ABERNANT (ABER-NANT), a parish, in the higher division of the hundred of ELVET, county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 5 miles
(W. N. W.) from Carmarthen, containing 664 inhabitants. The village, which is pleasantly situated on the banks of the
river Cowin, about two miles westward from the road leading from Carmarthen to Newcastle and Cardigan, was formerly much
frequented at the time of the Carmarthen races, which for many years took place within this parish, on a course held by
lease under Lewis Evans, Esq., of Pant y Kendy, but are now held on the other side of the river Towy. Petty sessions for
the division are held here every month; and a court leet for the hundred is held alternately here and at Bwlch Newydd, in
the parish of New-church. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of Convil in Elvet annexed, in
the archdeaconry of Carmarthen, and diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £7. 13. 4., endowed with £200
royal bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the joint patronage of Edward Lawrence St. Loe, Esq., and Mr. Parr:
the glebe land attached to the living is one of the most extensive in the principality. The church, dedicated to St.
Lucia, is a small neat building, pleasingly situated in a quiet and retired spot. There is a place of worship for
Independents. Pant y Kendy, a substantial brick mansion, not yet finished, was commenced by the father of the present
proprietor, L.Evans, Esq., and, from the local advantages which it possesses, and the improvements now in progress in the
completion of the building and the disposition of the grounds, promises to be one of the most agreeable residences in the
vicinity of Carmarthen. About ten years ago, sixty silver coins, of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I.,
were found by some children at the vicarage-house; and in repairing the road near Pant y Kendy, not long since, a Roman
urn was discovered, at the depth of a few feet below the surface of the ground, containing ashes, with which also the
place where it was found was discoloured to a considerable extent: the urn, immediately on its being removed, fell
in'pieces. Though no account of any Roman settlement at this place is on record, nor can any vestige of an encampment be
traced, yet, from its vicinity to New-church, about a mile and a half distant, where a battle between the Romans and the
Britons is said to have taken place (in commemoration of which a stone, erected to the memory of Severinus, the Roman
general, still exists), it is not improbable that the spot may have been the place of interment of some who fell in the
battle, and more especially, as it is not far from the Roman road leading from Maridunum (Carmarthen) to the town of
Fishguard. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to 4185. 2.