St. Ishmael, Carmarthenshire, Wales Genealogy

A guide to genealogy in St Ishmael, with information on where to find birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records; census records; wills; cemeteries; maps; etc.

St Ishmael (Welsh: Llanismel) is a village, community and ecclesiastical parish in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

Before 1974 the village was in the historic county of Carmarthenshire and, between 1974 and 1996 in the County of Dyfed. In 1996 it became part of the modern county of Carmarthenshire.

History
ISHMAEL'S (ST.), a parish, in the hundred of KIDWELLY, union and county of CARMARTHEN, SOUTH WALES, 9 miles (S. by W.) from Carmarthen. This parish is situated on the sea-shore, and many of the inhabitants obtain a living by taking fish, which are found here in great variety and abundance, especially cockles and muscles, although they have nearly disappeared for the last ten years. The navigable river Towy runs through the parish, which is peculiarly suited to the growth of barley, which it produces of very fine quality. It contains the improving village of Ferry-side. The church is built on a rock near the seashore, and at high tides the waves approach within thirty yards of its base. Within the limits of the parish is a chapel of ease, called Llansaint chapel, occupying a very elevated site, its lofty tower forming a conspicuous object and a well-known landmark to mariners approaching the coast. There is a place of worship for Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. In this neighbourhood was Cevn Sidan, a sand-bank highly dangerous, and dreaded by sailors, but it has almost entirely disappeared within the last eight years. There are three Sunday schools, one at Ferryside, in connexion with the Church; another at the same place, held by the Particular Baptists in their meeting-house there; and the third at Llansaint, where the Calvinistic Methodists have a meeting-house, in which they hold the school.

For more information on St Ishmael see St Ishmael at Genuki.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * St Ishmael at Vision of Britain.