Local Historical Characters
The Teifi Valley has been home to a wealth of interesting personalities over the years. In the earliest traditions that have survived concerning Wales’ patron saint, St David himself was closely associated with the area and Llanddewi Brefi.
Local clergy such as Daniel Rowland of Llangeitho, Eliezer Williams and John Williams of Lampeter, were educationalists as well as clerics, and Eliezer Williams was instrumental in the establishment of St David’s College in Lampeter. Daniel Rowland was one of the most influential figures of the Welsh Methodist Revival and published books of his own sermons, as well as translations of other writings into Welsh.
Other prominent local characters included Admiral John Thomas, who lost a leg in action during the American War of Independence, but won enough prize-money during his career to purchase nearby Llanfechan Manor near Llanybydder. The poet Daniel Evans (Daniel Ddu) was educated under Eliezer Williams in Lampeter and is buried in Pencarreg churchyard. Llanwenog is home to an extensive set of carvings on the church pews by the Belgian refugee artist Joseph Rubens, who was welcomed by Col Herbert Davies-Evans at Highmead, not far to the south of Llanwenog.
