England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Brechfa St Teilo

The Parish

The parish of Brechfa lies in the northern portion of central Carmarthenshire roughly 11 miles northeast of the county town of Carmarthen. Brechfa sits on the B4310 road which connects the A40, from a few miles east of Carmarthen, through to Llansawel. Brechfa is a small and compact village with two distinct clusters either side of the B4310s crossing of the Afon Cothi's small tributary. Unlike most Carmarthenshire parishes Brechfa is limited to the immediate environs of the village and consists largely of the valley bottom and its surrounding hills, cereals are grown but pastures dominate with cattle in the valley and hardy sheep on the surrounding hilltops. Today the Cothi is a major attraction being noted for its excellent fishing, a sport which supports the local hotel in this sparsely populated area. The extensive Brechfa Forest is also popular with mountain bikers, horse riders and trail hikers too and extends for some 18,000 acres. The Afon Cothi drains the parish southwards meeting the Afon Tywi before turning west through Carmarthen and finally south to Carmarthen Bay. Brechfa is sited, at the river crossing at 70 metres above the sea but land rises to either side steeply to almost 300 metres on nearby hills and 356 metres in the forested summits of Crugiau Rhos-wen to the northwest. As already mentioned Brechfa parish was tiny at merely 550 acres and that small area would have only supported a population of close to 100 parishioners. Like most of Wales Brechfa is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Teilo's church sits to the south of the bridge on the eastern side of the B4310 and opposite to the village's school. Sadly all traces of whatever medieval church stood in the village have been erased, indeed its replacement of c1800, which stood east of today's church, only lasted 90 years before being demolished and replaced by today's simple chapel. A straightforward design of nave and chancel with a northern porch the only embellishment being the bellcote complete with Early English Gothic styled lancets. Pevsner's account is terse, just 4 lines of text, and confirmed it had little architectural interest for him. The school tolerates careful short term parking out of school hours enabling a visit, otherwise park sensibly in the village and stroll to the site. A pair of wooden gates grants entry to a churchyard which whilst compact has no obstacles for the photographer.