Felinfoel

Felinfoel Brewery

Felinfoel (Welsh: Felin-foel) is a small village and community council ward on the River Lliedi on the northern border of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, with a population of about 2,000.

The Felinfoel Brewery, home of Double Dragon Ale, is the oldest in Wales. It was the first brewery outside the US to sell beer in cans.^[1]

The village is renowned for its close community and ties with many famous names that have starred in past Llanelli RFC line-ups. The rugby union fly-half Phil Bennett, who played for Llanelli, Wales and the British Lions, is one of Felinfoel's most famous residents.

Felinfoel is part of the Llanelli Rural ward of Carmarthenshire County Council. It is generally considered a suburb of the town of Llanelli.

Local amenities

Felinfoel has a butcher's, a bakery, a fish and chip shop, locally produced real ale from the historic Felinfoel Brewery and shop, a Co-op supermarket and a computer shop within the village.

Welsh Dragon motif of Felinfoel Brewery

It is a small village with a parish church and Nonconformist chapel. The Diplomat Hotel and Chasens health spa also fall within the village's borders.

To the north of the village and on the River Lliedi is a picturesque double reservoir which gives the Swiss Valley area its name.

Felinfoel's main Baptist chapel, Adulam, plays a significant role in the history of that Nonconformist sect, as it is on the site of Ty Newydd, said by some to be the oldest Baptist settlement in Wales. Previously, the outlawed creed held its meetings in secret in Ogof Goetre Wen on the Morlais River some four miles away. Adulam's baptismal pool on the River Lleidi was in use for total immersions until the 1970s. The congregation would sit on the railway sleeper benches, and on the bridge over the river, and sing as the person was raised from the water.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. The population of this ward falls entirely within the Llanelli Rural community. The total population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 2,054.^[2]

Transport

Felinfoel has good links with the M4 motorway which leads to Swansea and Cardiff to the east and Carmarthen and Pembrokeshire in the west. The village is also linked by regular local bus services to Llanelli railway station.

References

External links

• Llanelli History
• Adulam Chapel
• Felinfoel Brewery
• Llanelli Community Heritage Felinfoel Brewery and the first British beer cans
• www.geograph.co.uk: photos of Felinfoel and surrounding area

Coordinates: 51°42′03″N 4°08′40″W / 51.70075°N 4.14449°W / 51.70075; -4.14449