Clydau (sometimes Clydaï or Clydey) is a

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 ...

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 ...

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

Name

The meaning of the Welsh placename is uncertain, although the church is now dedicated to St. Clydaï, an alleged daughter of

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

History

During the early Middle Ages, the settlement was the site of Llangeneu ('St Ceneus'), which was accounted one of the seven principal sees of

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales, covering the modern counties Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. It is mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed w ...

despite having no endowment of land. Cledau (as ''Cledye'') appears on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. Erasmus Saunders (1670–1724), was born in Clydey; he was a Welsh priest and writer. Josiah Thomas Jones (1799-1873), republican and Welsh nationalist, was born at CwmHir Farm, Clydau. He went on to publish many books and established several newspapers in English and Welsh, including the Aberdare Times.

Settlement

The settlement consists of a small group of properties around the parish church, southwest of

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn () is a town and Community (Wales), community on the River Teifi, in West Wales. The community is wholly in Carmarthenshire, but the built up area also includes Adpar north of the Teifi, which is in Ceredigion. Adpar was formerl ...

and southeast of Cardigan.

Community

Although the settlement of Clydau is tiny, the community is large, encompassing several other settlements and/or parishes including Bwlchygroes,

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

, Tegryn, West Cilrhedyn and a large number of scattered farms. Clydau has its own elected

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

and gives its name to an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Pembrokeshire County Council. The electoral ward of Clydau covers the communities of Clydau and Boncath. In 2001 it had a population (

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

) of 1,425, with 58% Welsh speakers, falling to 715 in 2011.

Parish

The Afon Cneifa, a tributary of

Afon Cych Afon Cych (standard Welsh orthography: Afon Cuch) is a tributary of the River Teifi in south-west Wales. It is 13 km long, passes through a number of small settlements on the border between Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, and is signific ...

, divides the parish into two ancient divisions: Uwchlawrllan to the southeast and Islawrllan to the northwest. The population of the parish was 1,100 (1801), 1,457 (1851), 1,057 (1901), 829 (1951), 681 (2001), 715 (2011). The percentage of Welsh speakers was: 99 (1891), 97 (1931) and 91 (1971). The 14th century Grade II- listed parish church is dedicated to Ste. Clydaï. It was rebuilt in the late 19th century, but the tower and some other parts of the building are original.

References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKI

Clydau Church website

Community Council
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Communities in Pembrokeshire