Henfynyw is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in the county of

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

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 ...

, just outside

Aberaeron Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community, and electoral ward between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, in Ceredigion, Wales. Ceredigion County Council offices are in Aberaeron. The name of the town is Welsh for ''mouth of the ...

, and is 69.6 miles (111.9 km) from

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and 183.5 miles (295.4 km) from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 2011 the population of Henfynyw numbered 1045, with 54.3% of them able to speak

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 ...

. The community includes the villages of Ffos-y-ffin, Llwyncelyn and Derwen-gam

Henfynyw church and St. David

By the twelfth century, Henfynyw church was dedicated to St. David, and early Christian lore had it that Henfynyw was the place where

St David Saint David ( cy, Dewi Sant; la, Davidus; ) was a Welsh bishop of Mynyw (now St Davids) during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail abo ...

had spent some of his early years. For instance, the 'Holy Bard of Brecon' ( Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, flourished 1176 AD) drew on this lore, when he included Henfynyw church in a poem. His "Ode to St David" listed the places in Wales that were then closely associated with St. David... :"And fair Henfynyw, by the side of the glen of Aeron, :Fields prolific in clover, and woods full of wealth."Lines from the "Ode to St David" translated in the article "Aberaeron before the Harbour Act of 1807", ''Ceredigion: Journal of the

Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society Ceredigion Historical Society (formally the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society) was founded in 1909. History Founding members included: Revd George Eyre Evans, Llewellyn John Montford Bebb, Revd Professor E. Tyrrell-Green (Chairman), Revd J Fran ...

'', Vol. 9, Nos. 1–4, 1980–1983. There is now no sure evidence for Henfynyw in the life of St. David, but Henfynyw church is ancient and has an inscribed stone in the east wall dated to the period 600–800 AD.

Henfynyw church and St. David

References

See also