The Church, with buildings dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, is built on the site of an ancient church which was dedicated to St Illtud (St Illtyd) at the same time that the parish church at Llanelli was dedicated to St Elli.

In the tall tower there are three bells, dating from 1552 and there is an Elizabethan Chalice. The timber barrel roof dates from the 16th century, the hagioscope (squint) is a point of interest as well as the attractive 17th century communion rails.

The Parish Church at Pembrey was dedicated to St Illtyd by Herwald, Bishop of Llandaff around 1066.

Although Llanelli was the town and Pembrey was a fishing village the communities always had links and local people would bring their goods to Llanelli to sell in the markets. The local gentry of Pembrey and Llanelli often intermarried.

St Illtyd’s was the final resting place of many seafarers. Most of the bodies lost at sea in Carmarthen Bay landed up on Cefn Sidan Sands and were buried in Pembrey churchyard.

Notable memorials

A grave in the churchyard commemorates a niece of the Empress Josephine Buonaparte, who drowned when La Jeune Emma, on which she was travelling foundered on Cefn Sidan Sands. The accident was caused when the ship mistook the light from the Lighthouse on Lundy Island for that of Ushant.

Captain James Holder of Penzance, Cornwall who was drowned when shipwrecked off Pembrey.

Harold Ernest Trubshaw MBE DL JP, who died on 25 October 1951, and of Marcus Cautley Phillips his infant grandson who died on 5 February 1947. Ernest Trubshaw was living at Ael y Bryn Llanelli in 1891, was Chairman of the Board of Health and along with his brother-in-law Joseph Smith became involved in the Llanelli’s steel and tinplate industry.

Robert Hall, Master Mariner aged 44 of Sunderland near the sea, County Durham. He commanded the Zenith of Sunderland which was lost off Burry Holmes Bar in a gale on 8 January 1867 when all 9 hands aboard perished. The gravestone was erected as a memorial by the owner.

William Lovell, travelling Hawker who died 9 November 1886 aged 66 years. On the headstone is the following:

Fast dear wife my days have past

I loved you truly to the last

Weep not for I’ve gone before

You’ll meet me on the Heavenly Shore.

Captain Edwin Bush, aged 35, of the Barque Path Finder of Swansea, was drowned at sea off Bootle, Cumberland, during a storm on 26 August 1881 whilst on his homeward voyage from Bull River, South Africa

James Smith, aged 21, son of John and Dina Smith, of Wick, Scotland who was drowned when the SS Tynemouth foundered in the Bristol Channel on 1 January 1916.

Catherine P Thomas, aged 65, wife of R G Thomas of Akron, Ohio, USA, and daughter of William and Ann Phillips of Graig y Iarll, who died suddenly at Liverpool on 20 March 1910 on her way home after a short visit to her native land after 40 years in the United States, She left behind a husband, three daughters and six sons to mourn her loss.

Lady Mansel’s Vault

This Vault was erected by the Lady Mansel of Trimsaran in regard to the memory of her “Deare deceased husband Sir Edward Mansel, Baronet who departed his life in London the 6 day of March Anno Domini 1719 in the 56 year of his age and was brought here to be interred with his family.”

The inscription has faded and the Vault is decaying but it shows that the gentry were living in London and only came home to be buried amid great pomp and ceremony. The rents from their local estates went to pay for their high life and gambling in ‘far away’ London – their only interest in their estates, in most cases, was the revenue they obtained from their hard-pressed tenants.

Cause of the loss of La Jeune Emma

Lundy Island lies at the mouth of the Bristol Channel. It is surrounded by reefs and sharp rocks that makes an approach to the island difficult.

In 1819 Trinity House proposed the erection of a lighthouse on the rocky summit of Chapel Hill. Joseph Nelson was the the builder, Daniel Alexander was engineer and James Turnbull Superintendent of Works. The tower, built of granite was 96 feet high with keepers houses adjoining, the cost being £10,276 19s.11d. Two lights were shown from the tower: the lower a fixed white light; the upper a white quick flashing light, every 60 seconds. This was an innovation in lighthouse optics. However, the light revolved so quickly that no period of darkness was detectable between the flashes so in effect this also appeared as a fixed light. They were shown from elevations of 508' and 538' respectively and from 5 miles away the two lights merged into one.

It was the appearance of being a fixed light that contributed to the loss of La Jeune Emma on an evening in November 1828. The ship, on passage from Martinique to Cherbourg, arrived in Carmarthen Bay in thick fog and mistook the Lundy lights for the fixed light of Ushant and went onto the rocks. Of the 19 people on board 13 were lost including a niece of the Empress Josephine.

The lighthouse was abandoned in 1897 due to the continuing complaints that the light was completely lost in fog and two new lighthouses were built on the North and South extremities of the island. The white circular tower of the South Lighthouse was automated and converted to solar power in 1994. The North Lighthouse is set on a narrow plateau. The light was produced from a 75mm petroleum vapour burner until 1971 when electricity was installed. The North Station was automated in 1985 and modernised in 1991 when it was converted to solar power with a new proprietary lantern manufactured by Orga installed on the disused fog signal building.

Both Lundy Lighthouses are now monitored and controlled via telemetry link from the Trinity House Central Planning Unit at Harwich in Essex.