Llandovery

Llandovery (Llan-ym-ddyffri), a market town and ancient municipal borough of Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated amid hills near the left bank of the Towy. Pop. (1901) 1809. Llandovery is a station on the Mid-Wales section of the London & North-Western railway. The old-fashioned town lies in the parish of Llandingat, and contains the two churches of Llandingat and Llanfair-ar-y-bryn. The slight remains of the castle stand on a hillock above the river Brân. The public school was founded here by Sir Thomas Phillips in 1847.

The place probably owes its Celtic name of Llan-ym-ddyffri (the church amid the waters) to the proximity of Llandingat church to the streams of the Towy, Brân and Gwydderig. On account of its commanding position at the head of the fertile vale of Towy, Llandovery was a strategic site of some importance in the middle ages. The castle erected here by the Normans early in the 12th century frequently changed owners during the course of the Anglo-Welsh wars before 1282. In 1485 the borough of Llandovery, or Llanymtheverye, was incorporated by a charter from Richard III., and this king’s privileges were subsequently confirmed by Henry VIII. in 1521, and by Elizabeth in 1590, the Tudor queen’s original charter being still extant and in the possession of the corporation, which is officially styled “the bailiff and burgesses of the borough of Llanymtheverye, otherwise Llandovery.” The bailiff likewise holds the office of recorder, but has neither duties nor emoluments. In the 17th century the vicarage of Llandingat was held by the celebrated Welsh poet and preacher, Rhys Prichard, commonly called “the vicar of Llandovery” (d. 1644). In the middle of the 19th century William Rees of Tonn published at Llandovery many important works dealing with early Welsh history and archaeology.