Meline (also recorded as Meliney and Melinau) is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the

Diocese of St David's The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The ...

in north

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

, Wales. There is no settlement of this name.

History

While there is no settlement called Meline, the name may refer to a mill on one of the rivers that run through the north of the parish, including the Nevern and Brynberian. Meline (as ''Malenay'') appears on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. The parish was in the ancient

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Cemais and in 1833 was described as including some ancient mansions as well as prehistoric features. In 1835 the parish had a population of 492 of which 30 or 40 attended Sunday School in the summer months. By the 1870s the population had fallen to 414 people, living in 108 houses and fell to below 300 in the mid-20th century. At the turn of the 20th century Meline was sharing a

Board School School boards were ''ad hoc'' public bodies in England and Wales that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered Elementary school (England and Wales), elementary schools. Creation The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & ...

with Whitechurch ( Eglwyswen).

Parish

The parish, with an area of , includes the hamlet of Crosswell, a number of other minor settlements and farms, and extends southwards into the

Preseli Mountains The Preseli Mountains (, ; or ), also known as the Preseli Hills, or just the Preselis, are a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and entirely within the county of Pembrokeshire. The range ...

. It is mostly within the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park () is a National Parks of England and Wales, national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of the three National parks of Wales, the others ...

. The former parish church, in the northern tip of the parish, is dedicated to St Dogmael (or Dogfael) and is a Grade-II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It was built in 1865, replacing an earlier structure, possibly 13th century, some of which was incorporated into the present church, including the font. In 2017, the church was vested in the care of

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

, a charity that rescues redundant churches across England and Wales. A carved pew back from the earlier church is preserved at Penbenglog nearby, bearing the inscription (in Latin) ''"The pew of Matilda, wife of George Perrott, of Penybenglog, gentleman, 1626"''. Penbenglog is a Grade-II listed house dating from the early 17th century, with earlier origins, and one of the oldest continuously-occupied sites in north Pembrokeshire.

Notable people

Benjamin Evans (minister) Benjamin Evans (23 February 1740 – 2 March 1821) was a Welsh congregational minister. Evans was born at Ffynon-Adda, Meline, Pembrokeshire, on 23 February 1740. In his early days, while he was minister at Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire (whe ...

(1740-1821) was born in the parish.

References

{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire