A study of the parishes of Rhiw and Llanfaelrhys 1782-1947.
This study examines the impact of change in Rhiw and Llanfaelrhys between 1782 and 1947 with particular respect to settlement pattern and land utilisation. Anticipated characteristics from this part of highland rural Britain requiring confirmation included dispersed settlement, interdependent agrarian communities, pastoral. farming with subsistent crop growing, poor overland communications and intermittent mineral extraction. Expectations included the slow diffusion of ideas with fewer, more gradual, less effective changes occurring later than in lowland Britain. Certain additional characteristics could be anticipated due to the Welsh context.Considerable evidence of a varied nature, including previously unpublished material has been examined. The period studied has been subdivided into five phases of approximately thirty years duration. In each phase the themes of continuity and change are examined with particular reference to settlement, economic affairs and social issues.The evidence indicates that the dispersed settlement pattern remained a constant feature. Throughout the study period agriculture formed the basis of the local economy. The stability given by the persistence in the siting of farmhouses, of land holdings and land ownership patterns and by the gradual acceptance of appropriate innovation underpinned other fluctuations in the economy. The Enclosure Acts heralded changes in the distribution of cottages and in the occupations and social status of their inhabitants.The impact of manganese mining fluctuated. In boom periods the influx of Englishmen brought new influences and increased earnings eased the cottagers' poverty. Later tourism became a secondary source of income. Despite these external forces the anticipated influence of religion, education, the Welsh language and culture combined to resist anglicisation.Change occurred but was absorbed within the economic and cultural background. This study illustrates that the concept of continuity was within the parishes of Rhiw and Llanfaelrhys, more influential between 1782 and 1947 than that of change.
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Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom).