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Pen-Boyr

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"PENBOYR (PEN-BOYR), a parish, in the union of NEWCASTLE-EMLYN, higher division of the hundred of ELVET, county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 4 miles (S.E.) from Newcastle-Emlyn; containing 1375 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated in the north-western part of the county . . . contains a large tract of arable and pasture land, inclosed and cultivated, the whole comprising 5600 acres, of which 3000 are arable, 2000 meadow or pasture, and 600 wood. The surface is hilly, in some parts mountainous, and in others picturesque . . . the crops chiefly consisting of wheat, barley, and oats; the prevailing timber is oak and ash. . . The church, dedicated to St. Llawddog, a very ancient building in a delapidated state, was taken down and rebuilt from the ground, in 1809 . . . There is a chapel of ease in the parish, called Trinity Chapel in which service is performed . . . About 60 children are educated in a day school, at the expense of their parents; and two Sunday schools, one in connexion with the Established Church, and the other with Calvinistic Methodists, afford instruction to about 120 males and females. The churchyard is supposed to occupy part of the site of a Roman camp; a pot of Roman coins was found in the neighbourhood, not many years ago, and part of an ancient road and other traces of of Roman occupation have been found in the parish. . . " [From A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (S. Lewis, 1844).]

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Business & Commerce Records

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

  • Bargod Woollen Mills, Drefach-Felindre, records [1875]-1975 (mainly 1875-1924) "Bargod Woollen Mills was a woollen manufacturer located in Drefach-Felindre, Penboyr, Carmarthenshire, and was run by John Jones ...."
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Census

1841 census of Penboyr - transcription by Alan Jones

1851 census of Penboyr - transcription by Alan Jones

1891 census of Penboyr - transcription by Alan Jones

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    Church History

    Some church and chapel data from The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales. Ed. by I.G Jones, & D. Williams. UWP, Cardiff, 1976. The names are those of the informants

    • Penboyr Parish Church Built about the year 1809 at the sole expense of the Rev Archdeacon Beynon, the Rector Thomas Evans, Curate
    • Trinity chapel Chapel of Ease under Penboyr "Licensed 1 Jan 1800 'Doubtful whether ever consecrated' " Thomas Evans, Clerk
    • Soar Dissenters or Independents Erected in 1835 Evan Beynon, Elder Deacon, Penrhiw Trial, Penboyr
    • Pantybwlch Welsh CM Erected in 1834 "Building used occasionally for a Day School" John Jones, Minister

    Parish entry from The Welsh Church Year Book, 1929 (Cd by (Archive CD Books).

    • St Llawddog & St Barnabas
    • Incumbent and Curates; T Thomas
    • Rural Deanery of Emlyn
    • Acreage 6,936; Population 1,284

      Various items - on the People's Collection Wales site

      • Volunteers cutting grass around St Llawddog Church, Penboyr  1970s?
      • Reopening of St Llawddog Church, Penboyr, 1965
      • Next to Ysgol Penboyr you will see St Barnabas Church. In the 1800's, Lord Cawdor decided to give a new church to the parish of Penboyr, since the growth of the village reflected the prosperity of the Woollen industry.
      • Soar Chapel, Penboyr reopening, 1966
      • Soar Chapel, Penboyr, Eisteddfod advertisement, 1912
      • Soar, Penboyr, history booklet, 1912
      • Agreement in respect of the new addition, alterations and repairs of Soar Vestry, 1929/30
      • Additional bill to the original agreement for work at Soar Vestry, £11-5-11, from the contractor, D R James, Is-y-coed, Newcastle Emlyn, 19 July 1930
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      Church Records

      Dyfed FHS have photographs and data relating to various churches and chapels on their site

      Parish registers: Christenings (1752-1901), Marriages (1752-1970), and Burials (1752-1947), with Marriages at St Barnabas (1907-64), are at the National Library of Wales with Mf copies [except St Barnabas] at Carm.RO

      Copy ts PR index CB (1813-75) M (1752-1970) St Barnabas M (1876-1970) at NLW and Carm.RO

      Bishops' Transcripts, covering the period (1674-6, 1678-89, 1701, 1703, 1799-1812, 1819, 1823-6, 1828-80, 1882) are at the National Library of Wales, and have been microfilmed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

