England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llandyfrydog St Dyfrydog

The Parish

The parish of Llandyfrydog lies in the northeastern portion of central Anglesey roughly 5 miles south of the port & town of Amlwch. Llandyfrydog sits about 2 miles east of the B5111 road which links Amlwch with Llanerchymedd. Llandyfrydog is a totally scattered community with no real centre or cluster fit to call a village. A few cottages & a couple of farms sit by the church whilst other small concentrations are found at the crossroads of Capel Parc and at Maenaddwyn on the lane connecting Llanerchymedd with Benllech. There is a folk tale told about the standing stone found at Carreg Leidr, the story is that it is a thief turned to stone, after he stole the Bible from the parish church, as retribution for his crime. The parish has a mixture of landscapes and a variable farming mix to take advantage, the wetter areas being pasture whilst hardy cereals and root crops are grown on the drier parts. In earlier times there was a small cottage industry which worked the peat deposits, they were fed by streams leading from Parys Mountain and concentrated copper ore which could be retrieved by burning the peat. Llandyfrydog is drained by various streams which coalesce to form Afon Goch which heads northeast to reach the Irish Sea at the extensive bay of Dulas Bay. Llandyfrydog is sited at 40 metres above the sea at the parish church, to the east views are dominated by the isolated knoll of Mynydd Bodafon which has twin peaks standing at 163 & 178 metres, the highest ground for some distance. Llandyfrydog parish was typically sized for the area covering 2,000 acres which would have supported a scattered population of close to 700 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llandyfrydog is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Dyfrydog's church stand on the western side of Lon Leidr and is reached along that narrow lane headed roughly north from the Llanerchymedd to Benllech road. The church stands within the traditional circular "llan" evidence of its early foundation which may well be as early as the mid-5th century as some writers claim, obviously nothing remains of that early church. The earliest standing fabric is the nave which Pevsner gives a date of c1400, unusually it is almost a square in layout rather than rectangular. Both northern & southern doorways are contemporary. Eastward the chancel was rebuilt in the later Perpendicular era possibly 15th century or more likely the early 16th, the chancel has a set of 3 lancets styled windows which might be indicative of a previous iteration of the 13th century. Internally the church has a set of painted box pews which are Georgian and probably from a restoration of 1823. A further Victorian restoration of 1862 made many changes, a southern porch, a northern vestry and the western bellcote all date from this work as well as the southern window. A  farm track almost opposite to the church has a broad entrance which may provide a single parking space for a considerate parker, the church sits almost embedded in trees with only the favoured southeastern aspect clear for the photographer, all other angles require some scouting to find acceptable views.