Churches

Not a million miles away singer Cath Woolridge with husband Dai, founders of Sound of Wales, were born in Ammanford.

En route you could deter via  Moriah Chapel the birthplace of the 1904 Welsh revival. 

Also en route but nearer Cardiff,  Capel Rhondda in Hopkinstown. Is place where the famous hymn Cwm Rhondda, in Welsh Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch (Lord, lead me through the wilderness)  also known as Bread of Heaven and Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer and Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah in English, was first sung in 1907.  The former Baptist chapel was recently saved from the developers by a group of local residents who raised £70,000 for it to become a community centre promoting arts, music and choirs.

If you're interested, here is the first verse of the original, written by William Williams (after their 13th child, Mr and Mrs Williams senior ran of names) with literal English translation. 

Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch,

Fi, bererin gwael ei wedd,

Nad oes ynof nerth na bywyd

Fel yn gorwedd yn y bedd:

Hollalluog, Hollalluog,

Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan.

Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan

Lord, lead me through the wilderness,

Me, a pilgrim of poor appearance,

I don't have strength or life in me,

Like lying in the grave:

Omnipotent, Omnipotent

Is the one who brings me to the shore.

Is the one who brings me to the shore.

On St Valentine’s Day 1844, tragedy struck at the Garden Pit in Landshipping, a colliery whose workings ran treacherously beneath the tidal River Cleddau in Pembrokeshire. It was an ordinary working afternoon until, at around four o’clock during a high tide, disaster unfolded. The river broke through into the underground workings, and in moments a violent torrent of water rushed through the tunnels where men and boys were laboring. Of the fifty-eight miners at work that day, forty lost their lives.

The suddenness of it is almost impossible to imagine. The men were working so close beneath the riverbed that they could reportedly hear the oars of passing boats above their heads. Then, without warning, the barrier between river and mine failed. The force of the water would have been overwhelming in the narrow, dark passages, leaving little chance of escape. Families waiting at home would not have known what had happened until word began to spread through the tight-knit community, turning a winter’s afternoon into one of shock and unbearable grief.

It was commonly believed that among those who died were women and young children, even though it had been illegal for females and for young boys to work underground since 1842. Evidence suggests that the management at Garden Pit turned a blind eye to children working below ground, a reminder of how poverty and necessity often overrode the law in mining communities.

The Landshipping disaster of 1844 remains one of the most devastating mining tragedies in Pembrokeshire’s history. It stands as a stark reminder of the risks miners faced daily beneath the earth and beneath the sea. Coal powered homes and industry, but it was extracted at a terrible human cost. Remembering the forty men and boys who died that day is not only an act of historical record; it is an act of respect for lives cut short and for families whose world changed forever in the space of a single tide.

Burnetts Hill Chapel at Martlewy was restored in 2001 and is now a music venue.

There is also a walk around Landshipping starting at Landshipping Quay