| Ffairfach | |
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Ffairfach
Ffairfach shown within Carmarthenshire |
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| Principal area | Carmarthenshire |
|---|---|
| Ceremonial county | Dyfed |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Carmarthenshire | |
Ffairfach is a village half a mile south of the market town of Llandeilo in the eastern part of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located close to the confluence of the Afon Cennen and the River Towy.
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The Welsh name for the village is Ffair-fach signifying 'little fair'. In the early 17th century it was recorded as Ffair fach yn Llandilo. The 'large fair' took place in neighbouring Llandeilo.[1] It was reportedly formerly known as Abercennen.
Ffairfach in the early nineteenth century was quite a big village. It contained about three dozen houses, a relatively large number for the time. Apart from Tywi Terrace there were houses near the square, including the turnpike toll gate house. Also there was a little street of houses behind the Torbay called Pentre-fewn-Torbay; the little lane that led to them was visible a year ago, it ran along the edge of the Torbay garden. These houses were demolished when the gas works were erected about 1860. There were quite a number of little cottages in and around Ffairfach at that time, The houses at Pontargoediwyn, near the Union Buildings, known as the Abercennen Old Peoples' Home today, were very old.
Ffairfach railway station lies on the Heart of Wales Line which runs between Shrewsbury and Swansea. Ffairfach boasted two railway stations within 300 yards of each other, and a third station at Llandeilo was only a mile or so away. Passengers from the Amman Valley and Carmarthen usually alighted at the Ffairfach stations, as they would save 1 ½ pence on the return fare, which meant a great deal in those days. Also the distance from Llandeilo station to the church square was almost as far as it would be if they walked from Ffairfach.
Three-quarters of the commerce of the town of Llandeilo at this time came from the south of the Tywi bridge; consequently Ffairfach became important, for rail and road passengers made use of the village as the first stopping place en route for Llandeilo.
The first railway through Ffairfach was built by the Llanelli Dock Railway (Llanelli to Llandovery) in 1856. The second was built by the London North Western in 1865 Carmarthen to Llandeilo) through the beautiful vale of the Tywi. The name of the station was Llandeilo Bridge.
In addition to the three dozen houses the villagers were well provided with the necessary things that everyday life at that period demanded. Foremost was their chapel, built in 1818, and attached to it was the burial ground. Ffairfach also had its corn mill and, in common with others, its village inn. The Torbay Inn was a great centre of attraction with the village folk. They would go there to get iron tips from the inn smithy. The smith, who was also the landlord of the Torbay, even extracted teeth for the whole community before the days of dentists. Near the Torbay was the British School, which was established in 1858. The school is there today and I believe is used by Tabernacle chapel. The first schoolmaster was Mr. David Morgan, author of The Story of Carmarthenshire (1908). The present council school was built about 1899. I was a pupil in the years 1908-1909 and Mr. Morgan was still the schoolmaster.
No village was complete without its fairs, and Ffairfach was no exception. Fairs were held annually, two in all, one on May 5, and a cattle fair on November 22.
The Union Poor House was built about 1839 for vagrants and the needy, and the poor travellers of that time always made for this place.
The most essential need of the village, was the village pump. This has remained at Ffairfach for centuries to remind us of its past glories and the service it has rendered to its people. It was around this pump that the women of Ffairfach had their daily bits of news. It was a meeting place for "y chwiorydd." Today we have our W.V.S. and W.I., but not so in the days of old. This was the women folk's only recreation - a visit to the village pump for water. Incidentally water is available from that old pump today, some people go there for a jug-full of pure crystal-clear water with which their ancestors quenched their thirsts.
The gas works has been there over 100 years. This was the last of the modern changes that came to the little village which had witnessed revolutionary changes in the coming of the railroad. Old houses in the vicinity of Ffairfach and which had some historical importance at some time over the ages were "Talardd", "Caeglas" and "Cefncethin."
According to a writer of 1858, at Talardd there were some archways supposed to be of considerable antiquity also "principal beams and other timber of rich perpendicular roof." According to an old report of earlier days "survivors of a brigade of 2,000 men had retreated from a battle in the vicinity of a place called Cae-Du," extending as far as the foot of "Cefen Cethin Hill."
Above Maerdy, at Caeglas, there is a well called "Ffynnon-fil-feibion [spring of a thousand sons], near which, tradition states, 1,000 men fell slain or disabled. The stones surrounding it were stained with blood and it continued visible for succeeding centuries."
When they built the Tywi Bridge, special stone had to be used for the buttresses. The only place they could get this stone, according to the architect, was a quarry about 50 yards from the signal box at the side of the railway and immediately below Rock Villa. After rigid tests for quality, large blocks of this stone were taken to commence the bridge, and after nearly 130 years these buttresses are as solid as the day they were put there.
A nursery garden primarily for the growing of trees was at the back of the British School. It was run by the Cawdor Estate. This nursery, the building of the Tywi Bridge, the re-building of Llandeilo Church, and the new railroad, all brought prosperity to the people of Ffairfach.