Welsh Journals

PAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF LLANDOVERY. By Alfred Theodore Arber- Cooke. The Friends of Llandovery Civic Trust Association, 1975. Pp. 431, 4 plates. £ 6.75. This volume has a very pleasing appearance, and a glance at the most helpful list of contents suggests a complete and well-balanced history of the borough of Llandovery. This favourable impression is borne out by a closer examination, and all concerned in this venture are to be con- gratulated. The borough has indeed been fortunate in its most recent historian, and readers will look forward eagerly to the forthcoming second volume which will deal with 'the town as it stands today, street by street and in the case of the older thoroughfares, house by house'. One can only hope that other towns in the sparsely populated heartland of Wales, of which quite a few have a population equal to Llandovery's, will follow its example. The history of Llandovery cannot but be of importance to the whole of Wales, situated as it was for some centuries near the border between the Principality and the Marcher lordships. Its close association with Vicar Prichard and its role as a centre of communications and education -droving, roads and railways, and the Welsh Collegiate Institution- are among its claims to fame in later days. The author begins his story, without adequately explaining the geo- graphical background, when the area was under Roman occupation, and he is abreast of modern research on this period. He proceeds at a fairly leisurely pace, explaining the various progressions to the age of the saints, the rule of the native princes and the period of expansion under the Norman lords, with clarity and sympathy. With the close of the Middle Ages and the passing of the Act of Union, and with the granting of borough charters, evidence becomes more plentiful and is put to good use. The central figure in the town in the seventeenth century is, of course, Vicar Prichard, and among the incumbents of Llandingad-the parish in which the borough of Llandovery is situated-he certainly deserves pride of place. It is, however, hardly fair to state that the record of the Church there in the following century 'is little more than the story of the succes- sion of vicars', some of whom merit attention if only because they tried valiantly to put their predecessor's charitable intentions into execution despite stiff opposition from his descendants. Towards the end of the eighteenth-century records, both manuscript and printed, are again more readily available, and so Mr. Arber-Cooke is able to give us the history of his beloved borough in greater detail. Despite this obvious fondness for his adopted home, he does not close his eyes to unfavourable criticism, quoting Malkin's opinion that Llandovery was 'one of the most uncivilised places in the Principality', while ignoring Lewis Morris's comments almost half a century earlier on the town's excellent inns and numerous apothecaries. The most unsavoury episode in its history, the 'Old Bear' or Glanareth murder, is also dealt with fully, although the author relies on an early-nineteenth century account rather than on a contemporary report of the trial at Hereford. The work contains other instances where he has apparently failed to consult original material such as parish registers and monumental inscriptions which were to be found on his doorstep.