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County in Wales

Carmarthenshire

A county where a prophecy says Carmarthen will fall if Merlin's Oak does, a tollgate riot began in dresses, and the world's fastest cars once raced along the sand.

Carmarthenshire
Photo: George Hurrell, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Key information

County
Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin in Welsh)
Nation
Wales
Population
about 188,000, 2021 Census
Area
roughly 2,370 square kilometres
Known for
Merlin legends, Dylan Thomas's Laugharne, Llanelli rugby, Pendine Sands speed records, the National Botanic Garden of Wales
Famous people
Dylan Thomas (lived at Laugharne), Barry John, Ray Gravell, Phil Bennett
Football clubs
Carmarthen Town, Llanelli Town

About Carmarthenshire

The town that is supposed to fall with a tree

Carmarthen has a famous prophecy attached to it: "When Merlin's Oak shall tumble down, then shall fall Carmarthen town." The oak stood in the town for centuries. In the 1970s it was finally removed, and a section of the trunk is kept in the town's museum. Carmarthen is still standing. The Welsh name, Caerfyrddin, is traditionally read as "Merlin's fort", which ties the wizard to the town. The Romans got here first, though. Their fort and town of Moridunum made Carmarthen one of the earliest urban settlements in Wales, and it is often called the oldest town in the country. Carmarthen later became the administrative heart of west Wales, and it is still a busy market town on the River Tywi.

When men dressed as women tore down the tollgates

In 1839 farmers at Efail-wen, in the west of the county, attacked a tollgate that was bleeding them dry. The protest spread across south-west Wales and became the Rebecca Riots. The protesters blackened their faces, wore women's clothes and called their leader "Rebecca". Their name came from a verse in Genesis about Rebecca's descendants possessing the gates of those who hate them. The rioters were her "daughters". They wrecked toll gates by night and kept going until the government looked again at the toll system. It remains one of the most theatrical rural uprisings in British history.

Speed, Earhart and a car buried in the sand

Pendine Sands is a firm, flat, seven-mile beach that became a racetrack. In the 1920s Malcolm Campbell raced here and set land speed records of 146 mph in 1924 and 150 mph in 1925. In 1927 J.G. Parry-Thomas, a Welsh engineer, was killed there trying to beat the record in his car, Babs. The car was buried in the dunes and stayed there until it was dug up in 1969 and restored. Across the bay, Burry Port has its own claim to fame. In 1928 Amelia Earhart landed there after the first flight across the Atlantic by a woman, though she travelled as a passenger. She had been aiming for Southampton.

Scarlets, Sosban Fach and the day Llanelli beat the All Blacks

Llanelli is the home of the Scarlets, and the town takes its rugby seriously. In 1972 Llanelli beat New Zealand 9-3 at Stradey Park, and the town has been proud of it ever since. The match later inspired a song called "The Day the Pubs Ran Dry". The anthem of the town is "Sosban Fach" ("Little Saucepan"), a nonsense-flavoured Welsh song about a saucepan on the fire and Mary Ann's sore finger. Crowds at Scarlets matches belt it out. The county has produced a remarkable list of rugby players, including Barry John from Cefneithin, Phil Bennett from Felinfoel and Ray Gravell, who is still loved across Wales. In football, Carmarthen Town and Llanelli Town carry the local colours. Llanelli was also a tinplate town, once known as Tinopolis. At Felinfoel, the brewery became the first in Europe to sell canned beer, in 1935.

Dylan, gardens and castles on crags

Dylan Thomas settled at Laugharne, where he wrote in a shed above the estuary and drank in Brown's Hotel. He is buried in St Martin's churchyard. The town is often linked to the setting of Under Milk Wood. The National Botanic Garden of Wales at Middleton Hall opened in 2000. Its Great Glasshouse, designed by Norman Foster, was among the largest single-span glasshouses in the world when it opened. The county is full of castles. Carreg Cennen sits on a limestone crag above the Black Mountain foothills. Dinefwr, near Llandeilo, was the seat of Rhys ap Thomas and the Welsh princes of Deheubarth, and its park is home to a herd of white cattle. Kidwelly and Llansteffan are also well worth a stop.

Ham, cockles and a lake with a legend

Carmarthen ham, a cured ham sliced thin, is the county's best-known food and has long been served at local markets. Cockles from the Burry Inlet, laverbread and Welsh cakes complete a coastal larder. In the east, the Black Mountain, in Bannau Brycheiniog, holds Llyn y Fan Fach, a small lake with a famous legend. A farmer's son there is said to have married a lady of the lake, and their sons became the Physicians of Myddfai, healers whose herbal remedies were later written down. The county is a stronghold of the Welsh language, and choirs, eisteddfodau and rugby clubs keep much of local life in Welsh. Llandovery College, founded in 1847, is one of the oldest schools in Wales.

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