Coedcanlas is a small

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 o ...

in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the eastern shore of the

Daugleddau estuary The River Cleddau ( cy, Afon Cleddau) consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary and the important harbour of Milford Haven. The name of the combined estuary – ...

, north of Pembroke, 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 ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Together with the parishes of

Martletwy Martletwy is a village, parish and community in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Description Martletwy lies in south of the county, the nearest town is Narberth some 7 miles distant to its north and east. It lies mainly to the west of the A ...

Minwear Minwear is a former parish and village in the community of Martletwy, in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the Eastern Cleddau river, southwest of the town of Narberth. Its history can be traced back to the 12th century. Wood from Minwear F ...

, Newton North and

Lawrenny Lawrenny is a village and parish in the community and electoral ward of Martletwy in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on a peninsula of the River Cleddau estuary upriver from Milford Haven where it branches off towards the Cresswell ...

, it constitutes 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, ...

of Martletwy.

Name

The

placename Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

is a

Welsh placename The place-names of Wales derive in most cases from the Welsh language, but have also been influenced by linguistic contact with the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Anglo-Normans and modern English. Toponymy in Wales reveals significant features of ...

and means "Cynlas's wood", Cynlas being a Welsh personal name. It appears on a 1578 map as "Coidkenles", presumably an English phonetic rendition.

History

The parish church of St Mary, which may have had pre-Conquest origins, was "in decay" in the 17th century, was rebuilt in the 18th century, and is now a ruin again. The parish had an area of . The village was once important for export of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, which was quarried extensively, but today it consists only of a few farms. Coedcanlas farmhouse was once a minor gentry country house. It 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 ...

and the remnants of its, once large, garden are listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales. In the 1840s, the parish had 169 inhabitants. Its

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

populations were: 152 (1801): 167 (1851): 85 (1901): 69 (1951): 32 (1981). The percentage of Welsh speakers was 11 (1891): 3 (1931): 0 (1971). Part of

Little England beyond Wales Little England beyond Wales is a name that has been applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from England. I ...

, it has been essentially English-speaking for 900 years.

References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKIPhotos of Coedcanlas and surrounding area on Geograph
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Registered historic parks and gardens in Pembrokeshire Martletwy