St Cadoc's Church, Llancarfan is a church in
Llancarfan
Llancarfan is a rural village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village, located west of Barry and near Cowbridge, has a well-known parish church, the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th-century clas, famed for its learning. Cainnech of A ...
, in the
Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. It dates from the 13th century
and has been a
Grade I listed building since 28 January 1963.
The church is one of several churches in Wales dedicated to St
Cadoc, but it was at Llancarfan that the saint is believed to have served as
abbot of, or possibly founded, a
monastery of some importance. The name "Llancarfan" means "church of the stags". The church once had a chancel window said to be a masterpiece of stained glass. During the reign of
Oliver Cromwell a local man named Whitton Bush destroyed the window by repeatedly beating it while shouting "Down with the
Whore of Babylon!"
In 2013 restoration work was carried out on medieval wall paintings discovered at the church in 2008. When layers of
limewash were removed, it was found that the topics depicted include the
Seven Deadly Sins and
Saint George and the Dragon
In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...
. Further investigations suggested that the paintings are among the best surviving examples in the whole of the UK, and that the depiction of Saint George and the Dragon is the largest on the subject from that period, as well as the most complete. Another painting deals with the unusual topic of "Death and the Gallant". Their date has been estimated at the second half of the 15th century.
References
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Llancarfan
Llancarfan is a rural village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village, located west of Barry and near Cowbridge, has a well-known parish church, the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th-century clas, famed for its learning. Cainnech of A ...