St Gwynhoydl's Church is located just north-west of the village of

Llangwnnadl Llangwnnadl is a village and former civil parish in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The parish was abolished in 1934, and incorporated into Tudweiliog.Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, Wales. The church is dedicated to Gwynhoydl, a 6th-century Welsh saint. The church dates to the 14th or 15th centuries, and was greatly extended in the 16th. It is 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 ...

Background

The village of

Llangwnnadl Llangwnnadl is a village and former civil parish in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The parish was abolished in 1934, and incorporated into Tudweiliog.Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

on the northern coast of the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

. The church stands just north of the village and is dedicated to Gwynhoydl, a 6th-century Welsh saint. Also spelt Gwynhoedl, he was held to be a son of the legendary figure Seithennin in the genealogical tract ''

Bonedd y Saint The ''Bonedd y Saint'' or ''Seint'' ( Welsh for "Descent of the Saints") is a Welsh genealogical tract detailing the lineages of the early British saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degr ...

'', and his

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is said to have been on 1 January. The church dates from the 14th or 15th centuries, with the additional of the two

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s dating from 1520 to 1530. The church was on the

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

route to St Mary's Abbey on

Bardsey Island Bardsey Island (), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Wales, Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh language, Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to t ...

. It was restored in 1850 by Henry Kennedy, architect to the

Diocese of Bangor The Diocese of Bangor is a Diocese#Church of England and Anglican Communion, diocese of the Church in Wales in North West Wales. The diocese covers Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and the western part of Montgomeryshire. His ...

. The church remains an active parish church in the

and occasional services are held.

Architecture and description

Richard Haslam, Julian Orbach and Adam Voelcker, in their ''Gwynedd'' volume of the Buildings of Wales series, record the church's "extraordinary plan – three

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s of equal length, the overall width greater than the length". Such a design is rare. The central

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

are combined with a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

above. The building material is local

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

, and slate for the roof. Arcades in the interior carry two inscribed panels, one of the Latin inscriptions recording the burial of Saint Gwynhoydl at the site. The church is 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 ...

Gallery

St Gwynhoedl's Church, Llangwnnadl, interior.jpg, Interior Arysgrifau - Inscriptions Eglwys St Gwynhoedl Llangwnnadl - geograph.org.uk - 532449.jpg, Inscription in Latin recording the burial of Saint Gwynhoydl at the site Eglwys St Gwynhoedl Llangwnnadl - geograph.org.uk - 357875.jpg, The entrance front

References

Sources

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External links

RCAHMW photographic survey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llangwnnadl, Saint Gwynhoydl 14th-century church buildings in Wales Grade I listed churches in Gwynedd Tudweiliog