Llanfoist Church, St Faith Monmouthshire

Llanfoyst, from Tudors Gate, Abergavenny

Llanfoist ( cy, Llan-ffwyst) is both a village near Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire, Wales, and the

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, ...

of Llanfoist Fawr. Llanfoist derives from ''Ffwyst'', an early Christian Welsh saint, although the anglicised version of the church patron is ''Saint Faith''. The population was 1,228 in 2011.

The Church of St Faith

1901

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...

of Monmouthshire describes the parish church of St Faith's: The church holds records for baptisms from 1736–1975, for marriages from 1736–1971, for banns from 1824–47 and 1890–1933, and for burials from 1736-1945. There are also Bishops Transcripts for 1725-32, 1734–51, 1753-4, 1756–75, 1777–1806, 1808–10, 1813, 1815–16, 1820–37, 1841–58, 1862–1865, 1869 and 1880. The parish of Llanelen has historically been held with Llanfoist, although since the retirement of the last resident Rector, the Reverend Thomas Arthur Foster (1923-2010) in 1992 the parishes have been served from Govilon ( Llanwenarth Ultra). At the time of his departure, Father Foster was the longest serving

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

in the

Diocese of Monmouth The Diocese of Monmouth is a diocese of the Church in Wales. Despite the name, its cathedral is located not in Monmouth but in Newport — the Cathedral Church of St Woolos. Reasons for not choosing the title of Newport included the existence of ...

, having held the benefice since 1959. His predecessor, the Reverend Harold Stanley Richards (1888-1976) served between 1930-59. The village also had a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, erected in 1839. In 1851 the attendance was 200 for morning worship (with 180 scholars), 200 scholars in the afternoon and 40 for evening worship with 50 scholars.

Crawshay Bailey and Alexander Cordell

Llanfoist was home to the

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

Crawshay Bailey Crawshay Bailey (1789 – 9 January 1872) was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales. Early life Bailey was born in 1789 in Great Wenham, Suffolk, the son of John Bailey, of Wakefield and his wife Susannah ...

. Before 1851 he had retired to Llanfoist House in the village. Llanfoist Primary School had a house named after him until 2008 when the House was renamed 'Skirrid'. He died in 1872, aged 83, after at least seventy years in industry. His only son and heir, also

(1841–1887), inherited his estate. The

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Alexander Cordell Alexander Cordell (9 September 1914 – 9 July 1997) was the pen name of George Alexander Graber. He was a prolific Welsh novelist and author of 30 acclaimed works which include, '' Rape of the Fair Country'', '' Hosts of Rebecca'' and '' So ...

, most famously author of ''

Rape of the Fair Country ''Rape of the Fair Country'' is a novel by Alexander Cordell, first published in 1959. It is the first in Cordell's "Mortymer Trilogy", followed by ''The Hosts Of Rebecca'' (1960) and ''Song of the Earth'' (1969). The book has been translated int ...

'' is buried at Llanfoist.

Amenities and attractions

The village is located beneath the hill known as Blorenge, part of the

Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain ( cy, Y Mynydd Du) i ...

, rising above sea level over the vale of the River Usk. The

Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal ( cy, Camlas Sir Fynwy a Brycheiniog) is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural ch ...

runs just above the village. The village has a church hall, situated on the Merthyr Road, which holds Public Liability Insurance.

Recent developments

The Llanfoist Fawr Primary School moved to a new location in the Barratt estate (Ffordd yr Ysgol) on Gypsy Lane and was opened in 2008. On 2 January 2012 an ancient yew tree in the grounds of St Faith's Church, which was believed to be up to 1,000 years old, was brought down by high winds.

References

External links

Old Photos of the canal

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llanfoist and surrounding area

{{authority control Villages in Monmouthshire Brecon Beacons River Usk