Welsh Journals

Parish MSS. of Llangyfelach. By REV. W. R. WATKIN, M.A. Every parish has its treasures, but seldom are they looked after with care. Many tales are told of wanton destruction through carelessness and negligence one such tale from Llangyfelach will suffice. Years ago the last of his line' moved from the home where his ancestors had lived without break from generation to generation for 400 years, but before going he collected all the old papers and pamphlets, the scripts and scraps' of generations, some of them very valuable, and consigned them all to the flames. I confess that at times I should like to consign him to a like destruction, but I remember that he did it in ignorance. He preserved the old books, but what earthly use could the old MSS. be ? They were mere scraps of paper.' If people only knew the value of these scraps for local history they would regard them with greater care. In my attempts to collect all the data for the future writing of the history of the parish of Llangyfelach, I have come across some valuable items. I do not profess, neither do I desire to give at this stage, a complete bibliography of the parish, but let this suffice as a start to a more complete list later on. I shall begin with the Scripts. (1) The Church Registers 1. An old parchment book the first few pages are illegible. It is an old Marriage Book of 1700. 2. True Entries made of all Banns and Marriages pub- lished and celebrated in this said parish Church since the twenty-fifth day of March, 1754, when the act for the better preventing of Clandestine Marriage did commence." 3-11. Marriages, January 3, 1813, to date. 12-13. Banns of Marriages, June 27th, 1847, to date. 14. Baptisms, from March 25th, 175o-March 12th, 1799.