The Church of St Hywyn,

Aberdaron Aberdaron is a community, electoral ward and former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It lies west of Pwllheli and south west of Caernarfon, and has a population of 965. The community inc ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, is a parish church dating from the 12th century. Its origins are earlier, as a ''clas'' church from the 5th to the 7th centuries. Further building, including the construction of the second nave, took place in the late 15th or early 16th centuries. Its importance was as an embarkation point for the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

on Bardsey Island which became a significant site of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

saw the church's decline, and by the 19th century it was a ruin. In the 1850s a new church, ''Eglwys Newydd'', was constructed inland, but proved so unpopular that St Hywyn's was restored. The

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

poet

R. S. Thomas Ronald Stuart Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000), published as R. S. Thomas, was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest ( Church of Wales) noted for nationalism, spirituality and dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. John Betjeman, introduc ...

was minister at the church, which is a Grade I listed building.

History

The origins of the church are as a ''clas'' settlement from the Dark Ages of the 5th to the 7th centuries. The clas was founded by St Hywyn, an early

Welsh Saint Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

originally from

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. The settlement rose in importance after 1190 when Bardsey Island, the "Island of 20,000 Saints", and

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

were declared places of pilgrimage by the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. The writer

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

notes that visits to both sites equated to a single pilgrimage to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. St Hywyn's expanded greatly to accommodate the very large numbers of pilgrims sailing to Bardsey Abbey, who were fed and watered in the Great Kitchen (''Y Gegin Fawr'') next to the church. The present building is first recorded in 1115 and further building took place in the 14th and 15th centuries. Following the Reformation, the church declined, experiencing a long history of non-resident clergy. By the 1840s, it had become ruinous and a new church was built further inland. The new church proved to be unpopular, however, and by 1868 the original church had been restored and brought back into use. Further restorations took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. The church, known as "The Cathedral of Llyn", remains an active church in the Bro Enlli Ministry Area. The poet

was minister at the church from 1967 to 1978.

Architecture and description

The church comprises two naves, of equal length but of differing dates; the Northern is largely 12th century while the Southern dates from the 14th century. The building is constructed of rubble with

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roofs and a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. The interior, which was refurbished in 2006 has a

hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...

. The internal arcade is of the 15th century and is described as "distinguished" in the

volume of ''The Buildings of Wales''. Two carved boulders within the church commemorate a pair of 5th or 6th century priests, ''Veracius'' and ''Senacus''. The church is a Grade I listed building, its listing recording the church as "one of the major churches of the Lleyn".

Notable burials

The local herbalist Alice Griffith was buried here in 1821.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aberdaron, Saint Hywyn Grade I listed buildings in Gwynedd Grade I listed churches in Gwynedd History of Gwynedd Church in Wales church buildings 12th-century church buildings in Wales