The college's role was to train young men for teaching in Church primary schools.

In the first year of operation, 22 students were recruited and were taught by three members of staff including the first Principal, William Reed.

The college required its students to follow a strict schedule which included getting up at half past six for a cold bath.

Students were often recruited from humble backgrounds, and to remind them of this, the college curriculum included subjects such as gardening and woodwork.

The strict regime of college life was however broken for activities such as smoking and reading newspapers in the common rooms, musical concerts and entertainment.

During the Second World War many students were expected to take "fire watches" and serve as lookouts at night, although this job came with little danger in a town like Carmarthen.

[2] On 14 December 2008, it was announced that Trinity was in merger talks with Lampeter with the intention of forming a new university in Wales.

The name for the newly merged institution would be University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The Welsh Assembly Government announced a £14.03m investment in the newly merged institution in October 2008.

It is in a semi-rural setting, surrounded by fields and hills, but is within 10 minutes walk of the town centre.

The university is situated around the original Old College of 1848 and is a mixture of lawns and gardens surrounding modern buildings.

The ante-chapel is the original 1848 chapel, now dedicated to past students and lecturers who served during the First World War.

It also houses the chaplaincy library, a small collection of literature serving needs of the chapel and its congregation.

The building comprised several large lecture halls, smaller conference rooms and suites, a larger conference hall complete with bar facilities and the Halliwell Theatre, which regularly hosted shows by travelling companies and the universities acclaimed performing arts students.

This building housed office space, music suites and practice rooms for the School of Performing Arts.

It contained the university's main reception, finance office and registry as well as IT facilities which were sometimes used by the School of Business and Tourism.

The main library of the campus was constructed in 1995 to accommodate resources for the growing diversity of subjects studied, and was located opposite the Parry Block.

It was dedicated to the poet Raymond Garlick, who was a principal lecturer in Trinity's Welsh Department.

Named after Robert Hunter, this building contained laboratories, classrooms and lecture halls used by the School of Sport, Health and Outdoor Education.

The facility was located near the Myrddin Accommodation blocks, and was surrounded by picturesque gardens and ponds.

Named after the author Dafydd Rowlands, this building was the hub of the School of Film and Visual Media.

There were also modern media suites which allowed students to engage with 2D and 3D moving artwork and an Apple Mac lab equipped with dual core i-Macs, as well as Mac Pro towers to enable students to have an industry standard experience.

This tradition continued throughout the institution's history and the college became one of the UK's chief providers of the subject.

Former students include BBC Wales television producer and executive John Hefin;[7] rugby players Dewi Bebb and Barry John; singers Stuart Burrows and Rhys Meirion; Pam Evans, founder of Peace Mala; writers Gwyn Morgan, Eirug Wyn, and John Owen; and David Kitchener, Professor of Inclusion and Diversity, University of Bolton.

Former lecturers include Raymond Garlick, Norah Isaac, Islwyn Ffowc Elis, Carwyn James, Wyn Evans and Dafydd Rowlands.