LLANGAN (LLAN-GAN), a parish, in the union of NARBERTH, chiefly in the lower division of the hundred of DERLLYS, county of
CARMARTHEN, but partly in the hundred of DUNGLEDDY, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 16 miles (W.) from Carmarthen;
containing 640 inhabitants, of which number, 603 are in the Carmarthenshire, and the remainder in the Pembrokeshire,
portion. On the banks of the Tfif, in this parish, anciently stood the famous Gwpi ar Did, or "the White House on the
Tfif," an occasional residence of Hywel Dda, sovereign of all Wales, who, about the year 940, convoked at this place a
grand national council, for the purpose of compiling and enacting the code of laws which has given so much celebrity to
his reign, and which' are still known as "the laws of Hywel the Good." In order to add great solemnity to this
convocation, and to implore the divine wisdom to assist their counsels, the king remained here with his whole court during
Lent, in the constant exercise of prayer and other acts of devotion. Soon after the destruction of the monastery of
Bangor-Iscoed, in North Wales, and the slaughter and dispersion of the brethren of that extensive establishment by the
Northumbrian Saxons, a religious society was settled at this place, under the auspices of Paulinus, son of Urien Reged, a
disciple of St. Germanus, in which originated the abbey of Albalanda, or Whitland, afterwards erected near the site, and
called by the Welsh, after the name of the former institution, Ty Gwyn ar Dfif, " the White House on the Tfif." According
to some historians, this establishment, which was for brethren of the Cistercian order, was founded by Inks ab Tewdwr,
Prince of South Wales, in the reign of William the Conqueror; but Bishop Tanner, with more probability, ascribes it to
Bernard, Bishop of St. David's, who presided over that see from 1115 to 1147. It is related in the Welsh annals, that
Cadwaladr, brother of Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, during the disputes which arose between him and his nephews,
the sons of Owain, entrusted the custody of his newly erected castle of Cynvael to the abbot of 1-9. Gwyn ar Dfif, who
defended it with obstinate valour against the assaults of the young princes by whom it was besieged. After a determined
resistance, protracted till the walls of the castle were beaten down, and the whole of the garrison either slain or
wounded, the abbot effected his escape from the ruins, through the assistance of some friends in the camp of the enemy,
and retired into his monastery. The monastery, which was dedicated to St. Mary, and had an establishment of eight monks,
continued to flourish till the dissolution, at which time its revenue was estimated at £153. 17. 2.; and its site was
granted, in the 36th of Henry VIII., to Henry Audley and John Cordel. The parish is pleasantly situated on the river Tfif,
and intersected by the old Whitland road from Carmarthen to Haverfordwest; it comprehends a large tract of arable and
pasture land, the whole of which, with a very small exception, is inclosed and in a good state of cultivation. The soil is
fertile, and the surrounding scenery agreeably diversified, and in many parts highly picturesque. The rateable annual
value of the hamlet of Llangan, situated in Pembrokeshire, is returned at -£210. The parish constitutes a prebend in the
cathedral church of St. David's, valued in the king's books at £7, and in the gift of the Bishop of St. David's. The
living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £3, and endowed with £400 royal bounty, and £1200
parliamentary grant; present net income, £86; patron, the Bishop. The tithes of the parish are divided between the
prebendary and the vicar, the former of whom has two-third5 and the latter one-third: a part of it, which anciently
belonged to the abbey, is tithe-free. The church, dedicated to St. Canna, is a neat modern edifice, rebuilt in the year
1820, and consisting of a nave and chancel, the former erected by a parochial rate, and the latter at the expense of the
lessee of the prebendal tithes. There are two Sunday schools, in which 110 children are taught gratuitously by the
dissenters. The existing remains of the abbey are very inconsiderable, serving only to point out the site, in a
sequestered valley sheltered by groves of stately growth, to the right of the present turnpike-road from St. Clear's to
Narherth. Of the royal palace of Ty Gwyn, which was comparatively a small building, designed chiefly for a hunting-seat,
no vestiges at present are discernible.