Rhoshill (also known as Rhos-hill) is a hamlet on the

A478 road The A478 road is a major road in Wales. The route is from its junction with the A487 at Cardigan, Ceredigion, to Tenby, Pembrokeshire. It crosses the Preseli Hills and winds through farmland for almost all of its route. The road just touches ...

, in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Cilgerran, in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

, South-west Wales. The hamlet is situated at the crossroads between the A478 road and the unclassified road from Cilgerran to Eglwyswrw, and includes the Rhosygilwen estate.

Description

Rhoshill is a collection of about twenty houses at an elevation of , surrounded by farmland, and the local name given to the hill which runs westwards from the hamlet. On some maps the hill to the south of Rhoshill is marked as Windy Hill. An area of the hill is marked as ''Mynydd Crogwy'', but the significance of this is not clear as there is no direct translation (although ''crogwyr'' means hangman). Rhoshill is in the parish of Cilgerran and is administered by Cilgerran Community Council. It is home to an agricultural engineering company and a number of other business including a herb grower (medicinal and culinary) and holiday lets.

History

The north–south road (now the A478) running through Rhoshill formed part of a

drovers' road A drovers' road, drove road, droveway, or simply a drove, is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to marketplace, market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were anci ...

moving local and Irish livestock as far away as England, a practice driven by demand for centuries. Even after the coming of the railways, stock would still have been moved from farms to Cilgerran or

Crymych Crymych () is a village of around 800 inhabitants and a Community (Wales), community (population 1,739) in the northeast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated approximately above sea level at the eastern end of the Preseli Hills, Preseli Mount ...

railway stations by road. A pre-1850 parish map shows an inn at Rhos-hill, while later 19th century Ordnance Survey maps show that Rhoshill had two pubs, the ''Foundry Arms'' and the ''Bronwydd Arms'', and a post office, all of which have since closed and become private dwellings. The ''Bronwydd Arms'' was subject to a

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

order in 1891.

Chapel

Ty Rhos Chapel is to the northeast of Rhoshill. It was built in 1815, rebuilt in 1859 and is a Grade II listed building.

Rhosygilwen

The estate of Rhosygilwen, covering , is a cultural venue, retreat and events centre. ''Neuadd y Dderwen'' (''The Oak Hall'') is a

carbon neutral Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and Greenhouse gas removal, removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon diox ...

250-seat building that has attracted such performers as

Catrin Finch Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh people, Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music ...

and Shân Cothi and is supported by Western Solar whose CEO, Dr Glen Peters, is the owner of Rhosygilwen. In 2011 the first

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

farm in Wales was installed at Rhosygilwen, with 10,000 panels in a field of . The estate hosts the annual ''Penfro Book Festival''. Rhosygilwen was owned by the Jones family until 1697, when it passed to the Colby family who owned it until the 20th century; Thomas Frederick Colby was raised there. His father Thomas Colby was High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1771. The house was rebuilt in the 1830s. The main house, coach house and main gateway are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Notable people

Stephen Varney, international under-20

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player

References

{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire