England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llangristiolus St Christiolus

The Parish

The parish of Llangristiolus lies towards the southern part of central Anglesey sitting roughly 3 miles southwest of the island's administrative capital of Llangefni. Llangristiolus sits less than a half mile south of the A55, the modern expressway which cleaves across the island from Menai Bridge to Holyhead. Llangristiolus is a rather dispersed village sitting on a ridge of land between the valleys of the Afon Gwna and Afon Cefni, whilst there is a marked grouping of properties just south of the B4422 much of the parish consists of dispersed groups of farmsteads and cottages. Rather surprisingly, given its westerly location and rather clayey soils, Llangristiolus was predominantly an arable farming parish with as much as 75% of the parish acreage given over to crops such as oats, barley & potatoes. The construction of Anglesey's express-way, the A55, is the main modern development to impact the parish. The above twin rivers drain the parish southwestwards reaching the Irish Sea through Aberffraw and Maltraeth respectively. Llangristiolus is sited at around 70 metres above the sea and its position atop the low ridge is amongst the highest ground for some distance. Llangristiolus parish was one of the more extensive parishes on the island, covering almost 3,700 acres it would have supported a population of close to 950 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llangristiolus is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Christiolus' church, the dedication refers to a 7th century churchman of the island, sits away from its village well over a mile east of the main notional centre and adjacent to the expressway. Whilst the church shows evidence to grant it quite an early date, there is also enough evidence to indicate that the church has been rebuilt at some time re-using the old stones. Those of the lower nave Pevsner assigns a 12th century date, of the Norman Romanesque period, whilst those of the slightly higher chancel are 13th century from the Early English Gothic era. The latest addition to the basic structure is its porch which came in the 16th century. Many changes, however, were wrought during an extensive restoration/rebuild of 1852 whence contrasting 14th century style Decorated windows were inserted and the elaborate bellcote erected. The short dead-end lane leading to the church is not signed except by that marking it as a public footpath, it continues beyond the church crossing the Afon Cefni to Pentre Berw, where it ends in a large turning area and parking bay. The churchyard, when seen in aerial view, was clearly a circular "llan" before northwestward expansion of the graves, whilst it is open and uncluttered the western end of the church sits immediately inside the arched gateway making views of the bellcote topped end tricky for an otherwise easy church to photograph.