Place:Trefilan, Cardiganshire, Wales

Watchers
NameTrefilan
Alt namesTalsarnsource: hamlet in parish
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates52.201°N 4.136°W
Located inCardiganshire, Wales     ( - 1974)
Also located inDyfed, Wales     (1974 - 1996)
Ceredigion, Wales     (1996 - )
See alsoLampeter Rural, Cardiganshire, Walesrural district 1894-1934
Aberaeron Rural, Cardiganshire, Walesrural district 1934-1974
source: Family History Library Catalog


A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Trefilan from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"TREFILAN, a parish, with Talsarn hamlet, in Lampeter [registration] district, Cardigan[shire]; 6 miles NNW of Lampeter [railway] station. Post town: Lampeter, under Carmarthen. Acres: 2,201. Real property: £1,229. Population: 313. Houses: 62. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St. Davids. Value: £77. Patron: the Bishop of {St. Davids] The church was rebuilt in 1806.

There is no article for Trefilan in Wikipedia, but there is a short article on Talsarn.

Talsarn

Tal-sarn is a hamlet in the community (or civil parish) of Nantcwnlle, Ceredigion, Wales. It lies some 16 miles (26 km) south of Aberystwyth, 64 miles (103 km) north-west of Cardiff, and 178 miles (286 km) from London.

From 1941 to 1943, the writer and poet Dylan Thomas lived at Plas Gelli, a country house in Tal-sarn. (Source: Wikipedia)

NOTE: Talsarn is on the border between Trefilan and Nantcwnlle and has been placed here in Trefilan.

Research Tips

  • A 1900 Ordnance Survey map of the historic county of Cardiganshire is available on the A Vision of Britain through Time website. This shows all the old parishes within their urban and rural districts. Large farms and estates are also marked.
  • Ceredigion Archives has a website with a list of their holdings, as well as historical notes on places in Cardiganshire.
  • Some words in Welsh come up time and time again and you may want to know what they mean or how to pronounce them. For example,
    "Eglwys" is a church and the prefix "Llan" is a parish.
    "w" and "y" are used as vowels in Welsh.
    "Ll" is pronounced either "cl" or "hl" or somewhere in between. "dd" sounds like "th".
    The single letter "Y" is "the" and "Yn" means "in".
    "uwch" means "above"; "isod" is "below" or "under";
    "gwch" is "great", "ychydig" is "little";
    "cwm" is a "valley".
In both Welsh and English all these words are commonly used in place names in the UK. Place names are often hyphenated, or two words are combined into one. Entering your problem phrase into Google Search, including the term "meaning in Welsh", will lead you to Google's quick translation guide. I'm no authority; these are just things I have picked up while building up this gazetteer for WeRelate.