Pentrecwrt (or Pentrecourt) is a village in north

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, Wales on the A486 road halfway between

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

and

New Quay New Quay ( cy, Cei Newydd) is a seaside town (and electoral ward) in Ceredigion, Wales, with a resident population of around 1,200 people, reducing to 1,082 at the 2011 census. Located south-west of Aberystwyth on Cardigan Bay with a harbour a ...

History

Pencastell is a bracken and tree-clad

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

that can be seen on the hillside above Pentrecwrt. The village takes its name from the court or farmyard of the Maenor Forion Grange at Whitland. The antiquary Edward Lhuyd, described it as the abbot's summer retreat. It was established during the second half of the 12th century, when the land was granted to the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

Whitland Abbey Whitland Abbey ( cy, Abaty Hendy-gwyn ar Daf or simply ; Latin, ''Albalanda'') was a country house and Cistercian abbey in the parish of Llangan, in what was the hundred of Narbeth, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The town which grew up nearby is now n ...

by the sons of the local Welsh lord Maredudd of Cilrhedyn. A corn mill and a fulling mill were located on the Afon Siedi at Geulan Felen, demonstrating that the abbey may have been an early pioneer of the textile industry in the area.Archaeoogy in Wales
/ref> Court Farm now stands on this site. Uphill from the village is the grange chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Capel Mair survived the

Dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

and became a chapel-of-ease to Llangeler parish. This suggests that many people lived on or near the grange lands by the sixteenth century. An early medieval inscribed stone was found in the churchyard. It has an inscription in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Ogham Ogham ( Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langu ...

, ''DECABARBALOM FILIUS BROCAGNI'', which translates as ''Cabarbalom son of Brocagnus''. Near the church are two farms, Llwynyffynnon Uchaf and Llwynffynnon Isaf (Upper and Lower Well or Spring Grove). They are named after the holy well of Ffynnon Mair. A fine bridge over the River Teifi was built adjoining Alltcafan Mill in 1841. There is a plaque on the bridge commemorating the exertions of John Lloyd Davies of Blaendyffryn in commissioning the project. In 1895 the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

extended their track by building a line from

Llandysul Llandysul is a small town and community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and the village of Llandysul itself. Llandysul lies in sout ...

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenar ...

. Pentrecwrt Halt was opened in 1912. Milk was taken to the creamery from here and children travelled to school at Llandysul Grammar School. The station was closed in 1952.Jones, Alun L. (editor), ''A Century of Photographs''. (2000) pg. 27.

Economy

Alltcafan Mill and Derw Mill were once part of the textile manufacturing industry that flourished in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the fast-flowing

River Teifi , name_etymology = , image = File:Llyn Teifi - geograph.org.uk - 41773.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Llyn Teifi, the source of the Teifi , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

and its tributaries provided plentiful water-power. They both closed in the late 20th century. Derw Mills now houses industrial units including a pine furniture manufacturer. Pentrecourt Platform was a railway station on the Newcastle Emlyn branch, opened in 1912 by the Great Western Railway and closed to passengers in 1952. Farming, particularly dairy farming, and tourism are now the main industries of the area.

Culture and community

There is a village hall that was refurbished in the late 20th century. The WI and other organisations meet here. A plaque on the wall of Bwlch Melyn commemorates the fact that the writer and poet T. Llew Jones was born in the cottage.

References

{{authority control Villages in Carmarthenshire