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 ...

, in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

, south Wales. It dates from the 13th century and has been a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

since 28 January 1963. The church is one of several churches in Wales dedicated to St

Cadoc Saint Cadoc or Cadog (; also Modern Welsh: Catawg or Catwg; born or before) was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the Celtic church as a centre of learning, wher ...

, but it was at Llancarfan that the saint is believed to have served as

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of, or possibly founded, a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of some importance. It is claimed that the name "Llancarfan" means "church of the stags" though this explanation is disputed. Other explanations are that the Welsh word 'carfan' meaning a row or a ridge may refer to a boundary or that it is named after a person called Carfan. The church once had a chancel window said to be a masterpiece of stained glass. During the reign of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

a local man named Whitton Bush destroyed the window by repeatedly beating it while shouting "Down with the

Whore of Babylon Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to both a symbolic female figure and a place of evil as mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17:5 as "Mystery, Babylon ...

!" In 2013 restoration work was carried out on medieval wall paintings discovered at the church in 2008. When layers of

limewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes us ...

were removed, it was found that the topics depicted include the

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed ...

and

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianity—defeats 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 huma ...

. 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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