Llanfihangel-y-traethau

Llanfihangel-y-traethau
Parish

Llanfihangel-y-traethau vicinity c. 1850
Llanfihangel-y-traethau

Location in Gwynedd, Wales

Coordinates: GB-WLS 52°53′51″N 4°05′25″W / 52.897477°N 4.090183°W / 52.897477; -4.090183Coordinates: GB-WLS 52°53′51″N 4°05′25″W / 52.897477°N 4.090183°W / 52.897477; -4.090183
Country Wales
Gwynedd Local government area
Ardudwy Area

Llanfihangel-y-traethau ("St. Michael's on the Beaches") is a parish in Ardudwy, Gwynedd, north-west Wales centered on a church of the same name in the village of Ynes. The original parish church was built in the 12th century on a tidal island. Later the land rose and connected the island to the mainland. Today the parish is part of the Harlech Group, whose rector is based in Harlech, a few kilometers to the southwest.

Etymology

The name means "St. Michael's on the Beaches", and the church was one of several "St. Michael's Mounts" along the shores of the ancient Celtic world, including the famous St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy. The village name, Ynys, means "island".[1]

Location

The church of Llanfihangel-y-traethau is on the coast 3.25 miles (5.23 km) north by east of Harlech.[2] When the church was built it was on a rocky, tidal island, reached across the sands at low tide or by boat at high tide.[1] The rivers Glaslyn and Dwyryd once met near Llanfihangel Church, then ran southwest to reach the sea at Harlech.[3] The sea between Harlech and Ynes retreated in the late middle ages. In 1810 a sea wall was built from Ynys to the "mainland" near Glan-y-Wern, and another from Glany-Wern to Bont Briwet (the Toll Bridge). In 1856 plans were made to drain the marshland between Talsarnau and Harlach, to be followed by construction of the lower road (A496) from Talsarnau via Ynys to Harlech.[1]

Originally the parish included the coast from the mouth of the Glaslyn to the parish of Llandanwg, which contained Harlech. The parish included the Penrhyndeudraeth–Portmeirion peninsula.[1] As of 1870 the parish was a sub-district of the Ffestiniog district, Merioneth. The parish covered 7,567 acres (3,062 ha) of which 2,656 acres (1,075 ha) were water. The land near the river Dwyryd was marshy, while further inland it is hilly.[2] Penrhyndeudraeth became a separate parish in 1897.[1]

Parish history

Saint Tecwyn, who lived in the early 6th century, came to Britain from Gaul (France) in the time of Vortigern to renovate British Christianity.[4] He founded the church of Llandecwyn to the northeast of the island.[4] In 1073 a battle was fought near the present village at Bron-yr-Erw between Trehaern-ab-Caradoc and Grufydd-ab-Cynan, two Welsh chieftains.[2][5] The original church of Llanfihangel-y-traethau was established in the mid-12th century, and is the only church in Wales dedicated to Saint Tecwyn.[3] Seagoing vessels were built at Ty Gwyn Gamlas, beside Ynys, until the shipyards of Porthmadog were developed. A 1610 map shows a water inlet from Ty Gwyn almost all the way to Harlech Castle.[6]

Llanfihangel was a chapel of ease to the Llandecwyn church in the 16th century. A 1623 report said that two or three services were held in Llandecwyn each year, and only one in Llanfihangel. Ellis Wynne of Lasynys Fawr, Rector of Llandanwg and author of Gweledigaethu'r Bardd Cwsg (Visions of the Sleeping Bard), was married in Llanfihangel-y-traethau Church in 1698. The curate who ministered the parishes of Llandecwyn and Llanfihangel lived in Ty Fry outside Penrhyndeudraeth in the 18th century.[6] The population of the parish in 1801 was 669.[7]

In 1824 plans were published to build a turnpike road from Harlech to the embankment of Tracthmaur in the parish. A plan was also made to build a railway from quarries owned by Lord Newborough and others in Ffestinoig parish to the south end of the Tracthmaur embankment.[8] Funds were raised in 1834 to build a house for the Rector of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau in Tyddyn Eglwys, near the church.[6] An 1837 gazetteer gave the population as 1,026. The curacy had an annual value of ₤65.[9] The parish population was 1,587 in 1851 and 1,687 in 1861, with 385 houses, mostly the property of a few landowners.[2] As of 1861 the Festiniog workhouse in the parish had 32 inmates.[2]

On 7 May 1858 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England proposed to constitute "a separate district for spiritual purposes out of the parishes of Llanfihangel-y-Traethau, Llandecwyn, and Llanfrothen, in the county of Merioneth and in the diocese of Bangor. A sum of five thousand pounds in 3% annuities had been donated by Louisa Jane Oakley, widow, of Plas Tanybwlch to support the minister of the new district of Penrhyn once it had a parish for ecclesiastical purposes.[10] As of 1868 there was also a district church at Penryhyn Dendraeth and two Methodist chapels.[5]

The Barmouth and Carnarvon railway was completed about the end of 1866, with a station in the parish.[2] In 1927 and again in 1936 the tide overflowed the sea wall and flooded the farmland around Talsarnau. Many animals were drowned and the railway and buildings were badly damaged.[1] As of 2007 the church was rarely used for services. The parish is now part of the Harlech Group, whose rector is based in Harlech.[6]

Church

Church of Llanfihangel-y-traethau

The graveyard of the church of Llanfihangel-y-traethau has a carved stone about 6 feet (1.8 m) high, with a square cross-section of about 0.15 to 0.2 metres (5.9 in to 7.9 in) across.[11] It has a 12th century inscription reading in Latin, after expanding abbreviations,[12]

Hoc (or perhaps Hic) est sepulchrum Wleder matris
Odeleu qui primus edificavit
hanc ecclesiam
in tempore vvini regis

This means, "Here is the grave of Wleder mother of Hoedliw who first built this church in the reign of King Owain".[11] There was some controversy over the names on the stone, and at first it was thought to be the sepulcher of Wledermat Odeleu, but it has come to be accepted that it is the grave of Wleder, mother (matris) of Odeleu.[12] Owain ap Gruffudd was king of Gwynedd from 1137 to 1170, so the stone gives an approximate date for the first church.[11] Over the years the church was altered several times. At one time a small gallery was reserved for "gentlefolk". In 1871 the church was rebuilt, and around 1883 the vestry was added.[1]

Mary Evans (1735–89), leader of a sect that thought she was the bride of Christ, is buried in the graveyard of the church.[13] Many seaman and ship's captains are buried there. Other graves include those of Lewis Holland Thomas, who started as a seafarer and made his fortune as a trader, the author Ann Harriet Hughes (Gwyneth Vaughan; 1852–1910), the diplomat David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (1918–85) and the author Richard Hughes (1900–76).[6] Hughes spent holidays near Talsarnau as a child and lived near Talsarnau from 1947 until his death. He was churchwarden of Llanfihangel-y-traethau.[14]

Notes

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    Sources

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