      Marriage index for this parish - see Dyfed Marriages, 1813-1837, Vol. 15 - Elvet Hundred (Dyfed Family History Society, c1989)

      See Bap/Mar/Bur data on FreeReg

      Nonconformist Chapels:

      • Pantybwlch (Calvinistic Methodist, 1832), Pantybwlch SN32493685 Built 1835 & rebuilt/modified 1888 Still open 1975 Coflein
      • Soar (Independent, 1836), Cwmpengraig SN34863666 Built 1836, enlarged 1859 & rebuilt/modified 1895 Coflein Shown as still open on the Union of Welsh Independents site (Dec 2006)
        Rees, Thomas & John Thomas. Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru (History of the Welsh Independent Churches), 4 volumes (published 1871+). Here is the entry from this book for this chapel (in Welsh ) - with translation by Gareth Hicks (Jan 2009)
      • Tabernacl Ind chapel, Pentrecagal SN33924020 Built 1884 Coflein Shown as still open on the Union of Welsh Independents site (Dec 2006)

      Parish Church photograph and basic information from Dyfed FHS.

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      Description & Travel

      The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales., byJones, I.G. & Williams, D. UWP, Cardiff, 1976. These statistics for this parish are extracted from this book which in turn got them from the 1851 census itself;

      • Area 6876 acres; Population 586 males, 685 females, total 1271

        Esgair Bridge near Penboyr School, c.1910 - on the People's Collection Wales site

        You can see pictures of Pen-Boyr which are provided by:

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        Gazetteers

        The transcription of the section for Pen-Boyr from The National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

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        Genealogy

        Griffiths, John & Mary. GRIFFITHS of CMN and PEM. Dyfed FHS journal (3/333) . Traces the descendants of Isaac Griffiths, miller of Landshipping, and David Griffith, farm labourer of Penboyr, to Merthyr Tydfil in the 19th century.
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        History

        Jones, D.E. Hanes Plwyfi Llangeler a Phenboyr (1899) [History of Llangeler and Pen-Boyr parishes], Llandysul, J.D. Lewis, Gomerian Press (Facsimile reprint - Caerfyrddin: Adran Gwasanaethau Diwylliannol, Cyngor Sir Dyfedt, 1994) (1899) ii,423,xviip,[1] leaf of plates: il, map; 20cm. ISBN 0860750922. Here is an Index by Sian Bowi

        Lloyd, Sir John E., (Ed.). A History of Carmarthenshire (2 vols.), Cardiff, London Carmarthenshire Society (1935, 1939). Extracts from this book can be accessed on some parish pages, see here for this parish

        This old photograph is of my home,Ffynnon-bedr, Cwmpengraig,Drefach Felindre. It was taken about 1900. - on the People's Collection Wales site

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        Maps

        Map of the parish of Penboyr in the County of Carmarthen - on the People's Collection Wales site

        Parish map(Kain/Oliver)

        You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SN347373 (Lat/Lon: 52.000792, -4.393374), Pen-Boyr which are provided by:

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        Names, Geographical

        Collection of farm names, Dre-fach Velindre - on the People's Collection Wales site

        Places, villages, farms etc within Pen-Boyr as shown on the online parish map from the CD of Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. (Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R.). (Extracted by Gareth Hicks)

        • Pen-Boyr (39); Aber Arad; Aber-lleinau; Afon Teifi; Blaen-Bargod; Blaen-halen; Blaen-nant-gwyn; Bwlch-y-domen; Carn Wern; Cilforest; Cilwen; Crug-cynfarch; Crug Perfa; Crug Tarw; Crug y Ddalfa; Crug y Gorllwyn; Cryngae; Cwm-Bran; Cwm-hiraeth; Cwm-pengraig (village); Dinas Bran; Dolhaidd; Domen Llawddog; Domen Seba; Ffrydiau-gwynion; Gelli-gynar; Gorllwyn; Nant Bargod; Penboyr; Pen-clawdd-uchaf; Pen-llan-fawr; Pen-llwyn; Pen-llwyn-coch-fawr; Pen-y-parc; Pen-yr-allt; Pentre-cagal; Pentre-dre-felin; Rhuddgoedfawr; Velindre (village); Waun-fawr; Waun Gilwen
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        Occupations

