was the Rev John Davies, son of Owen and Susannah Davies , 
he was born in Gwernllwynchwith, Llansamlet in 1740.He died in 1821 and was 
buried in Llansamlet. 

Calvinistic Methodists 
Following a visit by Howell Harris to Llandybie in 1738, Anthony Rees, school 
master in the circulating schools, wrote to him thus at Trebecca, Brecon; 
"To Mr Howell Harris, January 13, 1738/9 
I promised the last time you were at our house to write to tell you how the 
people are in our part of Llandebie parish. Many of them live more peaceful and 
better lives since you were here. They need a better teacher than the parson to 
teach them the right path to heaven. When they go to hear Mr Rees, I believe 
they are worse than before, like a Shopkeeper or Innkeeper he only seeks or keep 
everybody willing. 
They are angry with me in the village, and one of our neighbours who reported 
something about you to the Parson, was set upon by two of them and much bruised. 
I have 48 scholars, and there are 56 with Mr Griffiths at Bettws. Every weekend, 
since I began to teach them to sing Psalms and read books, there gathers about 
three score people besides the scholars to hear my exhortations. Write to me to 
let me know when you can come next to these parts. Send it with the post, or 
somebody that comes to Llandilo to be left at Rees Jones, shopkeeper there. 
Your friend and servant until death. Anthony Rees." 

Llandyfan to Pittsburgh 
The ninth preacher to be raised in Llandyfan was William Owen, the son of Rees 
and Ann Owen of Gelli'r Fawnen, Llandybie, who was born c 1798. He married Ann 
Rees the daughter of John Rees of Clwyd-ffyrch, Llandybie, and after his 
marriage lived on his father's farm until he left Wales for America c 1834. 
By 1838 he was a respected minister in America, spending nearly 40 years serving 
the Baptists in Pittsburgh. He died in 1876 aged 76 years, leaving three, at 
least, sons, and one of them a preacher. He was buried in Laurenceville cemetery 
and it is interesting to note that one of the children of the parish of 
Llandybie, the Rev Fred Evans[Ednyfed], officiated at his funeral. 

Red Lion, Llandybie 
A traveller who stayed the night in the village, in 1819, was a Captain Jenkin 
Jones, who recorded; 
"The walk from Cross Inn to Llandybie is a very beautiful one and at the latter 
place I put up at the Red Lion, David Lewis, and experienced the greatest 
comfort and cleanliness , with the most moderate charges I have ever met with in 
my life, I had a pint of good new milk , a bottle of excellent Welsh Ale, 
roasted potatoes, bread, cheese, butter and an admirable bed for 1s:6d." 

Wages and living conditions mid C19 
The Rev John Williams, vicar of Llandybie, stated before the Education 
Commission that...... 
.....farm labourers in the parish received 9s a week on his own food, or 8d a 
day with food. The usual wage had been 8s a week but the failure of the potatoe 
crop caused the wages to rise to 9s. The lime workers received 15s a week, and 
the collier 18s a week. It was not reckoned that the workers were poor on that 
money, but their fate was much better 8d a day with plenty of potatoes than on 
9s a week with potatoes in short supply. As a class , the farm labourers were 
hardworking and sober, but drunkeness was quite common among the colliers , and 
also in conjunction with this, it was noted that the men of Bettws were more 
sober than the men of Llandybie. 
The lime workers and colliers worked from 6 o'clock in the morning to six at 
night, and if there was a need to go somewhere in the afternoon, they would 
start at 4 o'clock in the morning. 

Toll Gates 
The right to collect tolls in the Llandybie area were auctioned in 1813 at the 
George Inn, Llandilo. The tolls produced a net total of £661 that year. 
This was a fairly large sum being collected and it is not surprising that the 
people kicked against the tollgates.  There were two gates in Llandybie,---one 
opposite Blaenau road leading to Mynydd Mawr, and the other opposite the Cross 
Inn Road; the Tollgate House stood in the middle between the two gates----where 
Mr Owen's shop stands now. 
A host of people came to Llandybie wanting lime and coal and the tolls were a 
great oppression on them. The cart ,or Gambo,  was divided into two so as not to 
mix the lime and the coal. 

Friendly Societies 
One of the ways that the poor attempted to obtain some sort of security before 
the arrival of the trade unions, was to establish friendly societies or clubs. 
Here is a complete list of these in the parish of Llandybie, with their meeting 
place, numbers of members,and the date of the first entry in their books; 
  Friendly Society; Bridgend Inn;  77; 1851. 
  Friendly Soc. of Tradesmen, Labourers & Others; Ivy Bush Inn; 14; 1831 
  No. 1 Friendly Soc ; Schoolroom ; 47 ; 1837 
  No. 2. Friendly Soc ; Schoolroom ; 75 ; 1838 
  British Faithful & Friendly Society ; Farmers Arms ; 109 ; 1855 
  Union Society ; Red Cow Inn ; 56 ; 1830 
  Gomerian Society ; Red Cow Inn ; 68 ; 1846 

Population census statistics for Llandybie parish 
  1801, 1513 
  1811, 1787 
  1821, 2077 
  1831, 2248 
  1841, 2534 
  1851, 2885 
  1861, 2821 
  1871, 3171 
  1881, 3560 
  1891, 3903 
  1901, 5757 
  1911, 6771 
  1921, 8019 
  1931, 8877 
Part of the parish was taken in 1879 to form the new parish of Gorslas. And 
another part was taken in 1903 when the new Ammanford Urban District was 
created. The population of Ammanford was 6074 in 1911 and 6984 in 1921. 

