Capel-y-ffin ('' en, Chapel of the Boundary'') is a hamlet near the English-Welsh border, a couple of miles north of

Llanthony Llanthony (, cy, Llanddewi Nant Honddu ) is a village in the community of Crucorney on the northern edge of Monmouthshire, South East Wales, United Kingdom. Location Llanthony is located in the Vale of Ewyas, a deep and long valley with ...

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

, Wales. It lies within the Black Mountains and within 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 ...

. The nearest town is

Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye ( cy, Y Gelli Gandryll), simply known locally as "Hay" ( cy, Y Gelli), is a market town and community in Powys, Wales; it was historically in the county of Brecknockshire. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as "the to ...

, some to the northwest.

History

St Mary's Chapel

The name Capel-y-ffin is Welsh, and means "chapel of the boundary" since it lies in the valley of the River Honddu close to the boundary of the historical dioceses of St David's and Llandaf, now Swansea and Brecon and Monmouth. The chapel itself is dedicated to

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and was built in 1762, replacing an earlier 15th-century structure. It originally served as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

for the parish church at

Llanigon Llanigon is a village and community in Powys, Wales on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of the Black Mountains, Wales. The community population was 478. The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye, some 1.5 miles (2 km) to the e ...

, but is now within its own ecclesiastical parish. With an interior of just 26 by 13 feet (8 by 4 metres), the chapel is one of the smallest in Wales and reminded diarist Francis Kilvert of an owl. On the other side of the River Honddu is a small, whitewashed Baptist chapel built by the two brothers, William and David Prosser. A wall plaque commemorates their work in bringing ''The Ministry of the Gospel to their house in the year 1737. And Secured this Place for That Sacred Use for the Time Being. Both died near the End of the Year 1780.'' The hamlet was the last Welsh-speaking community in this part of Wales.

The Monastery

In 1869,

Joseph Leycester Lyne Joseph Leycester Lyne, known by his religious name as Father Ignatius of Jesus ( – ), was an Anglican Benedictine monk. He commenced a movement to reintroduce monasticism into the Church of England. Early life Lyne was born in Trinity ...

, self-styled "Father Ignatius", purchased of land at Capel-y-ffin in order to build an Anglican monastery near the ruins of Llanthony Priory. With the help of fellow monks and local masons, he succeeded in building ' Llanthony Tertia', where an eccentric version of monastic life – witnessed by Francis Kilvert – continued till his death in 1908. Lyne is buried in the monastery church which, being poorly built and subsequently neglected, is now partly ruined. A memorial trust exists to restore the church and an annual pilgrimage is held between Llanthony Priory and Capel-y-ffin. The Vision Farm, Capel-y-ffin - geograph

The Vision Farm, Capel-y-ffin - geograph

In 1880, Lyne's religious convictions were confirmed by visions of the Virgin Mary seen in the monastery and nearby fields by monks and local farm boys. The Vision Farm, to the south-east of the hamlet, was so renamed as a result of these apparitions. The farm (at least in name) features in the novel '' On the Black Hill'' by Bruce Chatwin, though the author changed its location. From August 1924 to October 1928, the artist

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cr ...

and his family lived in the former monastery at Capel-y-ffin. It was here that he designed the typefaces Perpetua and

Gill Sans Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards. Gill Sans is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Undergro ...

. With him was the poet and artist David Jones, who painted the local scenery.J. Miles, ''Eric Gill & David Jones at Capel-y-ffin'', 1992 Jones features as a character in the novel '' Resistance'' by

Owen Sheers Owen Sheers (born 20 September 1974) is a Welsh poet, author, playwright and television presenter. He was the first writer in residence to be appointed by any national rugby union team. Early life Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974, and ...

, set close by in the Olchon Valley.

References

External links

"A spiritual journey" (The Guardian, May 2006)

History of Capel-y-finn Monastery
{{authority control Villages in Powys Black Mountains, Wales