Tirabad (also known as Llanddulas) is a remote, isolated village on the western edge of Mynydd Eppynt, on the Powys Ceredigion border. It is bounded on three sides by the Crychan Forest and is situated next to Nant Crysan. For many years, according to Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, the village ‘appears to have been a typical isolated church settlement comprising the church and a single farmhouse. However within the past 30 years a number of wooden fronted, semi-detached, “forestry workers” houses have been built to the west of the church.’ 

The history of the name of the settlement is quite interesting. Again, according to Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust ‘the settlement is now commonly termed Tirabad, a name which goes back to at least 1619 when Tyr yr abate or “the abbots land” referred to the land in the area which have formerly belonged to the monastery of Strata Florida. In the late 1690s Edward Lhuyd referred to the parish of Tir Abat and in 1821 it was Newchurch Tyr Abbott reflecting the small church built on a new site in 1716. The alternative, Llanddulas, has no known pedigree, and looks like a back-formation from the river and/or Glandulas nearby. This suggests that the settlement itself may not have had a history prior to the early 18th century, and that the church and nearby farm (Glandulas – NPRN 25517) existed in isolation for many years.’ 

The six-inch Ordnance Survey map published in 1887 labels the settlement ‘Llanddulas.’ It depicts a settlement with very few houses, but it did have a church (NPRN 310154), a school, and Hermon Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NPRN 6078), a little to the west of the nucleus of the settlement. Very little had changed by the time the 1905 edition of the six-inch OS map was published. 

‘In the nineteenth century the main route through the settlement ran from east to west and separated Glandulas from the church. At some point, and perhaps as a result of the forestry activity, the route coming in from the north became more important and led to modifications to the road pattern that resulted in the road division between the two buildings disappearing.’ This can be seen clearly in the 1952 edition of the six-inch Ordnance Survey map, as can the extensive forestry plantation to the north of the village. 

Source: Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust report PRN 2576, accessed from Historic Wales website; historic OS maps 

RCAHMW, 27th April 2020