        Various items - on the People's Collection Wales site

        • Potato planting at Blaenmaenog Farm, Penboyr 
        • A horse pulling a corn harvesting machine in Rhydfoir Isaf
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        Schools

        Various items - on the People's Collection Wales site

        • Penboyr School pupils c.1905
        • Junior pupils at Penboyr School, late 1920s. Alun Evans in the front with Leslie Baker Jones and teachers, Miss Jones Ty· Gwyn and Miss Jones, Central House
        • Penboyr School pupils in 1923. Teacher Mrs Nellie Young
        • Penboyr School junior class, c. 1924 with staff and headmaster, Mr Morgan, Miss M Jones Ty· Gwyn; Miss A Davies, Ffynnonbedr; Miss L Jenkins & Miss Jones, Central.
        • Penboyr School 1928/29
        • Some pupils of Penboyr School 1929/30
        • Penboyr School pupils, c.1920s/1930s
        • Penboyr School 1930s
        • Penboyr School pupils about 1931
        • Penboyr School around 1932. Middle class - there is no teacher in the photograph
        • Penboyr School 1933
        • Penboyr School 1935 - the King and Queen's Jubilee
        • Penboyr School pupils with their teacher Miss Jones (Mrs Davies), Ty· Gwyn 1936
        • Class from Penboyr School 1937
        • Penboyr School 1937/38
        • Penboyr School pupils 1938. Miss Essie Jones (Teacher), Mr. Morgan (Headteacher)
        • Penboyr School, 1940s
        • Penboyr School, Junior Class. Head teacher Mr Evan Powell 1948
        • Penboyr School senior class, 1948
        • Pupils and teachers of Penboyr School, 1949
        • Penboyr School pupils in 1950s
        • All the pupils and staff at Penboyr School. Headmaster: Mr. B.D.Rees. Staff: Mr John Phillips and another Mr Phillips Miss R.A Evans, Mrs M.Davies. 1953
        • Penboyr School- The whole school. Headteacher Mr. B.D.Rees, with Mr John Phillips, Mrs. M Davies, Miss R.A. Evans and Mr.Phillips. 1953/4
        • Penboyr School pupils having their lunch in 1956. From the left Mr. B D Rees, Headmaster, Matilda Jane Williams, Mrs Margaret Griffiths (cook) & Miss Davies, Ty· Gwyn
        • Penboyr School pupils 1957 (list enclosed)
        • Penboyr School pupils October 1959. Teacher - Rachel Anne Evans, Pen-sarn
        • Penboyr School pupils c.1960. Teacher - Aneurin Davies
        • Penboyr School pupils c.1961 (list enclosed)
        • Penboyr School pupils 1962 (list enclosed)
        • Penboyr School: Mrs Davies, Ty· Gwyn's class, 1964/5
        • Celebrating Penboyr School centenary 1966. All pupils at the time and the headmaster and teachers. Headmaster: Mr B.D.Rees, Staff: Mr A.Davies, Mrs Davies, Miss Jacob, Bishop of St Davids and guests. Tea for everyone in the School.
        • Penboyr School pupils. Teacher - Mrs Morgan, Llanybydder c.1972
        • Penboyr School class c, 1979.
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        • Canon T.Halliwell unveils plaque commemorating Penboyr School's centenary celebration  1966
        • Newspaper cutting report of Penboyr School Centenary, 1966. Unveiling of commemorative plaque and school pupils.
        • Ysgol Gynradd Penboyr is a church school
        • Mr Jenkins, headteacher of Penboyr School, and the teachers outside School House.
        • Penboyr School around 1910. Notice that there isn't a wall between the graveyard and the school. The wall was built before the First World War.
        • Hockey in Drefach Velindre ?, c.1910, Location thought to be the back wall of Penboyr School
        • Pupils of Penboyr School who went to Llandysul Grammar School in 1939.
        • Sewing Class, Penboyr CP school 1950's
        • Penboyr School football team, c.1956
        • School Attendance Certificate, Penboyr School, 1914
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        Social Life & Customs

        Dre-fach Felindre Eisteddfod in 1920 was held in the field near the school  - on the People's Collection Wales site