England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanarthney St David

The Parish

The parish of Llanarthney (often rendered as Llanarthne without the terminating Y) is an extensive area of central Carmarthenshire with its principal village situated roughly midway between Carmarthen & Llandeilo and roughly 7 miles from either. Llanarthney village sits on the B4300 road which connects Carmarthen & Llandeilo on the southern banks of the Afon Tywi and opposite the A40 which follows the northern route. Llanarthney parish includes a broad area of rolling countryside and its eastern half extends southward to include the upland of Mynydd Mawr. Today the parish is notable for the site of the National Botanic Garden of Wales in the grounds of Middleton Hall. With the parish acreage stretching from the floodplain of the Tywi right to the summit of Mynydd Mawr the farming would have been rather mixed, cattle grazing on the floodplain, sheep on the higher ground and arable in between making for a varied agricultural economy. The Afon Tywi drains the parish westwards, passing through Carmarthen to reach the outer Bristol Channel at Carmarthen Bay. Llanarthney village is sited at around 20 metres above the sea but the parish includes Mynydd Mawr and other high points reaching almost 280 metres in places. Carmarthenshire parishes, away from the coastline, are large in extent and Llanarthney parish covered around 11,000 acres within which it would have supported a population of close to 2,200 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanarthney is not included within Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St David's church sits on the northern side of the B4300 at the main set of junctions within Llanarthney village. The present church is said to be a replacement for an early Christian church which stood, 400 yards further north, on the banks of the Tywi and which was washed away by floods. The present church is, however, late mediaeval in origin with Perpendicular style features from the 15th century evident. The western tower shows the chief dating detail for this period whilst fragments of the nave show a similar date as well as evidence of repair in 1682. The church was originally built almost double-naved with an extensive arcade alongside the present nave, this was removed in the 1820s, further Victorian restoration followed in the 1870s to result in today's building. The B4300 is broad and there is sufficient room to park outside the gates, which have a archway above. The churchyard is extensive which is why it is surprising that the church sits crammed into the southwestern corner and enclosed on 2 sides by trees which limit the angles available for photography.