Llangafelach or Llangyfelach, Glamorgan

Description
Llangafelach or Llangyfelach, a village and a parish in Glamorgan. The village stands near the river Tawe and the Swansea Canal, 2 miles E of Morriston station on the G.W.R. and M.R., and 5 N of Swansea. It has a post and money order office under Swansea; telegraph office, Morriston. The parish contains also the village of Morriston, and it includes the hamlets of Llandore, Plasmarl, Penderry, Mawr, and Clydach or Rhyndwy Clydach, and is partly within the municipal borough of Swansea. Population, 27,579. The manor formerly belonged to Brecon College. Much of the land is naturally barren, and not a little has an aspect of extreme desolation. Copper, tin-plate works, and collieries employ a large proportion of the inhabitants, and they greatly disfigure the landscape. The fluoric or arsenical acids from the copper works keep down the naturally poor vegetation, the heaps of slag are an eye-sore, and the clouds of smoke from the numerous chimneys bedim the atmosphere. Many of the workmen and the colliers reside in the large village of Mor-riston. A battle was fought within the parish in 990, when Howel, prince of South Wales, was beaten. Some Roman relics have been found. The living is a vicarage, united with the perpetual curacy of Gorseinon, in the diocese of St David's; net value, £240 with residence. Patron, the Bibhop of St David's. The church is dedicated to St Cyvelach; is an ancient edifice separated from the tower of an earlier church; it was partially restored in 1891. There is a church at Gorseinon, in Penderry township, and Congregational, Wes-leyan, Baptist, and Calvinistic Methodist chapels. The chapelries of Morriston and Clydach are separate benefices.