Clydau

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Clydau
Pembrokeshire
CEEglwysClydai.jpg
Clydau parish church
Location
Location: 51°59’24"N, 4°32’56"E
Data
Population: 681  (2001)
Post town: Llanfyrnach
Postcode: SA35
Dialling code: 01239
Local Government
Council: Pembrokeshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Preseli Pembrokeshire

Clydau (sometimes Clydaï or Clydey) is a village and parish in the Hundred of Cilgerran in Pembrokeshire. The village is a small group of houses around the parish church, five miles south-west of Newcastle Emlyn in Carmarthenshire and eight miles south-east of Cardigan in Cardiganshire. Although the village is tiny, the parish is large, encompassing several larger hamlets including Bwlchygroes and Star, the village of Tegryn, and a large number of scattered farms. The civil community also encompasses that part of the ancient parishes of Cilrhedyn in Pembrokeshire.

The meaning of the name is uncertain, although the church is now dedicated to St Clydaï, an alleged daughter of Brychan.[1] During the early Middle Ages, the present town was the site of Llangeneu ('St Ceneus'),[2] which was accounted one of the seven principal sees of Dyfed despite having no endowment of land.[3]

The River Cneifa, a tributary of Afon Cych, divides the parish into two ancient divisions: Uwchlawrllan to the south-east and Islawrllan to the north-west. A remote upland area with no classified roads, the parish is a bastion of the Welsh language.

The populations at various censuses were: 1100 (1801): 1457 (1851): 1057 (1901): 829 (1951): 681 (2001).

References

  1. Charles, B. G., The Placenames of Pembrokeshire, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1992, ISBN 0-907158-58-7, p 678
  2. James, Heather. "The Geography of the Cult of St Davids" in St David of Wales: Cult, Church and Nation, p. 59. Boydell Press, 2007. Accessed 26 Mar 2013.
  3. Wade-Evans, Arthur. Welsh Medieval Law p. 263.

Outside links