LLANDISSILIO - From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833)

LLANDISSILIO (LLAN-DYSILIO), a parish, partly in the lower division of the hundred of DERLLYS, county of CARMARTHEN, and partly in that of DUNGLEDDY, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 5 1/2miles (N. by E.) from Narberth, on the road to Cardigan, containing 1025 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from the dedication of its church, is about five miles in length and four in breadth, and comprises two divisions, which are respectively situated in the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke, each separately maintaining its own poor: the lands are enclosed and in a good state of cultivation, and the soil is in general fertile. It constitutes a prebend in the collegiate church of Brecknock, rated in the king's books at £12. 9. 4 1/2., and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. David's. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Carmarthen, and diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £7, endowed with £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. David's. The church, dedicated to St. Tysilio, has no architectural claims to notice. In the churchyard, leaning against the south side of the church, is an ancient stone of large dimensions, with the inscription, in rude characters, LVTORICI. FIL. PAVLINI. MARINI LATIO: it was dug from under a heap of rubbish by the present incumbent, in the year 1827, and placed by him in its present situation: a tradition, however, of its existence had been preserved in the parish, which led to its discovery. There is a place of worship for Baptists in that division of the parish which is in the county of Carmarthen, and one for Independents in that which is in the county of Pembroke. Morris Jones, Esq., in 1621, bequeathed a rent-charge of £2, payable out of his farm of Cae Helig, in the parish of Wrexham, county of Denbigh, to be distributed in white bread among the poor of this parish. John Matthias, of Kîlvaur, bequeathed £1.1. per annum for a sermon on the uncertainty of human life, to be preached here annually on the second Sunday in June. Cicely Morris, by deed enrolled in 1776, gave £2. 2.per annum for the instruction of five poor children of this parish, and £2. 2. per annum for apprenticing them to some trade; these sums are chargeable on lands in the parish, and are duly appropriated according to the intention of the benefactress. On the farm of Casgwyn in that part of the parish which is in the county of Pembroke, is an ancient encampment, comprising a semicircular area, two hundred and forty yards in circumference, with an entrance fifteen yards in width: the aspect is towards the west, and commands an extensive tract of country: small cannon balls have been turned up by the plough in its vicinity. Another encampment of similar form, and commanding the same tract of country, is seen on a farm called Portispark, in that part of the parish which is in the county of Carmarthen: it is situated on an eminence, and includes an area of which the chord is one hundred and thirty yards in length. On the farm of Llwynyebol is a circular encampment, thirty yards in diameter, surrounded by a rampart three feet high: in the centre are two stones, four feet in height, and in a position inclining from the perpendicular. There were formerly about twenty of these, varying in height :and at the distance of two hundred yards to the north-west is a small circle, within which are two erect stones, from four to five feet in height, near which it is supposed was formerly a third stone, so placed as to form an altar. Two avenues of stones, in opposite. directions, but both tending to the circular enclosure, may still be traced; and around this relic of British antiquity are scattered numerous barrows, varying in dimensions, in one of which, on its being cut through in forming the present road from Narberth to Cardigan, was found an entire vessel, rudely formed of coarse pottery. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to £270. 5., of which sum, £179. 2. is raised on that part which is in the county of Carmarthen, and £91. 3. on that in the county of Pembroke.

Gareth Hicks, 30 Dec 1999