NAR SH36NW2

A medieval parish church set on a tiny islet restricted to its churchyard and now revetted by a dramatic high stone wall.
The church is a stone rubble walled single cell building consisting of a continuous nave and chancel. The earliest part of the fabric is the western part of the south wall, which has a projecting string course. This portion may be twelfth century. The details of the building are otherwise fourteenth-fifteenth century with a fifteenth-sixteenth century three bay arcade on the north side marking the position of a now vanished aisle. A south porch has also vanished. The roof is thought to be sixteenth century. The church was restored in 1893-4.
The islet, composed of clay(?) with boulders, was reached by a causeway founded on large stone blocks, depicted on the OS County series 1st edition (Anglesey XXI.6 1889) and on an engraving of 1846. This also shows the condition of the islet prior to the construction of the revetment. The 1889 mapping shows a wall running around the summit of the islet slopes, but this had gone by the time of the 2nd edition in 1900. The present wall is shown on the 3rd edition of 1922.

Sources: HLJ in Archaeologia Cambrensis I (1846), 156-8
RCAHM Anglesey Inventory (1937), 97
CADW Listed Buildings Database (5273, 20965)

John Wiles 01.08.07



1. Built 12th century, rubble masonry, roof, probably 16th century, much repaired.
2. A rectangular structure, c.15.3m NE-SW by 6.5m, comprising a continuous nave and chancel, the fabric being 12/14th c, restored 1893-4.
(source Os495card; SH36NW2)
The parish church of Llangwyfan, set on a near islet.
J.Wiles 18.03.03