Llanboidy

Llanboidy is a village and designated community in the principal area and historic county of Carmarthenshire, West Wales.

Location

According to the 2001 United Kingdom Census, the community had a population of 988. It is located near the border with Pembrokeshire close to the Landsker Line. The village itself is in the Welsh speaking side.

History & Amenities

Llanboidy is a scenic village in West Carmarthenshire, Wales. Its history goes back to the Iron Age where the site of a timber built fort can be seen near the village centre. 'Llanboidy' may mean church (Llan) of the cowshed (beudy) and its name probably is linked to St. Brynach. Brynach was a wandering 5th century Irish saint who got shipwrecked off the South Wales coast, returning to Ireland from a tour to Brittany. He founded several West Wales churches and the village church is named after and dedicated to him.

Another notable church he founded is at the village of Nevern. This is approximately 20 miles north west of Llanboidy and is overlooked by Carn Ingli (said by some to mean Mountain of Angels).

Llanboidy then became an important drovers road route in the Middle Ages and once had four taverns.

Today Llanboidy is a mixture of Welsh language speaking natives and incomers from the South of England.

It has a sports and social club and a football (soccer) team. There is a village Post office and the school has recently been re-built. The church graveyard holds a very precious statue by the Cardiff born Sculptor Sir William Goscombe John which is deteriorating. It was a funerary monument to the Victorian era MP Walter Rice Powell. Powell was a London born philanthropist who brought money and jobs to the village and his legacy can be seen at the Market Hall and other fine buildings in the village. The seat of the Powells was the mansion of Maesgwynne, west of the village.

External links

* [http://194.130.49.212/index_CIS_1.cfm?SiteRef=1&CisRef=31&ChosenLang=1&ChangeBody=English Llanboidy site]
* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/CMN/Llanboidy/ Llanboidy on Genuki]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2749461 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llanboidy and surrounding area]