As a place of commerce and manufacture Llanelly and the Nineteenth Century may be said to
have sprung into existence together. Indeed the Author of a "Tour in Wales,"
writing so late as 1803, could only speak of the " poor small town of Llan¬elly,
inhabited principally by fishermen and colliers." There can be no doubt that in
writing thus Mr. Evans depreciated the town, so we must be devoutly grateful for his
condescension when he adds, "This, though a small place, has a tolerable
har¬bour." But note the change. Only fifteen years later Aikin in his "England
Described" gives the world his impressions of Llanelly. And what a contrast ! The
town has now started on its upward course, and the progress made is strikingly rapid.
"Llanelly," says Aikin, introducing the town to the reader, " is one of the
most thriving places in South Wales in proportion to its extent, flourishes by means of
coal of the best quality, and iron ore, which abound in the neighbouring county. This has
caused the establishment in it of large,: iron works, and others in which metallic
processes are going on ; and its communication with its interior has been facilitated by
several railroads "
But if we desire to learn more from records still earlier we must prepare to look upon our
town as a scanty and insignificant village-a few small dwellings in the neighbourhood of
the Church. Nay, we may in imagination go back even further to a period when Llanelly by
that name is unknown to the
noble savage" who " wild in woods" rejoices as the Ancient Briton-the
original possessor of the realm.
Deeply interesting would it be could we stand upon the site of modern Llanelly as it
existed, say at the period when Caesar made his first acquaintance with our shores. The
general landmarks¬ we need scarcely doubt-would be the same. Gower would he there-more
peaceful and beautiful than ever ; and on our own side of the estuary, marsh and meadow,
and most of all perhaps, woodland, would doubtless strike the eye. Silence reigns supreme
! Unbroken by a single one of myriad noises and commotions born ,of trade and
civilisation. Now and again the Aboriginal Britons may be seen, pursuing the chase, or
perhaps engaged in quarrels of no interest to us two thousand years removed. There can be
no doubt that the Britons had hereabout a species of centre, for there is still between
the Park and Old Castle Works a tumulus, or mound of burial-solitary monument of a
primitive existence.
But a day arrives when the uneventful routine of those ances¬tral tribes-the
"Llanellyites" of twenty centuries ago-is broken by strange rumours and
unaccustomed sights. With awe and wonder they behold the advent of the Roman legionaries¬
stern warriors before whom the continent had bowed.
The cohorts drew up at Loughor-they tried to imitate the sound and called it in their
Latin tongue, Leucarum. There they founded a settlement, and spanning the river with a
wooden bridge, they pushed on to what is now Llanelly. As likely as not they had a sharp
encounter with the aborigines ere they established the plain, square camp, the last traces
of which have only just been demolished to make way for a modern dwelling. That solitary
Roman outpost-the furthest in this particular direction- gave the name Pencastell to its
immediate neighbour¬hood, and the appellative will remain, though the Roman camp has
disappeared. After a similar fashion, "Stradey " reminds the antiquarian of the
strata or Roman road-perhaps a branch of the Via Julia Maritima, which ran from Leucarum
(Loughor), via Llandio-Talybont, to Maridunum (Carmarthen), and thence into the unknown
regions of Pembroke. "Spitty," too, recalls the old conquerors to mind, for
there was placed the hospicium, or hospital, for the garrison at Leucarum. So much for
Llanelly under the Britons and Romans. We are not aware that there have been found in this
immediate neighbourhood any of the pottery and bricks, the lamps and coins and golden
torques which have been unearthed in other portions of Carmarthenshire to form deeply
interesting relics of the dim and distant past. At Loughor such antiquities have been
discovered ; but we are not writing of Loughor in especial, 'and must therefore pass
from the subject-not without an expression of hope that the loving labours of Mr. Benjamin
Jones, as chronicler of the ancient borough, may yet be enshrined in a thoroughly
permanent form.
Llanelly Directory 1897
Regards
Richard
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