A Pint of History Please

Exploring the History of Ceredigion's Pubs

Details of place: Nantcwnlle (p)

County: Ceredigion
OS Grid Ref: SN576591 = 52.2116716824, -4.08557502237
Type of place: Parish
Notes: "The Taverns of the Parish
There used to be three inns here; one in Llundain-fach in the bottom of the parish and two in the top part, namely Twrgwyn and the Plough and Harrow, a little below Llynfarch.
There were two other taverns a few yards outside the parish near the River Gwnffrwd in the parish of Llanbadarn Odwyn, namely the Drovers' Arms and Mountain Green; they all closed years ago and the morality of the country has greatly improved since then. There is no longer a single tavern in the parish. In the present age we look on the tavern as the source of many of the misfortunes and problems of life and doubtless it would be hard for the modern abstainer to believe that many of the old taverns were established to support temperance. The drink of the Welsh a hundred years ago and more was mead, a drink made from honey, which was very harmful to the health if drunk in excess, as many did (from the Welsh word for mead, medd, comes the Welsh word for to get drunk, meddwi) and it was to try to wean the drinkers from mead and to decrease the incidence of drunkenness in the country, that breweries were established to produce a weaker, and less alcoholic, drink from barley. Many of these old malt houses were to be found near churches. They were temperance houses to start with and were the means of bringing sobriety to much of the country. Nantcwnlle Church is one of the few rural churches that has no nearby tavern.

When the taverns brewed or made beer they fulfilled the county's need for yeast to make bread; and, after the taverns closed, many people started making what was called 'temperance yeast'. I remember one old lady from the neighbourhood of Nebo, near Cross-Inn, carrying two large pots full of yeast to the upper part of the parish to sell from house to house, and that was how she earned her living. After that, people started using German Yeast, which is not attractive either in name or in appearance, whatever its effect."
'A Short History of the Parish of Nantcwnlle'
A Rough Translation of the book by Rev. Evan Edwardes, published by 'Cambrian News' Aberystwyth, Ltd., 1930

Translated by Jenni Hyatt, July 2003 (from genuki.org.uk)


Places associated with this place

Pubs in this place
Plough and Harrow , Nantcwnlle (p)

Additional information


People associated with this place
Edwards, Evan [-]

Total: 1