Lampeter, Carmarthenshire
Historical Description
Lampeter, a small town, a municipal borough, the head of a poor-law union and county court district, and a parish in Cardiganshire. The town stands on the river Teifi, at the boundary with Carmarthenshire, in a beautiful valley engirt by wooded hills, 19 miles E by N of Newcastle Ernlyn, 22½ NW of Carmarthen, and 26 miles E by N of Cardigan. It dates from remote times, shows evidence of having formerly been a larger and more important place than now, and liad anciently a castle which has disappeared. The Sarn Helen Way ran adjacent, a Roman camp was on that way near Olwen, and another Roman camp was at Alltgoch. Archbishop Baldwin, accompanied by the historian Giraldus, preached the Crusade here in 1188; leaden coffins have been exhumed on a spot which is supposed to have been the cemetery of an ancient and quite extinct church called St Thomas; an ancient priory also is conjectured to have stood here; a bridge across the Teifi, about half a mile to the S, is said to have been originally erected by King Stephen; and the town itself is properly called Llanbedr, and took that name from the dedication of its church to St Peter. The men of Lampeter, or Gwyr Llanbedr, are occasionally mentioned, with epithets of distinction, in the Welsh chronicles. The town consists chiefly of one long street, has of late years been greatly improved, and presents a clean and pleasant appearance. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), a station on the Manchester and Milford railway, and a town-hall. The assizes, quarter sessions, county court, and county council meetings are held here. The town-hall was built in 1881. St David's College was built in 1822-27, after designs by Cockerell, at a cost of, £30, 000, occupies the site of the ancient castle, and is a handsome quadrangular edifice. A new wing was added in 1887. It was incorporated by a charter of George IV., and acquired other charters in 1852 and 1865 for conferring degrees of B.D. and B.A. The church is a modern structure on an eminence, superseded an ancient one, and contains monuments of the Lloyds of Millfield and an old font There are Congregational, Wesleyan, Calvin-istic Methodist, Baptist, and Unitarian chapels. There is also a workhouse. A weekly market is held on Fridays, and fairs are held on 11 Jan., 6 Feb., 11 Mar., Easter Saturday, 7 and 8 May, Whit-Wednesday, 16 June, 10 July, first Saturday after 13 Aug, 19 Oct., first Saturday after 12 Nov., and a cattle market is held on the last Monday in each month, The municipal borough was incorporated in 1884, and is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; population, 1569. The parish contains also the hamlet of Tref-y-coed, and bears the name of Lampeter Pont Stephen. Acreage, 6353; population, 2006. The living is a vicarage, with Pentrebach annexed, in the diocese of St David's; gross value, £315. Patron, the Bishop of St David's.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Carmarthenshire is available to browse.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online: