Gwynfe


Gwynfe or Capel Gwynfe is a small village in Carmarthenshire in the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is situated between Trichrug and the western slopes of the Black Mountain, to the west of the A4069 road about halfway between Llangadog and Brynamman. The village comprises a scattered collection of mostly nineteenth and twentieth-century housing that developed around several chapels. The area around the village is mainly farmland and the village was 2004 'Village of the Year for Carmarthenshire'. The village has a grade-two listed phone box now used as an information centre and a modern community hall built in 2001. The community association have erected 2 large woodcarvings of three red kites.

History

The village developed with the founding of the turnpike road past the village church, which is on a site continuously occupied by a church since around 1710. The current church was built in 1899. An older chapel of ease, built in around 1812, is now used as the church hall. The village also has two chapels, Capel Maen dating from 1852, and Jerusalem chapel built in 1827. Jerusalem celebrated the 350th anniversary of its founding on 3 June 2006 with a brief history related by Carnaugwynion Gwynfe born Emeritus Professor J.D.Ronald Thomas.
The 1870-72 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Gwynfe chapelry as:
The village previously had a number of services that are no longer present including 2 pubs, a school, 2 smithies, a corn mill and a woollen factory.

Notable residents