Llandeilo

Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, is an attractive town sitting proudly on a hill above the river Tywi.   The beautiful Tywi is actually the longest river (68 miles) that flows entirely within Wales from its source high in the Cambrian Mountains to reach the sea in Carmarthen Bay.

Llandeilo has a history going back to the Romans, who built a fort here.  The fort was uncovered in an excavation by the local archaeology trust in 2005. Traces of two Roman forts have been found under a field in Dinefwr Park. This exciting discovery indicates that the Romans were here in strength, both in the invasion phase and in the more settled times that followed.

Llandeilo has a rich mediaeval history to surpass that of the Roman occupation.  It has been a holy place for as long as Christianity has been in Wales and was one of the main centres from which this spread far and wide throughout Wales.   St Teilo, from whom the town’s name derives , flourished about 550 AD and was a cousin and contemporary of our patron saint, St David. He must have been one of the most prolific of holy men, for at least 45 places of worship are dedicated to him throughout the Celtic world, including churches in Brittany and Cornwall.

For a while the town was a Royal capital, its castle at Dinefwr being the administrative and military centre of the once powerful Kingdom of Deheubarth in south west Wales. The agricultural wealth of the Tywi Valley made its later landowners powerful and influential in their own right, and a 15 th century Llandeilo magnate, Sir Rhys ap Thomas, is even credited with killing Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 to help his kinsman, Henry Tudor, become Henry the Seventh of England, a country Henry had never set foot in until that fateful day. The wealth of Llandeilo, too, attracted the ever-greedy attentions of Henry the Eighth, who beheaded the local landowner to get at his lands in 1531, something Mediaeval Kings had a habit of doing with annoying frequency.

Modern-day Llandeilo, too, has its attractions. Llandeilo today is still an essentially rural town, surrounded by farm and woodland, hill and dale, where the Welsh language is still in common use, but its geographic location at the cross road of the main north-south A483 and the east-west A40 trunk routes place it strategically close to the much larger west Wales conurbations of Swansea, Neath, Llanelli and Carmarthen. And its proximity to the M4 motorway places it within easy reach of Cardiff, Bristol and all places beyond.

The wealth of historic monuments like mediaeval Dinefwr and Carreg Cennen castles make Llandeilo a tourist centre from which to explore the riches of west Wales. From here the Brecon Beacons National Park is but a short drive, as are the equally lovely upland landscapes of the Carmarthenshire Fans and Black Mountain. Drive just a little further and you’ll soon have the sandy beaches and cliff walks of the beautiful Gower Peninsular at your disposal. And only an hour’s drive away are the equally delightful seaside resorts and bays of Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire.

The above is based, with kind permission, on material taken from www.llandeilo.org.