Cilcennin, Cardiganshire, Wales

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“KÎLKENNIN (CÎL-CENIN), a parish in the lower division of the hundred of ILAR, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 9 1/4miles (N. W. by N.) from Lampeter, comprising the Upper and Lower hamlets, each of which maintains its own poor, and containing 695 inhabitants. This place is remarkable in history as the scene of a slaughter committed, in 1210 by Rhys and Owain ab Grufydd, at the head of a chosen band of three hundred men, on a superior body of English and Welsh troops, under the command of their uncle Maelgwyn, whom John King of England had reinforced with a body of auxiliaries, to aid him in recovering possession of the estates wrested from him by Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, the reigning prince of North Wales, and by him given to Maelgwyn’s nephews, who, unable to meet in open combat the force under their uncle’s command, here approached his camp secretly by night, and, furiously rushing upon his unarmed soldiers, slew many of them, and compelled the rest, among whom was Maelgwyn himself, to seek safety by flight. The parish is computed to contain about one thousand acres, mostly arable, in some parts rocky and hilly, and in others flat, of which about forty are subject to inundation: the only river is the Ayron, which skirts a part of it. The living is vicarial, being consolidated with the vicarage of Llanbadarn-Trêveglwys, in the archdeaconry of Cardigan, and diocese of St.David’s. The church, dedicated to St. Cannen has recently been rebuilt, in the later style of English architecture, the expense of which was defrayed by public contributions. There is a place of worship for Independents. On the summit of an eminence, in this parish, are the remains of an ancient castle, called Bwlch y Castell, of the foundation and history of which no particulars have been recorded. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor amounts to £126.18.”