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PEN-BREY, otherwise PEMBREY (PEN-BRE),
A parish in the hundred of KIDWELLY, county of Carmarthenshire, 5 miles (S.S.E.) from Kidwelly, containing 2645 inhabitants, the number having increased more than one-third since the census of 1821. The name of this place, signifying literally the head of a hill or promontory, is derived from its situation at the extremity of a mountainous ridge, beyond which a low promontory extends into the bay of Carmarthen. The parish, which is intersected by the Dewvry stream, and separated from the parish of Kidwelly by the Gwendraeth Fawr comprises a large tract of land, of which a considerable portion is sandy and uncultivated, and a great quantity unenclosed, though in a tolerable state of cultivation : a very extensive sandy common is over- flowed occasionally by the tide, but affords good pasturage to numerous flocks of sheep, which the tenants of several farms in this and the adjoining parishes have the right of pasturing on it for eight months in the year. The soil is very diversified, but, in those parts of the parish which are under cultivation, by no means unproductive. The substrata abound with mineral wealth, this district being thought to be the richest in South Wales in both bituminous and hard coal, both being worked to a very great extent. The quality of the soft coal is peculiarly adapted to the production of gas, the working of iron, and other manufacturing pur- poses ; and vast quantities of both sorts are exported to various parts of the kingdom. To facilitate the conveyance of the mineral produce of this district, a capacious harbour was constructed, in 1819, by the Pembrey Harbour Company, formed for the purpose : it is capable of receiving from sixty to seventy coasting vessels of the first class, which can ride here during the roughest weather in perfect security : the pier extends to a distance of four hundred yards from the shore, and the average depth of water is never less than from eleven to thirteen feet, even at low water of spring tides. This harbour being private property, another is now being constructed to the north-east of it, under the provisions of an act of parliament obtained for that purpose, in 1821, lay the Pembrey New Harbour Company, which, when completed, Will be open to the public. A canal has been formed, connecting this port with the Kidwelly and Llanelly canal, and pursuing hence a northerly course.
A canal from Cwm Gwendraeth, the centre of the coal district, will also be constructed to communicate with both these Harbours, affording additional facility for the conveniance of the coal to the shipping-place. This part of the coast is of difficult navigation, and to mariners unacquainted with it the most fatal on the shores of the Bristol channel. In November 1889, a French West Indiaman from Martinique was wrecked off this place, und nearly all the crew and passengers perished : among tlte latter were Colonel Coquelin and his daughter Adeline, nièce of Josephine, ci-devant empress of France, who, with the other unfortunate sea-ferers, were buried in the churchyard of this place. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Carmarthen, and diocèse of St. David’s, endowed with A £600 royal Bounty, and a £1400 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Earl of Ashburnham. The church, dedicated to St. Illtyd, is a spacious and handsome edifice in good repair. At Llandury, a hamlet in this parish, there is a commodious chapel of ease, where divine service is performed regularly in the afternoon , and in the hamlet of Pendryn was ca chapel, called Capel Cynnor, which is now in ruins, and the site is used as a coal-yard by the Penbrey Iron and Coal Company. There are places of worship for Independents and Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. The Rev. Mr. Pemberton bequeathed a house and garden, and £5 per annum, to a master, for the gratuitous instruction of poor children, of whom there are now twelve on this foundation. A rent-charge of £1, and some trifling charitable benefactions in money, have been bequeathed to the poor of the parish. The average annual expenditure for the maintenance of the poor is £488.13.
[From A Topographical Dictionary of Wales S. Lewis, 1834)