The chief buildings are the Carmelite Priory (ruins dating perhaps from the 13th century); a Bluecoat school (1514); a free grammar school (1527); an orphan girl school (funds left by Thomas Howel to the Drapers' Co., in Henry VII.'s reign); the town hall (built in 1572 by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, enlarged and restored in 1780); an unfinished church (begun by Leicester); a market hall (with arcades or "rows," such as those of Chester or Yarmouth); and the old parish church of St Marcella.
Howel, son of Cadell, commonly known as Howel Dda the Good, is ever celebrated in Welsh history as the framer, or rather the codifier, of the ancient laws of his country, which were promulgated to the people at his hunting lodge, Ty Gwyn ar Taf, near the modern Whitland.
In Howel's code the prince of Gwynedd with his court at Aberffraw is recognized as the leading monarch in Wales; next to him ranks the prince of Deheubarth, and third in estimation is the prince of Powys.
The laws of Howel Dda throw a flood of interesting light upon the ancient customs and ideas of early medieval Wales, but as their standard of justice is founded on a tribal arid not a territorial system of society, it is easy to understand the antipathy with which the Normans subsequently came to regard this famous code.
I had an opportunity to moderate the spirits of some who were greatly exasperated against Howel Harris, for preaching predestination among them.
