Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LANTWIT-MAJOR, or LLANILLTYD-FAWR

LANTWIT-MAJOR, or LLANILLTYD-FAWR, a decayed old town and a parish in Bridgend district, Glamorgan. The town stands near the coast, in a deep vale, 4½ miles SSW of Cowbridge r. station; dates probably from the Roman or even the ancient British times; acquired sudden and great importance from the founding of a large college at it in the 5th century; was known to the ancient Britons as Caer-Wrgon; took from its college, which was founded or fostered by St. Illtyd, the name of Llanilltyd-Fawr, which came to be altered into Lantwit-Major; seems to have owed facilities to the Julian way, which had its station of Bovium within the parish at Boverton; appears to bave expanded, soon after the founding of the college, into a town of much size: became a borough, and a seat of much trade; suffered damage from incursions of the Saxons and the Danes; sustained very severe injury at the Norman conquest; struggled to re-acquire its old importance till the Reformation or later; diminished thence onward till it became only a considerable village; and exhibits now, in numerous wide roads diverging from it, in numerous substructions and vestiges over a large space of ground, in various extant intersecting streets and lanes, in the uncommon size of its church and churchyard, and in the numbers of relics and human remains exhumed from adjoining fields, unmistakable evidence of its former magnitude. The college was founded, some say in 408, others say in 430, others, in 508; is alleged by some to have been founded by St. Germanus, under St. Illtyd, —by others, to have been founded by St. Illtyd himself, a contemporary of St. Patrick, and the inventor of the Welsh plough; appears to have been a clerical school of somewhat similar character to the Culdee schools of Lindisfarne, Jarrow, Iona, and Ireland; is said to have had, even before St. Illtyd's death, 7 halls, 400 houses, and upwards of 2,000 pupils, among whom were seven sons of British princes; was restored, in 1111, by Robert Fitzhamon, and made then a cell to Tewkesbury abbey; numbered, among its pupils, Gildas the historian, David of Caerleon, Bishop Paulinus of Leon, Archbishop Samson of Dol, Talhaiarn the bard, and Taliesin the chief of bards; and was given, at the Reformation, to the see of Gloucester. Traces of the college exist in a garden adjoining the churchyard. A bold fragment of what was once a gatehouse, flanks the S entrance of the church. A tithe-barn, measuring 120 feet by 27, and roofed with oak, said to have been cut down in the parish in the 9th century, recently crowned the crest of an opposite hill, but was taken down by order of the dean and chapter of Gloucester. The church is a remarkable assemblage of distinct buildings; and both it and the churchyard teem with relics of antiquity. The church in use was erected by the Nevilles in the time of Henry I.; measures 98 feet by 53; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel with a tower; and contains a rood screen, a Norman font, an effigies of a giant Hopkins, and several ancient monuments. A disused church, commonly called the old one, probably dates no higher than the 15th century; measures 64 feet in length; and contains several mural paintings, and very old and curious monuments. The Lady chapel stands at the W end of this church; is now much dilapidated; measures 40½ feet in length; and is decorated with statues of saints. The churchyard contains a stone which is probably Runic, the shaft of a cross of the 6th century in memory of St. Iltutus, and two Norman monuments. The town-hall was built by Gilbert de Clare; has a gable bell; is approached by a flight of steps; and presents a picturesque appearance. An ancient castellated Norman house, called the Old Place, now an ivy-clad ruin, stands on the outskirts on the way to Bridgend; was, for many centuries, the seat of the Vann or Avan family; and belongs now to Illtyd Nicholl of the Ham. The town has a post-office under Cowbridge, and a lamb fair on 22 June.

The parish contains also the hamlets of Boverton, Sigginston, Frampton, Ham, Llech-Mawr, and Pwll-Elech; and extends to the coast. Acres, 5,298; of which 385 are water. Real property, £7,461. Pop. in 1851, 1, 077; in 1861,1,122. Houses, 250. The property is much subdivided. Roman coins have been found in Boverton. The living is a vicarage, united with the rectory of Llyswarney, in the diocese of Llandaff. Value, £347. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, and Calvinistic Methodists. Charities, £24.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a decayed old town and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Llantwit Major CP/AP       Bridgend and Cowbridge RegD/PLU       Glamorgan AncC
Place names: CAER WRGON     |     LANTWIT MAJOR     |     LANTWIT MAJOR OR LLANILLTYD FAWR     |     LLANILLTYD FAWR
Place: Llantwit Major

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