Boot and shoe making 
In olden times, the shoemakers were a very interesting class. It took nearly 
twelve hours or more for them to make one pair of boots. The shoemaker bought 
the leather himself from the tanner, and made the uppers from some three or four 
pieces of leather called the "cwarter ol"[back quarter], the famp, and the 
tongue of the boot. Having put these together, he would take two lasts ---one 
for each foot, and made of wood. He would place the upper on the last to sew the 
first part of the sole to the upper--- no nails were used at all in the making 
of the boot. Having completed the sewing of the first part, he would go on to 
sew the second part, and to hold it in its place during sewing, he would use two 
or three wooden pegs. Then the third part would be sewn, and the sole would be 
in place. The next job was the heel; he would sew the first two parts of the 
heel with strong thread, then fix two or three more pieces on it, and these were 
secured by wooden pegs. After cleaning and trimming, the boot was ready. The 
wooden pegs were prepared for the shoemaker by men who made their living by this 
craft. 
Others earned a living by making nails and small metal horseshoes, they were 
called Nailers. This is how they made the boot nails; they would place a piece 
of iron in the fire, and after heating it, make it into a thin spike, and cut 
it. They would then use a tool called a "Neltwn", at one end of which was a 
place to insert the thin spike, and the nailer would hit the iron until it was 
of the required thickness.  It took two to three hours to make enough nails and 
metal shoes for a pair of boots. 

Lime trade 
It was an interesting sight during the middle of the last century[C19] to see 
between 50 and 100 carts awaiting their turn at Cilyrychen or Pistyll works, 
each waiting for a load. Many farmers came from as far as Cardiganshire and 
Pembroke to get lime from Llandybie.  They would travel day and night to save on 
tolls and time, and would arrive at the works before the break of dawn, and many 
a tale has been told of the exploits of ones who would attempt to load before 
anyone else.  Before the general use of money [and even after] there was trading 
by exchange , for example, exchanging coal for lime. 
The price of coal and lime in 1823 was 3d a hundredweight, but the price of coal 
rose shortly afterwards. The price of lime by 1878 was 5s a ton. 

Early coal  in Llandybie 
Coal was worked in the commote of Is Cennen before the year 1400, but there is 
no history of this work in Llandybie. 
There is an interesting testimony about coal mining in Mynydd Mawr in a "survey" 
of the Lordship of Kidwelli carried out by Gerrard Bromley in 1609. In this 
report on the commote of Is Cennen , he mentions the " common called Mynith 
Mawr" in the parish of Llandybie, and said of it; 
" We saye that there are coales founde wrought and digged in the say'd comon 
called Mynith Mawre, the use whereof the said tenants of the sayd comotte and 
those whose estate they sevrally have in and to theare sevral tenants by 
themselves and theare under tenants have sevrally and respectively hadd for all 
the tyme whereof the memory of man ys not to the contrary for necessary ffyre 
and burning of lyme as parte of their ffreehold and appurtenante to theire sayd 
severall tenements." 

Steam engines and water wheels and coal 
"The Cwm pit was sunk before the arrival of the railway in the parish,......it 
was a 'downcast 'pit in a field between Cwm cottages and Waun Rhys Morris, and 
was called by the old people "Pwll yr Engine" because it was here the first 
steam engine in the region was used. I have reason to believe that this pit was 
working around 100 years ago[=1839]. When the old pit was closed , the engine 
was taken to Ben Powell's works in Blaen-lash near Castell Rhingyll, and ended 
its career in the old Cotchet pit. 
There was also an 'upcast' pit near Cwm, and was opened in conjunction with the 
other pit. This was called "Pwll y Rhod"  [ The Wheel Pit] by the old people 
because of the old water wheel which was used to raise water from the pit. This 
ancient pump dried the two pits, and was made entirely of wood---even the pipes. 
 The wheel was fixed over the pit and worked on the same principle as the old 
flour mills. Part of the channel that carried the water from the river Lash to 
work the wheel can be seen today, but most of it has been filled in. I believe 
that the following entry in John Lewis's accounts for 1822 refer to this 
pit---'June 25th. Glan Las Coal Works .11 oz. of leather for Engine 2s.3d. 
Leather for pumps 2s.1d.' " 

