Whitland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whitland (Welsh: Hendy-gwyn; literal transalation: 'Old White House', or sometimes Hendy-gwyn ar Daf; 'Old white house on the river Taf') is a small town in Carmarthenshire, West Wales, lying on the River Tâf.
[edit] History
Traditionally Whitland is seen as the site of an assembly of lawyers and churchmen, sometimes described as the first Welsh parliament. It was called in 930 by Hywel Dda; literal translation: 'Hywel the Good' in order to codify the native Welsh laws.
Whitland takes its name from the Cistercian abbey in the medieval period. The monastery pre-dates Tintern Abbey but now is very much a ruin. The monks wore unstained white woollen cloaks, hence the name of the Abbey - "White land" or "Alba Landa". The monastery in Whitland was subject to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Much of the limestone was taken and used for other buildings. The magnificent setting of the ruin and the Abbey's layout can still be viewed.
The Hywel Dda interpretive centre is a publicly funded Culture centre. It boasts a fine garden using reclaimed stone. Hywel Dda the Good himself is a controversial figure amongst modern historians as having been the first to sell out to the English[citation needed].
It is sometimes stated that the family of John Adams, the second President of the United States, came originally from the Whitland area. However, there is no truth in this story. The Adams family lived in north Somerset near Bristol from at least the early 15th century, before migrating to North America in the 17th century. This story is likely to have been invented by a prominent family surnamed Adams that once lived in the Whitland area, and is unfortunately still widely believed.
[edit] Amenities
The town is also home to a secondary school (Ysgol Dyffryn Taf) and a wide variety of sporting grounds. Its main industry was a dairy, but it was closed in 1994.
Whitland was also an important railway centre, being to junction to four branch lines - to Pembroke Dock, Fishguard, Fishguard via Puncheston and Cardigan. The latter was closed as a result of the review by Dr Beeching in the early 1960s, as a result the railway rapidly lost importance, and today has reverted to a branch line station.
Whitland boasts many local sporting teams including Rugby union, Football (soccer), Cricket, Short and Long mat bowls, Darts, billiards etc. Many of these sporting clubs have junior sections. The Whitland Junior rugby section known as the Junior Borderers, because of the borderline location with Pembrokeshire, have seen many a star rise through their ranks. Prime example is Michael Phillips, Welsh international rugby player. Today they boast one of the best Under 16 squads in Wales, a team under the guidance of the senior 2XV coach Arwyn Thomas, and have not lost a game at all in the 2006-2007 season, and have participated in all of the Pembrokeshire Cup finals since they began in the Under 10 section. This season (2006-2007) they have already clinched the league title, whitout conceding more that 60 points in 12 games, and they are in the final of the Pembrokeshire Cup once again. The squad contains 2 Welsh caps, Scott Williams and Sion Morris, who are also Llanelli Scarlets representatives.
Whitland is twinned with the small town of Pipriac in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany.
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