The name Crymych translates into English as crooked stream, referring to the River Taf which rises in the high ground above the village and takes a sharp turn in the valley in the north end of the village. First mentioned in an account of the Cemais Hundred of 1468, Crymych has for centuries been an area of livestock farming. Other than the Crymych Arms public house (dating from at least 1861 but possibly as early as 1812), little existed at the spot before the extension of the Whitland and Taf Vale Railway to Crymych in 1874. The area then grew rapidly as a service and transport centre for the surrounding uplands and acquired a reputation for being ‘the Wild West of West Wales’, reflected in the tongue-in-cheek appellation of Cowbois Crymych by which residents are sometimes known. The village was sometimes referred to as Crymych Arms, after the name of the station, for example in a report of an Eisteddfod in 1876. The first Crymych agricultural show was in 1909. A regional livestock market existed in the village for many years; a new purpose-built site was developed north of the village, also accommodating a number of other traders. Crymych War Memorial, which covers Eglwyswrw, Blaenffos, Llanfyrnach, Hermon and Glogue, records the names of 50 people who lost their lives in World War I and 17 in World War II. In the 2021 census the Crymych area population stood at 1,825 people.