NPRN423257
Map ReferenceSO22SW
Grid ReferenceSO2394320384
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPowys
Old CountyBrecknockshire
CommunityThe Vale of Grwyney
Type Of SiteVILLAGE
PeriodMultiperiod
DescriptionLlanbedr, or Llanbedr Ystradwy, is situated about two miles north east of Crickhowell, within the Brecon Beacons National Park.
'Translated into English, the full name of the parish, Llanbedr Ystradwy (or Ystrad Yw) which was not frequently used after 1600 means 'St Peter's church in the vale of Yews', the second name referring back to the old commote of Ystrad Yw. The place-name first appears in the
period 1160 to 1185 as llanpetyr and at the time of the ecclesiastical taxation of 1291 we read of Lanpetr?.
The church (NPRN 301769) is recorded in the Liber Landavensis as having been consecrated about 1060 by Herewald, the Bishop of Llandaf, together with Cwmdu, Llangenny and Partrishow, but it is highly unlikely that this was the first church on the spot. The development of the settlement during the Middle Ages is unchronicled, but there is no reason to think that there was a nucleated group of dwellings here, and indeed the negative results from an evaluation by the village hall in 1999 tends to support such a view. The earliest map of Llanbedr which dates to 1760 shows the church, the rectory and eight other
dwellings including a mill beside the Grwyne Fechan, reasonably well spaced out along the road from Crickhowell to Partrishow. In passing it can be noted that only three or perhaps four of these remain to the present day.
Llanbedr was the home in the 18th and early 19th centuries of the Brutes, a family of masons whose memorial stones create a distinctive feature in many churches in the district. Also the ecclesiastical historian, Archdeacon Thomas Payne, resided at the rectory in the 1790s (NPRN 25754).'
Today the village has amenities including a Church in Wales primary school, and a public house called the Red Lion Inn (NPRN 16140)
Source: Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust's 'Historic settlements in the Brecon Beacons National Park' by R J Silvester, C H R Martin and S E Watson (April 2013).
M. Ryder, RCAHMW 3rd September 2018.