imported>Tony Holkham: Adding short description: "Former parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales", overriding automatically generated description

2024-07-30T18:29:48Z

Adding short description: "Former parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales", overriding automatically generated description

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{{Short description|Former parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = Wales
| coordinates = {{coord|52.002|-4.637|display=inline,title}}
| label_position = left
| official_name = Castellan
| community_wales = [[Boncath]]
| unitary_wales = [[Pembrokeshire]]
| constituency_westminster = [[Preseli Pembrokeshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Preseli Pembrokeshire]]
| constituency_welsh_assembly = [[Preseli Pembrokeshire (Assembly constituency)|Preseli Pembrokeshire]]
| post_town = [[Boncath]]
| postcode_district = SA37
| postcode_area = SA
| dial_code = 01239
| os_grid_reference =
}}

'''Castellan''' is an ancient [[hamlet (place)|hamlet]] and, until 1974, was a [[civil parish|parish]] in the Hundred of [[Cilgerran|Kilgerran]], [[Pembrokeshire]], Wales. It is situated in the north of the county on the slopes of Frenni Fawr, one mile (2 km) north of [[Crymych]] and included much of the village of [[Blaenffos]].

==Origin of the name==
The [[placename]] is an archaic [[Welsh language|Welsh]] word meaning "little castle".<ref>{{cite book|last=Charles|first=B. G.|title=The Placenames of Pembrokeshire|publisher=National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth|date=1992|ISBN=0907158587|pages=354–5}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Blaenffos, Pembrokeshire, from Y Frenni, looking NE towards Rhoshill and Cardigan Bay beyond.jpg|thumb|right|View across Castellan and Blaenffos (Castellan Farm is in the right foreground)|260px]]
The parish had an area of {{convert|920|acre|ha}}. It was originally a [[chapelry]] of the parish of [[Penrydd]] (several alternate spellings), granted by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, to the [[Knights Hospitaller]]s of [[Slebech]] c.1130 and was returned in the [[Taxatio Ecclesiastica|Valor Ecclesiasticus]] (1291) as paying 13s 4d (two-thirds of a pound) ''per annum''. Castellan (as ''Cap. Kestellan'') appears on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Penbrok comitat|publisher=British Library|url=https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/p/zoomify83390.html|accessdate=|archive-date=11 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411005516/https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/p/zoomify83390.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1684 the rector and churchwardens of Penrith (sic) and Castellan declared the chapel to be ''"out of repair''", the bier having been stolen some 28 years previously. It was annexed to Penrhudd Parish soon after the dissolution of the monasteries but was abandoned by c.1700 and in ruins by 1833.<ref>{{cite book|title=Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Churches and Chapels: A Threat-Related Assessment|publisher=Dyfed Archaeological Trust|date=2011|page=16}}</ref><ref name=Inventory>{{cite book|title=An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Wales and Monmouthshire: VII - County of Pembroke|publisher=Royal Commission on Ancient Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire|date=1923}}</ref> The church is no longer marked on Ordnance Survey maps.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger Series: Sheet 145|date=2007}}</ref>

The 1831 census lists the chapelry as having 26 families in as many homes with no uninhabited buildings; 17 of the families were chiefly involved in agriculture and 7 in trades, crafts or manufacture.<ref>{{cite book|title=Enumeration Abstract of the Answers and Returns Pursuant to an Act: Vol.2|date=1831|pages=910–911}}</ref>

Tithe apportionment (1837)<ref>{{cite web|title=National Archives: Tithe apportionment of Penrith, including Castellan|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details/C2298389-details|accessdate=2 Apr 2014}}</ref> and map (1844)<ref>{{cite web|title=National Archives: Tithe map of Penrith, including Castellan|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details/C2310248-details|accessdate=2 Apr 2014}}</ref> are held at the National Archives.

Prior to 1850 the parish included [[Blaenffos]], Clover Hill, Frenni Fawr, Gorsfaith and Moelfryn with a population of 127 in 1833; earlier censuses included Castellan with Penrith<ref>{{cite book|title=Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command, Vol.18|publisher=HMSO|date=1831}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=GENUKI: Castellan|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/Penrith/index.html|accessdate=27 Mar 2014}}</ref> and formed an extensive part of the parish of Penrith (sic). In 1833 (despite the chapel being in ruins) the incumbent received one guinea annually from Sir R.B.P. Philipps of [[Picton Castle]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=S|title=A Topographical Dictionary of Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/topographicaldic12lewi|date=1833}}</ref>

In 1881 more than half of men still worked in agriculture with the remainder in trades; while a few women were in domestic service or trade, the majority are listed as "unknown occupation", presumably housewives.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Vision of Britain Through Time|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10120470/cube/OCC_ORDER1881|accessdate=1 Apr 2014}}</ref> The 1881 census records David Nicholas aged 37 as farming 57 acres, having been born in Castellan; Nicholas was the father of [[Thomas Evan Nicholas]].<ref>{{cite web|title=National Library of Wales: Biography of Thomas Evan Nicholas|url=http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/amdanom_ni/cylchgrawn_llgc/cgr_erth_XXXVrh1_2010_01.pdf|accessdate=1 Apr 2014}}</ref>

By 1901 there were more than 40 houses in the parish, dipping to 37 in 1931 but rising to 46 in 1961.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Vision of Britain Through Time|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10120470/cube/HOUSES|accessdate=1 Apr 2014}}</ref>

The site of the chapel, described in the Inventory (visited 1915) as ''"a building 26 feet by 17 feet. A fragment of walling about 5 feet in height marks the east end of the little church.''",<ref name=Inventory /> is still visible.

The northern part of the parish is now in the [[community (Wales)|community]] of [[Boncath]], and the southern part is in Crymych community. The name of the parish survives in Castellan Farm, near the site of the chapel which, according to Geograph,<ref>{{cite web|title=Geograph UK: Copse near Castellan Chapel|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/925533|accessdate=2 Apr 2014}}</ref> is no longer accessible.

==Demography==
Castellan's [[Census in the United Kingdom|census]] population was estimated (being counted with Penrydd parish) as 82 in 1801 and 105 in 1811. Subsequently the population grew to a maximum of about 170 in the mid-19th century, to a minimum of 115 in 1951, and thereafter grew to 162 by 1981.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/Penrith/ Genuki entry included in that of Penrydd]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in Pembrokeshire]]

Castellan, Pembrokeshire - Revision history

imported>Tony Holkham: Adding short description: "Former parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales", overriding automatically generated description