Lampeter Velfrey


Lampeter Velfrey is a community and parish in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and is 68.0 miles from Cardiff and 196.0 miles from London. In 2011 the population of Lampeter Velfrey was 1,205 with 20.2 per cent of them able to speak Welsh.. The community includes the villages of Tavernspite and Llan-mill.
The old Medieval spelling was "Velfre"

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward stretches beyond the confines of Lampeter Velfrey with a total population of 1,598.

History

The parish was in the former Narberth Hundred, and appeared on a 1578 parish map as Llanbeder Velfray. In the 1830s had a population of 984. Limestone was quarried locally for building and for lime. There was a parochial school in the 1800s. Local historian Geoffrey Morris was rector of Lampeter Velfrey parish until 2008 and wrote a history of the village in 2007. Archives Wales holds a number of historical papers on the village and its former inhabitants.

Worship

The parish church of St Peter is a Grade II-listed building, recorded by Cadw in 1971, and was first mentioned in records in 1291. The present church, which may have replaced earlier chapelries, dates from the 13th and 14th centuries and was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. The bell is dated 1639 and the early Henry Jones organ 1853.
There are two Independent chapels in the village: Bryn Sion and Carfan.