Llanafan is a small village between

Tregaron Tregaron ( "town of St Caron") is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales, astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi. Tregaron is northeast of Lampeter. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the ward of Tregaron wa ...

and

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

, in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Llanafan is around ten miles from Aberystwyth and Tregaron. It is named for its

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, St Afan's ('), which serves as the

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

for the nearby Trawsgoed Estate. (The combined parish is now known as Llanafan y Trawsgoed) Its eponymous saint supposedly founded the settlement in the 7th century. The village also has a hall and primary school founded in 1856 by

Ernest Vaughan, 4th Earl of Lisburne Ernest Augustus Vaughan, 4th Earl of Lisburne (30 October 1800 – 8 November 1873), styled Viscount Vaughan from 1820 to 1831, was a prominent landowner in Cardiganshire, Wales, who served from 1854 until 1859 as a Conservative member of the ...

, for which it was originally known as the Earl of Lisburne School. The grave of Joseph Butler can be found in St. Afan's graveyard. Butler, a gamekeeper on the nearby Trawscoed estate was shot by a poacher William Richards, known as Wil Cefn Coch, who was reportedly hidden by locals before escaping to Liverpool and sailing to America disguised as a woman. After landing in Pennsylvania Cefn Coch made his way to an established Welsh community in Paddy's Run (Shandon), Ohio (near to the present day Morgan in Butler County) where he lived out his days until his death in 1920. The gravestone reads 'Shot by a poacher' and is dated 1868.

References

Villages in Ceredigion {{Ceredigion-geo-stub

See also

References