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Talgarreg |
Talgarreg is the first, or highest, village in the Clettwr Valley. The river Clettwr Fawr rises on Banc Blaenclettwr two miles to the north of the village, joining the Teifi near Aber Clettwr in Llanfihangel-ar-arth, a journey of nine miles. In the village the river Dulas joins the Clettwr. Other rivers in the area are Glowon Fawr, Glowon Fach, Sycan, Bwdram, Giach, Onwy, Ffinant, Glasne and Clettwrfach.
Talgarreg is a village of relatively recent origin; there is no sign of it on John Sheed's 1610 map.
Half a mile down the valley were two other villages: Crug-yr-eryr, which dated from the age of the monks, and Pant-coch.
Talgarreg was originally the name of the farm and the mill which belonged to it.
The village started to develop near the farm after the mansion Glanyrafon House, the home of the National Eisteddfod laureate, Donald Evans, was built about 1824-25. The public house, the Glanyrafon Arms (pictured), was built in the 1850s and the smithy opposite. Gradually the village adopted the name of the farm and the building of the school in 1870, which was named Talgarreg Board School, completed the process.
Today the village and the area are known as 'Talgarreg' and the farm as 'The Farm'.
The village is famous for its poets and literary figures, three of whom were National Eisteddfod laureates.
Thomas Jacob Thomas (Sarnicol) was a pupil in the school before going on to the Tutorial School in New Quay. He won the Chair in the National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny, 1913, for his ode to The Welshman's Hearth, and he came second to Hedd Wyn in the Eisteddfod of the Black Chair in Birkenhead in 1917.
Dewi Emrys lived in Y Bwthyn (The Cottage) from 1940 to 1952. In 1948 he won the Chair in the National Eisteddfod in Bridgend for his ode to The Exile.
The chief bard Donald Evans was educated in the local school and in Aberaeron County School. Donald won the Chair and the Crown in the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham in 1977 and in Dyffryn Lliw in 1980, achieving the double double, an honour shared by only three poets in the history of the National Eisteddfod.
In 1981 another local boy, the Rev. Meirion Morris, won the Chair in the National Urdd Eisteddfod in Newcastle Emlyn.
The six clergymen, twelve ministers and fifteen poets who are connected with the area were listed in a book on the history of the area which was published a year ago.
It is heartening at the beginning of the new millennium that the area continues to retain its language, its culture and its social activities.
Talgarreg has three places of worship, the Unitarian Capel in Bwlch-y-fadfa (pictured below); Pisgah, the Welsh Congregationalist Chapel and St, David's Church near the school.
The village's chief community centre is the Memorial Hall which was built in 1923 and rebuilt in 1993.
Local societies which meet there are the Urdd, the 'Over Sixties Club', Merched y Wawr, the Nursery School, the Bowling Club, the Social Club and classes in Extra-Mural Studies.
The sports and old engine show is held during the summer, and horse races, which are held twice a year, are an old tradition in the area. Over a century ago they were held on the main road leading from the village to Bwlch-y-fadfa; this would be both impossible and illegal today.
Sarnicol died in 1945 after spending his life away from the area of his youth, but he did not forget it and his homesickness is obvious in his poetry and essays, such as the following couplet:
"Gwin a gawn bryhawn ein hoes/ O rawnwin bore einioes"
(In the afternoon of our life we receive wine from the grapes of our youth)
(Mr Lloyd Jones, author of a history of Talgarreg)
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