Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Bancyfelin’s new milestone has been unveiled. Local historian Bruce Wallace is pictured being helped by Cllr Graham Edwards, mayor of St Clears, as he unveils the new milestone installed in Bancyfelin by the Bancyfelin Education Community Trust. It was the Romans who were the first great road builders in Britain and the first to measure road distances. When they left, the roads developed in response to community needs and by the 1800s, there were around 20,000 milestones of varying designs in Britain and some of these were on the A40 road from Carmarthen to Hobbs Point in Pembrokeshire. Their purposes were to inform travellers of direction and distances, help coaches keep to journey times, help calculate fees for changes of horses at the coaching inns and before 1840, calculate postal charges. Bancyfelin village was on the main highway to Hobbs Point where travellers embarked for Ireland and it had its own milestone in the form of two metal plaques placed in a V-shape projecting o...

On Tuesday, 9 September 2014 at 4pm, Bancyfelin village will be celebrating its new milestone. On the day, Bruce Wallace will be there to unveil the new milestone which is located in the grass bank at the front of Bancyfelin Primary School. He will be joined by the Bancyfelin Education Community Trust trustees who raised the funds for the project and the donors who made the project possible. Everyone in the village is also invited to join in the celebration. In May, the Bancyfelin Education Community Trust responded to a local suggestion that the milestone be replaced and as a result, a generous grant was made available through the Carmarthenshire Landscape and Heritage Grants Scheme. The original milestone, which was similar to others on the main A40 highway from Carmarthen to Hobb’s Point, was located on the school wall. Reference to the original milestone, with distances marked, can be found on older maps of the village. When the front of the school was re-modelled ...

As a result of a generous grant through the Carmarthenshire Landscape and Heritage Grants Scheme, the Bancyfelin Education Community Trust is able to fund the replacement of the milestone which was originally located outside Bancyfelin Primary School. Work on the project will begin during August. The original milestone, which was similar to others on the main A40 highway from Carmarthen to Hobb’s Point, was located on the school wall. Reference to the original milestone, with distances marked, can be found on older maps of the village. When the front of the school was re-modelled years ago, the original milestone was lost and never replaced. In days gone by, coaches would thunder into Bancyfelin, likely sounding their post-horns as they crossed the bridge. The coachmen would know the distances they had to travel by checking on the milestones along the road. The Carmarthenshire Landscape and Heritage Grants Scheme is part funded by Natural Resources Wales, Rural Development Plan,...