Kidwelly
Kidwelly ( Welsh Cydweli ) is a town in Carmarthenshire in Wales in Great Britain . The city is considered one of the oldest parishes in Wales and had a population of 3,289 in 2001.
location
The city lies in the coastal plain on both sides of the river Gwendraeth Fach from its confluence with the Carmarthen Bay . The old town with the castle is located on the right, western bank of the river, while the new town, which was built in the late Middle Ages, is on the left, eastern bank of the river.
history
After about 1106 Roger of Salisbury the cantref Cydweli had conquered, he built on the right bank of the River Gwendraeth Kidwelly Castle as the center of his new reign Kidwelly, a barony of the Welsh Marches . On the left bank of the river he founded a Benedictine priory before 1114 as a subsidiary of Sherborne Abbey . A settlement fortified with ramparts and moats was built to the south of the castle before 1115 and was probably first inhabited by members of the castle crew. This makes Kidwelly one of the oldest parishes in Wales. The settlement was also populated by colonists from England, Normandy and Flanders who raised sheep on the plains around Kidwelly. As early as the 12th century, the residents of the settlement ran a lively wool trade, which was handled through a port on the river.
The castle and the rule were fiercely fought between the Anglo-Norman conquerors and the Welsh princes of Deheubarth in the 12th and 13th centuries . The settlement was attacked and destroyed several times, from 1159 to 1201, from 1215 to 1220 and from 1231 to 1244 the castle and settlement were owned by the Princes of Deheubarth. After 1280 the settlement was fortified south of the castle with a stone city wall with three gates. After Wales was fully conquered by the Anglo-Normans towards the end of the 13th century, the settlement developed into a small market town that received its first charter in 1308 , which was confirmed in 1357. The city has had a mayor since 1443, and the city was given the right to hold a market twice a week and a fair once a year. The focus of the city shifted from the small fortified castle town to the market settlement around the priory on the other bank of the river. During the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr , the city was conquered and destroyed again in 1403 and 1404. After the rebellion, the castle town had lost its importance for good. Since the late 15th century at the latest, the two parts of the city were connected by a stone bridge over the Gwendraeth Fach. During the Reformation , the small priory was dissolved in 1539 , and from then on the priory church served as a parish church.
After trade had declined due to the silting up of the mouth of the Gwendraeth, the city experienced a new economic boom in the 18th century. In 1737 the Kidwelly Tinplate Works were founded in Kidwelly , the second oldest tinplate factory in Great Britain. The water power of the Gwendraeth was used for the factory. Between 1766 and 1768 the harbor was expanded by the entrepreneur Thomas Kymer and a 5 km long canal was built that connected Kymers coal mines at Gwendraeth Fawr with the coast. However, the port silted up again in the 19th century, which is why a canal was built through the Pembrey Marsh and a new port in Burry Port . In 1812 construction began on a navigable canal between Llanelli and Kidwelly, which was completed in 1837. The canal company was transformed into the Kidwelly and Burry Port Railway in 1865 due to competition from the railroad . This railway company was already part of the Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway the following year , which opened a railway line in 1869 on the route of the filled canal. As early as 1852 Kidwelly was connected to the South Wales Railway .
By 1908, the Kidwelly tinplate factory employed up to 400 workers, making it the region's main employer, but the tinplate manufacturing center had moved to nearby Llanelli. During the Second World War, the tinplate plant was closed in 1941 due to the war. Since the closed plant was not demolished, the facility could be converted into an industrial museum from 1980 .
traffic
The city can be reached from Carmarthen or Llanelli via the A484. Kidwelly Railway Station is on the West Wales Line , which connects Swansea with Carmarthen and continues to Pembroke Dock , Fishguard or Milford Haven . The Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal railway line closed in 1965. South of the city is the small Pembrey Airport .
Attractions
- The castle is considered to be one of the best preserved medieval castles in Wales and is open to the public.
- About 130 m southwest of the castle are the ruins of a city gate built around 1300. The originally three-story gate was destroyed during the sieges of 1403 and 1404.
- The former priory church of St. Mary , built in the decorated style in the 14th century, is the largest parish church in South West Wales.
- The magnificent neo-Gothic town hall, built between 1877 and 1878, is a reminder of the economic importance of the city in the 19th century.
- The Kidwelly Industrial Museum on the site of the former tinplate factory is about 2 km northeast of the city center.
Sons and daughters of the city or persons connected with the city
- Gwenllian ferch († 1136 at Kidwelly), Welsh princess
- Philip Vaughan († 1824 in Kidwelly), inventor of the ball bearing
- Jessica Garlick (born 1981), Welsh pop singer
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Census 2001: Kidwelly Ward. (pdf) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 30, 2012 ; Retrieved April 21, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ John Kenyon: Kidwelly Castle . Cadw, Cardiff 2007. ISBN 978-1-85760-256-2 , p. 4
- ↑ Cadw: Kidwelly Castle. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Visit Cardiff: Kidwelly. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 2, 2014 ; Retrieved April 22, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ John Kenyon: Kidwelly Castle . Cadw, Cardiff 2007. ISBN 978-1-85760-256-2 , p. 6
- ↑ John Kenyon: Kidwelly Castle . Cadw, Cardiff 2007. ISBN 978-1-85760-256-2 , p. 40
- ^ British Listed Buildings: Kidwelly Bridge. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Kidwelly Quay. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Former Kidwelly & Llanelly Canal aqueduct. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ^ Kidwelly Industrial Museum - History. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 31, 2014 ; Retrieved April 21, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Coflein Kidwelly and Llanelli Canal. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: The Town Gate. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
- ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Kidwelly Town Hall. Retrieved April 21, 2014 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 44 ′ N , 4 ° 18 ′ W