LLANEGWAD (LLAN-EGWAD), a parish, in the union of LLANDILO-VAWR, partly in the lower division of the hundred of CATHINOG,
and partly in the higher division of the hundred of ELVET, county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 7f miles (W. by S.) from
Llandilo-Vawr; containing 2118 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from the dedication of its church to St. Egwad,
who is said to have lived here in seclusion and devotional retirement, probably near the spot still called " Eisteddva
Egwad," where' are the ruins of an ancient and very extensive mansion. The parish extends for nearly seven miles from
north to south, and about four from east to west, and is intersected by the river Cothy, which falls into the Towy at this
place. The lands, which, with the exception of a very small portion, are inclosed, are fertile, and in a good state of
cultivation; and the village is pleasantly situated. Search was made by N. B. Jones, Esq., within the last few years, for
copper-ore, of which a vein was discovered, but it dipped so considerably below the bed of the river as to render the
working of it altogether impracticable. The living is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £8. 13. 4.; patron, Bishop
of St. David's: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £626. 2., of which £326. 16. 8. are payable to T. D.
Berington, Esq., the impropriator, and £299. 5. 4. to the vicar. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents,
and Welsh and Wesleyan Methodists. A day school, containing 50 boys and 20 girls, is partly supported by endowment and
partly by voluntary contributions, together amounting to £11 per annum towards the education of poor children, and £12 for
clothing and apprenticing them, but the instruction is chiefly at the expense of the parents: there are also three Sunday
schools, one in connexion with the Established Church, and the other two with dissenters, in each of which are about 60
persons. The late Rev. John Francis, of Bath, in 1825, gave a rent-charge of £25 for educating, clothing, and apprenticing
six boys: for instruction £4. 4. are paid to a master; £9 are expended on clothing; two of the children are annually put
out as apprentices with premiums of £5 each; and the residue of the income is distributed in small rewards to the most
deserving. In 1676, Archdeacon William Jones, besides charging his lands with £3. 4., a former bequest of Griffith Lloyd,
in 1633, for catechizing and for preaching a sermon, devised a farm in the parish of Llanpympsaint consisting of 72 acres,
now let at £40, which sum is distributed a week before Christmas, among the poorest and most infirm of the inhabitants, in
various small sums, together with the money arising from a bequest of lands to this parish and that of Llanvynydd by Maud
Watkins, in 1685, producing for Llanegwad £16. 2.; a rent-charge of Ms. by Evan Jones, in 1705; another of £1 by David
Jones, in 1715; and the rent of a cot, let at 15s. by John Herbert, Esq.; making altogether about £60 per annum. The poor
also partake, about the same time, of a distribution of 7 teals of barley, each containing four Winchester bushels, being
the bequests of William David Jenkin, John Rice, David Rees Thomas, and William Lewis John, respectively. A few minor
charities have been lost. Near Cotby bridge are the remains of an ancient dilapidated edifice, formerly a chapel of ease
to the mother church, but now converted into a stable: there were anciently several other chapels in the parish.