The coming of the railway 
The Llanelly Dock and Railway Co had opened a line from Llanelli to 
Pant-y-ffynnon by 1835, and by May 1841 had pushed on to Tir-y-dail , and by 
1857 had  reached Llandeilo, running through the parish from one end to the 
other. It was in the minds of industrialists to open a canal from Llanelli 
through the Loughor valley to the Towy valley----------the " Grand Towy Canal" 
as they intended calling it, but the plan fell through before it started and 
undoubtedly this failure slowed industrial progress in the parish. 
The railway made a great difference to the life of the country ; before that the 
stage coach usually stopped at the Red Lion and Cross Inn, then a carriage 
called the "bus" would connect the village with Dyffryn Station[ afterwards 
called Tir-y-dail]. 
There are only one or two who remember the coming of the railway to the parish; 
Mr Richard Bowen, who had the contract to build the iron bridge near the Royal 
Oak. At first, stone blocks were used on the railway lines , not the wooden 
sleepers used today. 
The first stationmaster in Llandybie was Mr William Evans, and his successor was 
Mr William Lloyd. 

The balance pit 
"Around 1850 a small line was opened from Tir-y-dail to Penygroes and in its 
wake a number of pits were opened.............in the period 1860-80  there was a 
great increase in the trade under the leadership of companies like D Lloyd & Son 
, of the Lord Pit.....this company.......started working the coal on a large 
scale , using scientific methods to obtain it by sinking pits to a depth unheard 
of in earlier days. Mr Lloyd lived in a small mansion near the Lord pit and was 
the squire of the district in his day, and his word was law. He chose three men 
to sink the Lord pit, and they were Thomas Hughes , Cwmffaldau; John Davies, 
Constant; and David Daniel of Cwmwg. 
In country terms this pit was called the "balance pit" for the reason that they 
adopted a special device to raise the coal and water out of the pit. There were 
two cages in the pit operated by one rope, and under each cage was a tank, and 
when one cage reached the bottom the water ran into a sump----the weight of the 
descending cage was carefully gauged to be heavier than the ascending cage with 
the coal.  This process required a good reservoir of water, and at the pit head 
can be seen to this day, two water reservoirs which were used for this purpose. 
The coal from the Lord pit was taken to Pant-y-blodau by means of an incline, 
and from there along another incline to Nant-y-Wrach---small trucks holding 
about five tons of coal being used for these inclines. " 

Thomas Hughes--- coal diviner 
"Thomas Hughes of Cwmffaldau was an amazing man.................he sank the Lord 
pit and found coal at Pencae'r Eithin himself............Aeron Thomas consulted 
him regarding the Emlyn works at a time when he was giving up hope of finding 
coal. Hughes well knew the runs of the coal seams in the whole area, and this by 
instinct; he had a subtle ability to recognise where there was coal, and , this, 
by tasting the earth with his tongue and mouth......... 
Mr Lloyd of the Lord pit had complete faith in Thomas Hughes's opinion and it 
was he who indicated where to sink the Parc pit, and they reached the coal 
according to his measurements. He was truly amazing and there had to be an 
account of him in this history of the coal trade in the parish." 

The miner's craft 
"........this is the best place to mention the pride of the old miner in his 
craft of coal cutting and several other crafts concerned with the work. 
In the old days, powder to blast the coal was rarely used; the old method was to 
make a hole and fill it with hot lime and water and wait until it had swollen up 
and loosened the coal.It was a fine sight to see the old miner cutting and and 
boring under the seam, and taking pride in his work. 
A job to be marvelled at was the whittling of a pair of timbers , and the only 
tool used was an axe with its edge like a razor. The other tools used [ I shall 
give the miner's own names for them] was the mandrel, the siyrm [ to bore--the 
small siyrm and the long siyrm] hammer and auger, and the nelson[ for 
boring]---later the boring machine became general. 
In the old days they used a sort of sliding cart or sleigh called 'cwrbyn' to 
carry the coal from the face to the level. Local craftsmen made these carts , 
and Thomas o'r Bont described to me the methods used to make them. The bottom 
was made of wood, with four upright timbers at the corners and lighter wood of 
hazel between them, and rods of wood specially grown for the purpose were woven 
between the hazel wood. The cart slid along on two pieces of wood cut into a 
half-moon shape---but were not iron shod, as they were later. 
About 25 years ago, when opening up an old level in Caerbryn, they came across 
one of these old carts, and it is a great pity that it was not preserved. I also 
heard it said that in the old days they used wooden shovels and wooden mandrels 
with steel tips." 

Shrouds, wooden coffins and funeral songs 
Possibly only the poor were buried in shrouds, because within living memory, 
everyone that could, would take care to have well seasoned timber ready for the 
day of their death, and the coffin would be made of this wood, generally oak. 
There was a reference to a wooden coffin in a verse that my mother heard being 
sung in many a funeral in Llandybie. 
Mewn coffin pren cyn hir ca'i fod, 
Heb allu symyd llaw na thro'd. 
Fy nghorff yn llawn o bryfed byw, 
A'm henaid bach lle mynno Duw. 
[In a wooden coffin soon I'll be, 
My hands and feet quite still. 
My body, maggots making free, 
My little soul where God wills.]