LLANEDY (LLAN-EDI), a parish, in the union of LLANELLY, hundred of CARNAWLLON, county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 10 miles
(S.) from Llandilo-Vawr; containing 1008 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the river Loughor, by which it is
separated from the county of Glamorgan; and is intersected by the turnpike-road from Swansea to Llandilo-Vawr: it is
bounded on the south-west by the parishes of Llandeila-Tilybont and Llangennech, on the north-west by those of Llandebie
and Llatmon, and on the north-east by Bettws and Llangyvelach; and extends nearly eight miles in length, and one mile and
a quarter in breadth, comprising by measurement 5200 acres, of which about 1800 are arable, 2000 pasture, 700 wood, and
between 600 and 700 common and waste. The surface is elevated and hilly, and the soil generally dry and light, and on the
tillage lands very fertile, producing good crops of wheat, barley, oats, and. potatoes; the scenery is extensive, varied,
and picturesque, and beautified by the meandering of the river Loughor, through a rich and narrow vale on the south; the
Gwilly, an inferior stream, passing to the north. There are mines of excellent anthracite coal, which until lately were
worked only for the supply of the immediate neighbourhood, but they are now in operation on a larger scale, and the coal
is exported in considerable quantity; an inferior kind is found in almost every part of the parish, but the principal
mines lie at the northern extremity, where, numerous hands now find employment. Iron-ore exists, but no-works are carried
on; and there is a quarry of excellent stone for building and other purposes. An annual fair is held on the 8th of
November. The living is a rectory, rated in the king's books at £8, and given by George IV., together with several other
crown livings in the diocese to St. David's College; present net income, £360. The church, dedicated to St. Edith, is
pleasantly situated en an elevated bill, over-looking the Loughor, and commanding an extensive view of great variety and
beauty; it has been recently repaired, and enlarged by a gallery at the west-end, affording an addition of one hundred and
twenty free sittings, towards the erection of which the Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels contributed
the sum of £100. There are places of worship for Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists. About 40 children are taught in a
day school at the expense of their parents, and 12 gratuitously by local subscription; and there are three Sunday
schools, one in connexion with the Established Church, the others appertaining to the dissenters, in each of which about
40 persons receive instruction. In the hamlet of Gwilly, about two-hundred yards from the church, is a rock, with a
curious recess, naturally formed, and traditionally called Gwely Edi or St. Edith's bed; it is superstitiously thought to
have been occasionally used for repose by that saint. At a cottage near Forest Hall, a deserted mansion in the parish, was
born, in 1721, the Rev. Jelin Walters, M. A., the learned author of Dissertations on the Welsh Language, a Welsh and
English Dictionary, and other works.