England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llandygai St Tegai

The Parish

The parish of Llandygai, sometimes spelt Llandegai, lies in northern Caernarvonshire forming a short stretch of the county's coastline with the Irish Sea. Llandygai is situated just over a mile east of the city of Bangor and sits on the A5 road which continues onwards to London. Whilst the village of Llandygai is a small and compact settlement on the edge of the estate of Penrhyn Castle, the parish is extensive running inland to encompass much of Snowdonia and stretching almost halfway across the county. The village of Llandygai was built as the estate village for Penrhyn Castle, most folk within the parish lived in its extensive hinterland. Llandygai does, however, have a long history reputedly extending back to the ancient Kings of Wales from c720 through to 1230. The parish was also the site of the last ever battle fought in Wales between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces in the Civil War. Penrhyn Castle, which dominates the northern part of the parish was built as a fantasy castle in late Georgian times. The economy of this parish was diverse with minerals and pastoral farming dominating, the list of minerals extracted from the hills of the Snowdonian portion is extensive and dominated by copper, iron & lead. The farming is largely arable towards the coast but the inland portion is dominated by high uplands (the mountains of Snowdonia being the highest in Wales) and rough grazing. During the period of this transcript the extraction of slate grew from a small cottage-industry into a major employer growing to a tonnage of 120,000 per annum by 1841. Today the economy is largely underpinned by tourism, the high mountains and splendid scenery attracting visitors from around the world. Many rivers drain into the main feeder route of the Afon Ogwen which drains through Llandygai to the Irish Sea a couple of miles north of the village. Llandygai village is sited at around 40 metres above the sea but the parish is extensively upland reaching heights in excess of 1,000 metres in the mountains of its interior. As stated Llandygai parish was extensive, it covered almost 15,500 acres and would have supported a population of close to 3,000 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llandygai is noted mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Tegai's church, the dedication reputedly refers to an Irish cleric who led the early drive to establish Christianity in Wales in the 5th century, sits on the edge of the Penrhyn Castle estate and on the banks of the Afon Ogwen on the eastern side of the village of Llandygai. As one might expect for what is essentially the estate church much has changed over the centuries and major work of the 1850s dominates the present building. The cruciform structure is usually indicative of an early foundation but the chancel and transepts were actually an addition to the original church added in the 16th century. Pevsner highlights the nave as the earliest dateable portion and assigns a date of late 14th century as all about is in the Perpendicular style. The work of the 1850s lengthened the nave, built the central crossing tower and added a western porch and northern vestry, substantially enlarging what must have been a relatively small building. A minor road leaves the A5 at a roundabout in Llandygai and heads down to cross the Ogwen, the church sits off to its left through a complex of streets. There is ample parking outside the churchyard. A low wall topped with railings surrounds the churchyard which is extensive but has many trees hugging the eastern end of the building making only a subset of angles available to the photographer.