Hi, Listers,
Getting ready to pay a visit to the Carmarthen Record Office next week, I
was interested to find out the size of Laugharne, to give me some idea of
the task facing me in searching the registers. I turned up the cutting
below, which I sincerely hope will be new to at least some, as it seems to
me to contain some fascinating information. It came from the Proceedings of
the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, ca 1830, from which I took some
copies a long time ago.
Laugharne - 1830.
Laugharne, or Llacharn, co. Carmarthen, S.W. London 245 m. w. Carmarthen,
13m. s.s.w. Pop. of parish 562. Of Town, 1391. Fairs, May 6 and Sep 28.
M.D. Friday.
A small seaport town, in the parish of Laugharne and hundred of Derllys,
situated upon an estuary into which the rivers Tave and Cowen discharge
their waters. It is a very retired place, and derives little advantage from
its maritime position. It is governed by a corporation consisting of a
portreeve, four constables and seventy-six burgesses.The corporation possess
lands and a share in commons, bestowed on them by Sir Guido de Brian, the
younger, in the reign of King John, His mantle, richly embroidered in purple
and gold, is still preserved i the parish church. the living is a vicarage
in the diocese of St David¹s,and province of Canterbury; valued in K.B. 6l.
The prebend of Laughane,an impropriation in the cathedral of Winchester, is
valued in K.B. at 45l. The chapelries of Cyfig and Marros, and the rectory
of Llan-sadwrden are united in the vicarage. Area of Parish, 600 acres. The
charity school here is endowed with 6l per annum, by Mr Foster, which sum is
intended to defray the expenses of instructing 12 children.
There is no trade of any value at this port. The petty sessions for the
district are held in this town.Here are several military antiquities; an
ancient barbican and curtain wall stand in a private garden. Close to the
seaside are the ruins of the noble castle of Guido de Brian, built in the
reign of Henry III., and not far from the latter stands Roche castle, whose
history is lost. The original name of this parish was Tal-Llacharn, i.e.,
above the great lake; a name which, it is supposed, is corrupted in its
present form from General Laugharne, who besieged and took the castle in the
year 1664. The ancient name is Abercorwen or Aber Coran. Joshua Tucker,
D.D., Dean of Gloucester, an eminent political writer and able divine, was
born here.
From Gorton and Wright¹s ³Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain
and
Ireland² 1833,Vol II p 527."
I was particularly interested to read about the charity school, because my
gt.gt grandfather, whose widowed mother was among the 'poor and indigent of
the parish' was educated by Vicar Williams at the beginning of the 19th C.
The name of Roche Castle is presumably remembered by The Roches, an address
in the censuses of 1851. Cheers Oliver.