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PENLLWN, CAPEL BANGOR (1000-2000)1000-1400 Life was bound by the agricultural year, with fields and livestock to be tended. Wales' famous Fourteenth Century poet, Dafydd ap Gwyilm was from Penrhyncoch and would have been familiar with the landscape of this area. Cistercian monks from Llanbadarn and Strata Florida would have visited the community. The River Rheidol was rich in salmon and sewin. 1400-1700 Owain Glyndwr may have picked up recruits here for his army, which fought at Hyddgen on Plynlimon. Others may have joined Henry Tudor, who stopped at Llanbadarn on his way to Bosworth Field. In Tudor times, merchants of Mid-West Wales grew rich on the proceeds of a flourishing wool trade; the Melindwr River turned the mill wheels of the district. Drovers passed through on their way to sell their cattle in London. As the horse was of great importance in an agrarian society, there was a forge in the village. 1700-1900 In the late Eighteenth Century, the lives of many were affected by a visit from the evangelist, Howell Harris. Before 1830, there was no main road through Penllwyn, but in 1835 the Royal Mail Coach made it's first journey, from Aberystwyth to Gloucester, along the new highway. The present Penllwyn Chapel was built in 1850; a later extension provided a school for village children for over a century. A famous son of Penllwyn was Ieuan Gwyllt, who established the practice of the annual hymn-singing festival (Gymanfa Ganu) and wrote a number of Welsh hymns. The lead mines of Cwmrheidol were revived in the Nineteenth Century and many of the miners employed there came from the failing tin mines of Cornwall. Another famous local name was that of Sir John Rhys, Ponterwyd, the Celtic Scholar. 1900-2000 As elsewhere in Great Britain, life was changed by the Great War (1914-1918). The names of those who died are listed in St. David's Church, Capel Bangor, which was built in 1837. Since that time, agriculture has become mechanised, and football, television and pop music play a large part in most people's lives; contact with Aberystwyth is made by car or bus and shoppers buy at the large supermarkets in town. Tourists visit the area and the narrow gauge railway passes through on it's way to Devil's Bridge. People generally have to travel to Aberystwyth for medical attention, although Health Visitors and District Nurses can provide some healthcare at home. The rare red kite has come back to nest in the valley. Members of the Women's Institute meet at the Village Hall, built in 1972, and improved through the addition of a Millennium Clock, on 1st January 2000. This panel was created by members of the Penllwyn Women's Institute, and presented by them, to the Village Hall, in October 2000.

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