Bridell#Pen-y-bryn Village
{{Short description|Village and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = Wales
| coordinates = {{coord|52.047|-4.660|display=inline,title}}
| static_image_name = CEEglwysBridell.jpg
| static_image_caption = Parish church of St David
| official_name = Bridell
| community_wales = Cilgerran
| unitary_wales = Pembrokeshire
| constituency_westminster = Preseli Pembrokeshire
| constituency_welsh_assembly = Preseli Pembrokeshire
| post_town = Cardigan
| postcode_district = SA43
| postcode_area = SA
| dial_code = 01239
| os_grid_reference = SN175410
}}
Bridell ({{langx|cy|Y Bridell}}) is a small settlement and parish in north Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish includes the village of Pen-y-bryn. Together with the parishes of Cilgerran and Llantood, it is in the community of Cilgerran.
Bridell Parish
The Church in Wales parish of Bridell is on the A478, {{convert|2.5|mi|km}} south of Cardigan and consists of a few private houses, the church (St David's) and Plas Bridell Manor house, a 19th-century mansion which, until 2019, was a nursing home.{{cite news|newspaper=Wales online|title=Residents have to leave care home forced to close because it can't find enough staff|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/residents-leave-care-home-forced-17051051|date=8 October 2019|author=Robert Harries|accessdate=16 October 2019}}
The derivation of the parish name is obscure.{{cite work|last=Charles|first=B.G.|title=The Placenames of Pembrokeshire|publisher=National Library of Wales|date=1992|ISBN=0-907158-58-7|page=347-8}} Lying on the western border of the cantref of Emlyn, it has always been essentially Welsh-speaking. Bridell (as Brydelthe) appears on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire.{{cite web|title=Penbrok comitat|publisher=British Library|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927183108/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/p/001map00000c7c1u00035000.html|access-date=22 July 2024}}
In the churchyard of St David's is a {{convert|9|ft|m}} high stone cross whose inscription appears unreadable, but has been deciphered as Nettasagri maqi mucoi Briaci, and commemorates a man named Nettasagri, the son of the kin of Briaci. The stone is believed to be 5th century, and was probably "Chritianised" with a cross later. The language is Ogham.{{cite news|publisher=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53435217|title=What do Medieval carved stones and Celtic crosses in Wales symbolise?|date=18 July 2020|author=Neil Prior|accessdate=18 July 2020}}
The parish area was estimated at {{convert|3000|acre|ha}} in 1844 with a population of 404.{{cite web|title=GENUKI: Bridell|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/Bridell/index.html|accessdate=10 June 2014}} Official census figures were: 248 (1801): 335 (1851): 237 (1901): 220 (1951): 221 (1981) with the proportion of Welsh speakers 94 per cent (1891), 90 per cent (1931) and 51 per cent (1971). In 1890, local clergy were reported to be in "great distress" through the failure to collect tithes amounting to £1,738 over six parishes, with Bridell owed £249; previous attempts at recovery had been "crushed by riotous crowds".{{cite news|title=An appeal from Welsh Clergymen|work=Gloucester Citizen|date=11 July 1890|accessdate=6 August 2014|url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000325/18900711/010/0003|publisher=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription}}
Pen-y-bryn
File:Baptist chapel, Pen-y-bryn - geograph.org.uk - 539416.jpg
Pen-y-Bryn (English meaning: top of the hill), also referred to as Penybryn, is a small village situated on the northern side of the parish at a crossroads dominated by the Pen-y-Bryn Arms public house on one side and the Grade II-listed Penybryn Baptist Chapel, established in 1818 and rebuilt in 1869,{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=14527 |desc=Penybryn Baptist Chapel |grade=II |access-date=21 July 2019 }}{{cite web|title=Penybryn Baptist Chapel|url=http://www.glen-johnson.co.uk/penybryn-baptist-chapel/|accessdate=12 Apr 2014}} on the other.
Pen-y-bryn has outgrown Bridell owing to a building surge in the latter part of the 20th century driven both by local need and by immigration from other parts of Wales and the UK.
File:Pen-y-bryn Arms - geograph.org.uk - 539421.jpg
The Pen-y-bryn Arms has stood at the crossroads at least since the 18th century and enjoys both local and passing trade, standing as it does on the main route into Cardigan from the south. The site formerly included a petrol station and garage, both now closed. There is a Victorian post box embedded in the front wall.
References
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External links
- [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/Bridell/index.html Further information and sources on GENUKI]
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