Llangeler is a hamlet located in north Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The name is believed to refer to St. Gelert

Saint Gelert

Saint Gelert, also known as Celer, Celert or Kellarth , was an early Celtic saint. Several locations in Wales are believed to bear his name. They include Beddgelert and the surrounding Gelert Valley and Llangeler where there is a church dedicated to him...

. Llangeler parish covers a wide area including to the west, the textile village of Dre-fach Felindre and to the east, Pontyweli which adjoins Llandysul

Llandysul

Llandysul is a small town in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The community of Pont Tyweli lies directly across the Teifi River in Carmarthenshire. It is in the valley of the River Teifi and is visited for its fishing and canoeing....

 on the Carmarthenshire side of the River Teifi

River Teifi

The River Teifi forms the boundary between the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales for most of its 75 mile length, flowing into the sea below the town of Cardigan. The catchment of the river is estimated to be 1,008 square kilometres yielding an average flow at Glan...

. The population of the parish was 3,222 at the Census of 2001.

History

The church is dedicated to St Celer, a hermit and martyr who lived in the nearby woods in the 7th century. It has a circular churchyard which suggests that the settlement is very old. There was a holy well near the churchyard and Sir John Lloyd’s History of Carmarthenshire refers to an ancient stone, Yr hen lech, to which was attributed healing powers. Sick persons were required to bathe in Ffynnon Celer, the holy well, before sleeping on the stone.

There were nine holy wells in the parish of Llangeler. Their existence was recorded by Francis Jones in his book Holy Wells of Wales. Such wells were often roofed and had small chapels with niches for statues of saints, and pilgrims came in large numbers to visit them. The exact whereabouts of many of the wells in the parish have now been lost.