Brynberian is a small village in north

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

, Wales, in the foothills of the Preseli Mountains in the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro) is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of three national parks in Wales, the others b ...

. It is in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Eglwyswrw Eglwyswrw is a village, community and parish in the former Cantref of Cemais, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The village lies between Newport and Cardigan at the junction of the A487 road and the B4332 at an altitude of . The village is in the heart ...

and the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Nevern Nevern ( cy, Nanhyfer) is both a parish and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The community includes the settlements of Felindre Farchog, Monington, Moylgrove and Bayvil. The small village lies in the Nevern valley near the Preseli Hills of ...

, and is on the B4329 road between

Crosswell Crosswell ( cy, Ffynnon-groes) is a hamlet on the B4329 road in the community of Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the parish of Meline. It is southwest of Cardigan, northeast of Haverfordwest and east of Fishguard. Description The hamle ...

and Tafarn y Bwlch. Afon Brynberian flows through the village under an ancient bridge and joins the

River Nevern The River Nevern ( cy, Afon Nyfer) is a river in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Its source is north of the village of Crymych and its length is about to its estuary at Newport, Pembrokeshire. Course The source of the river is a spring on the southwest ...

to the north.

History

In medieval times Brynberian was in the ancient

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...

of Cemais, under Norman control from about 1100 until 1326. The hundred of Cemais was created in 1536. Freeholders of Cemais held pasture rights on the Preseli Mountains from the 13th century. Brynberian was one of the last places to be enclosed and probably began to be settled around the time of the establishment of the Independent Chapel in 1690. The bridge (as 'Pont llin birian') is mentioned by

George Owen of Henllys George Owen of Henllys (1552 – 26 August 1613) was a Welsh antiquarian, author, and naturalist. Early life George Owen was the eldest son born to Elizabeth Herbert and William Owen in Henllys of the parish of Nevern, near Newport, Pembroke ...

as existing c.1600. During the 19th century there was a woollen factory and mill and most of the present buildings in the village are 19th century. An 1888 map shows a number of buildings. The mill is a Grade II-

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, as is one of its outbuildings. The village is in the south of the parish of

. It previously had a shop, Post Office and school, but these are now closed. The school, Llwynihirion, became Brynberian Community Centre.

Chapel

Brynberian

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Chapel is a Grade II listed building and may have been built, as others were, to serve the settlement which was some distance from the parish church. The chapel was founded in 1690, one of the earliest in the locality, and the movement spread from Brynberian to other local settlements. Thomas Beynon was an early minister; he died in 1729. The chapel was rebuilt in 1808. The present building dates from 1842 and the interior from 1882. Chapel records are held by Dyfed Family History Society.

Prehistoric sites

Nearby

Pentre Ifan Pentre Ifan (literally "Evan's Village") is the name of an ancient manor in the community and parish of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is from Cardigan, Ceredigion, and east of Newport, Pembrokeshire. Pentre Ifan contains and gives ...

is one of the largest cromlechs in Wales, and in close proximity is Bedd yr Afanc, a burial chamber that over time has degraded. About a mile to the south west of Brynberian is

Waun Mawn Waun Mawn (Welsh for "peat moor") is the site of a possible dismantled Neolithic stone circle in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire, Wales. The diameter of the postulated circle is estimated to be , the third largest diameter for a British stone c ...

, a site proposed to be the precursor to one of the stone circles of

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

References

External links

Brynberian online
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire