Welsh Journals

Ffair Llangyfelach. By Annie L. Matthews. THE TIME WAS over 100 years ago. The place was Llan- gyfelach, and the language Welsh. Like most of the villages in Wales, Llangyfelach had its yearly Fair. But Ffair Llangyfelach was glorious, and one of the largest in Wales. It attracted growing crowds, until roughly thirty thousand people attended it, from all the towns and villages of South Wales, and many parts of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire. It does not appear in the lists of Glamorgan Fairs by Rice Meredith in 1578. Nor does it grace the lists in 1697. Its first Fair was held during the early part of the eighteenth century, and it seems to have originated with the Gwyl Mabsant (the feast of the Patron Saint). The first Fair was held on March 1st and, paradoxically, in the Church-yard of Llangyfelach Church. Booths which were erected there, flat tomb-stones used for displaying wares, oil-flares with their soot and pungent smells, and the raucous voices of stall-holders, caused the righteous indignation of the curate and parishioners of Llangyfelach. The result was that future Fairs were held in a big field opposite the church. It con- tinued to be the most famous in Wales for over a century. There was much preparation for this Fair. Weavers from the countryside, even as far away as Cardiganshire, brought in their year's work to be sold there. So did the wood-carver, for he de- pended on farmers buying up his stocks of farm, dairy and kitchen implements. The saddler too b ought his saddlery. The industrious families in their little cottages knitted stockings ready for the Fair. Their needles moved swiftly in their hands, as they walked from village to village, or with their pitchers to the well, or when sitting in the fire-light. Farmers and weavers came to the Fair in their traps, lowlier men in donkey carts. But the majority walked there, from Swansea and all the neighbouring towns and villages. The great Llangyfelach Fair lasted three days. The first day was the hiring fair. Men and women, offering their services to farmers, stood against the church-yard wall, and the opposite side of the main road. Farmers, and often their wives, walked up and down, choosing the man or woman most suitable for their needs. The wages were £ 10 per year. It was paid at the end of the employ- ment period. A King's Shilling was also given it was the bond of contract between ( mployer and employed. Each year a farmer's wife presented her maid with a new Welsh flannel apron. The second day was flannel fair. Dafydd Jones and Mari, his wife from Cardigan, were there each year. Their stall displayed