England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanerchymedd St Mary

The Parish

The chapelry of Llanerchymedd, its mother parish being chiefly Amlwch, lies in northern central Anglesey about 6 miles northwest of the market town & administrative centre of Llangefni. Llanerchymedd sits at the junction of the B5111 road, which links Llangefni with Amlwch, with the B5112 which runs southwards to meet the cross-island expressway. Once of much more importance, Llanerchymedd was granted market town status by King Charles II in 1665 (the only market on the island at that date) but with the development of Amlwch, Holyhead and Llangefni over time that status dwindled and was eventually lost. Llanerchymedd is nowadays merely a large village but retains some shops and services appropriate to its former status. The land of the wider chapelry would have been largely used for growing cereals such as oats & barley whilst Llanerchymedd itself had a thriving shoe-making tradition employing 250 men at one time. Modern developments have come and gone, the branch railway line serving Amlwch & its extractive industries has since closed. Llanerchymedd is drained by small streams towards the nearby reservoir of Llyn Alaw and its outfall Afon Alaw which heads southwesterly to reach the western coast through Llanfachraeth. Llanerchymedd is sited at around 70 metres above the sea with land rising steadily westwards to reach 116 metres by the side of the B5112 a couple of miles away. The area of the chapelry amounted to fewer than 500 acres which supported a population, at the time of this transcript, of close to 250 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanerchymedd is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church occupies a central position close to the junction of the B roads and dominating the site of the former market. Whilst the church was largely rebuilt in Victorian times traces of early origins can be found in the basal stages of the western tower. The lowest stage of the tower is dateable to the 12th century and is Norman Romanesque in style whilst the upper stages date from the Victorian rebuild. Most of the nave & chancel too date from the 1850s whence the church was rebuilt utilising the early 14th century style of the Decorated period. Visiting the church is made relatively straightforward by the many parking facilities of the former market area. Approaching from the B5112 one passes through the elaborate neo-Tudor lychgate into the churchyard, sadly close hugging trees occupy the whole of the favoured southern aspects making very few angles available for the photographer especially on a sunny day.