England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanfachraeth St Machraeth

The Parish

The parish of Llanfachraeth lies in northwestern Anglesey, indeed it forms part of Anglesey's Irish Sea coast. Llanfachraeth is located on the main island of Anglesey about 4 miles east of the port of Holyhead. Llanfachraeth is a small compact village sitting on the A5025 road which connects Valley with the north coast of the island and Amlwch. Most of the properties lie on the main road or on short dead-end lanes which run to both east and west of it. The area would have had a mixed farming regime at the time of this transcript with arable probably predominating. Llanfachraeth sits on the coast just north of the estuary of the Afon Alaw which drains the parish the short mile westwards to the sea. Llanfachraeth is sited at around 10 metres above the sea and the terrain is gently undulating to about 40 metres or so. By the standard of the island Llanfachraeth was on the small size, it covered around 1,900 acres and supported a population of just under 500 parishioners. In common with most of Wales Llanfachraeth is not mentioned in Domesday Book which didn't cover this area.

The Church

St Machraeth's church lies at the far northern end of the village, indeed it is a hundred yards or so beyond the final properties and on the western side of the A5025. The presence of the circular"llan" indicates this is an ancient site of worship but the church dates only from 1878. Pevsner is rather sad to note that the ancient mediaeval church of the Early English period still existed in the 1830s although this, too,was extensively modified in 1835 before being replace 40 years later. The modern building is clearly of little architectural interest as it is dismissed in a mere handful of lines. The church sits behind a screen of mature trees and a low local stone wall. Entry is by a metal gateway at the southern end of the site, there are few obstructions once beyond the row of tall trees.