Swyddffynnon is a village in

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

, Wales, situated 3.75 miles (6 km) to the north of

Tregaron Tregaron ( "town of St Caron") is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales. It is sited astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi, and is north-east of Lampeter. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census, the po ...

, near the northern edge of

Cors Caron Cors Caron is a raised bog in Ceredigion, Wales. Cors is the Welsh word for "bog". Cors Caron covers an area of approximately .The Ramsar site is 874 ha. Cors Caron represents the most intact surviving example of a raised bog landscape in the U ...

(Tregaron Bog). Swyddffynnon lies within the

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 ...

of .

Geology

The solid geology of the area comprises

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

of the Derwenlas Formation. Part of the village lies within the valley of the Camddwr Fach stream, the floodplain of which contains

superficial deposits Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old) for the Earth. These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain dep ...

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

( Devensian

diamicton Diamicton (also diamict) (from Greek ''δια'' (dia-): through and ''μεικτός'' (meiktós): mixed) is a terrigenous sediment (a sediment resulting from dry-land erosion) that is unsorted to poorly sorted and contains particles ranging in siz ...

History

The name Swyddffynnon is a contraction of Swydd-y-ffynnon-oer (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: administrative area of the cold well/spring). The 'swydd' element being added to its earlier name 'Fennanoyr' (English: cold well/spring), which is first mentioned in the late 12th century, when the area was granted by

Rhys ap Gruffudd Rhys ap Gruffydd or ap Gruffudd (often anglicised to "Griffith"; c. 1132 – 28 April 1197) was the ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales from 1155 to 1197. Today, he is commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh ''Yr Arglwydd Rhys' ...

Strata Florida Abbey Strata Florida Abbey (; ) is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was founded in 1164. After the region around St Davids was firmly occupied by the Normans ...

. Fennanoyr may have been a bond settlement or an administrative focus for the

monastic grange Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by Monastery, monasteries independent of the Manorialism, manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians, and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, mo ...

of Mefenydd. After the Dissolution all of Strata Florida's lands were granted to the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

. Soon after, the land around Swyddffynnon appears to have been purchased by the Lloyds o
Ffos-y-bleiddiaid
(English: moat/ditch of the wolves) and later acquired by the Vaughans of

Trawscoed is a community and an estate in Ceredigion, Wales. The estate is southeast of Aberystwyth, and has been in the possession of the Vaughan family since 1200.

(English; Crosswood). The nature of the settlement prior to the 18th century remains obscure, but the fact that it does not appear on

John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.; superseding . The son of a citizen and Merchant Taylor in London,"Life of John Speed", ''The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compe ...

's 1610 map of

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

suggests that at the time it was very small. Later 18th and early 19th century maps depict the area very much as it appears today with scattered farms and small enclosures that give little indication as to when they were established.

Religion

There are two dissenting chapels in Swyddffynnon, the earliest of which is the Welsh

Calvinistic Methodist The Presbyterian Church of Wales (), also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church (), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodist movement has its origins in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival ...

Chapel. This denomination started meeting in 1743; the chapel was built ''c'' 1753, and rebuilt in 1783, 1809 and 1837. The second institution is the Bethel

Welsh Baptist The Baptist Union of Wales (Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru) is a Baptist denomination Wales. It is affiliated with the Free Church Council, Cytûn (Churches Together in Wales), the European Baptist Federation, and the Baptist World Alliance. The headqua ...

Chapel, which was built in 1824, rebuilt 1859 and modified in 1868 and 1898. Both chapels remain open.

Education

In the early 19th century

Sunday Schools ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are used to provide ...

were held in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel. The only formal school was Ysgol Swyddffynnon (Swyddffynnon Primary School), which opened in 1896 and closed in 2006 due to a lack of pupils.'School Closes After 110 Years',''Cambrian News'' 27 July 2006
/ref> The nearest alternative primary school is now Ysgol Gynradd Gymunedol

Pontrhydfendigaid Pontrhydfendigaid () is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It lies on the western flank of the Cambrian Mountains, between Devil's Bridge and Tregaron. The village lies on the River Teifi, whose source is just 3 miles (5 km) to the east at Lly ...

(Pontrhydfendigaid Community Primary School).

References

{{authority control Villages in Ceredigion