Newcastle Emlyn

Coordinates: 52°02′N 4°28′W / 52.04°N 4.47°W / 52.04; -4.47

Newcastle Emlyn
Welsh: Castellnewydd Emlyn
View across the Teifi valley towards Newcastle Emlyn.
Newcastle Emlyn  Newcastle Emlyn shown within Carmarthenshire
Population	941 (2001)
OS grid reference	SN305405
Principal area	Carmarthenshire
Ceremonial county	Dyfed
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NEWCASTLE EMLYN
Postcode district	SA38
Dialling code	01239
Police	Dyfed-Powys
Fire	Mid and West Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Welsh Assembly	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
List of places: UK • Wales • Carmarthenshire

Newcastle Emlyn (Welsh: Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in west Wales (though officially it is in Carmarthenshire) and lying on the River Teifi.

Adpar is the part of the town that lies on the Ceredigion side of the River Teifi. It was formerly called Trefhedyn and was an ancient Welsh borough in its own right.

History

The remains of the Norman castle.

The town takes its name from the cantref of Emlyn which was an administrative district in Medieval Dyfed. The cantref was made part of the Norman March in the 12th century.

Notable buildings in the town include a ruined 13th-century castle, first mentioned in Brut y Tywysogion in 1215, when it was seized by Llewelyn the Great (Welsh: Llywelyn Fawr). ^[1] The castle was captured by the Welsh during the revolt of 1287-8 and also by Owain Glyndwr in 1403.

Newcastle Emlyn has a town hall and secondary school, Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn. Attractions around the area include an art gallery, the Attic Theatre company, the National Woollen Museum. The Teifi Valley Railway is also nearby, although the town has not had a passenger train service since 1952.

Economy

Unlike many small rural towns across Wales, Newcastle Emlyn has managed to maintain a wide range of local services, based mainly on small family businesses. The town's largest employer is the Saputo factory which manufactures Mozzarella cheese using locally sourced dairy produce.

Demography

Up until the 1960s, 90% of the town's population was Welsh-speaking. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 69% of the 941 people who live within Newcastle Emlyn speak fluent Welsh.

Taken together with Adpar on the Ceredigion side of the river Teifi, the area's total population is approximately 1,500 people.

Sports

Newcastle Emlyn has both a football and rugby team. Newcastle Emlyn Football Club are members of the Football Association of Wales and Newcastle Emlyn RFC are a rugby union team who are members of the Welsh Rugby Union.

The legend of Emlyn Wyvern

The entrance to King George's Field in Church Lane, Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire. Holy Trinity Church is in the background on the right.

The story of Gwiber Castell Newydd Emlyn (the Wyvern of Newcastle Emlyn) is a local tradition. It tells how, on one of the fair days when the town was full of people, a fierce winged viper called a wyvern breathing fire and smoke, alighted on the castle walls and, having cast threatening glances around, settled down to sleep. Its appearance on the castle at first brought terror to all but, after the fear had died down, a few brave townsfolk sought to destroy the fearsome monster.

A soldier devised the plan of wading the river Teifi to a point of vantage on the castle side and letting a red cloak float in the river and shooting the gwiber in a vulnerable under-part of the body. The creature, so violently startled from its slumber, caught sight of the cloak and fell upon it with horrible shrieks and tore it to shreds. The assailant meanwhile, escaped to a place of safety.

The wyvern, in its death throes, turned onto its back and floated down the river. From its wound gushed forth a most loathsome venom which polluted the water and killed all the fish. The legend tells of the great joy of the townsfolk when they saw the monster dead.^[2]

Notable people

People born at Newcastle Emlyn include:

• Evan Herber Evans (1836-96), Congregational minister
• Dill Jones (1923-84), jazz stride pianist
• Peter Rees Jones (1843–1905), founder of department store
• Allen Raine (1836–1908), novelist
• Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a prominent evangelical leader in Great Britain, is buried in the town.

External links

• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Newcastle Emlyn and surrounding area
• Local history of Newcastle Emlyn

References

1. ^ The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg609 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6
2. ^ Newcasle Emlyn Millennium Edition Historical Notes About Our Town pp10, Pamela Jenkins (1999) Castle Publications