England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanfaelrhys St Maelrhys   

The Parish

The chapelry of Llanfaelrhys, its mother parish being Rhiw, lies in the extreme south of Caernarvonshire at the very southern end of the Lleyn Peninsula and forming a lengthy stretch of the county's Irish Sea coastline. Llanfaelrhys is located roughly 14 miles, as the Chough flies, southwest of the coastal resort of Pwllheli and sits almost 3 miles east of the B4413 road which runs down the spine of the peninsula to Aberdaron. There is no defined village to the chapelry, a mere loose collection of isolated farms and cottages across what is a wind-swept and starkly tree-less landscape, this is very much "the end of the road". Whilst some dabbled in the extraction industries typical of the area the principal source of income came from the hardy sheep grazing the rough grasslands. Today most visitors come to Llanfaelrhys for its bay Porth Isgo, its name betraying its status as a former small port, or along Wales' newly established Wales Coastal National Trail which passes through the hamlet. As a coastal community Llanfaelrhys has numerous small streams heading into Porth Isgo and the Irish Sea. Llanfaelrhys is sited at 90 metres above the sea and its cliff-tops, the area is, however, dominated by the isolated small mountain of Mynydd Rhiw to the northeast which tops out at 304 metres and looms over the coast in this area. Roughly 1,700 acres of Rhiw parish are assigned to Llanfaelrhys within which a population of around 250 parishioners would have scraped a living. Like most of Wales Llanfaelrhys is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Maelrhys' church, the dedication refers to a 7th century missionary believed to have come from Brittany and who is also commemorated on nearby Bardsey Island, Ynys Ennlli. Most authorities give the church's origins to be medieval but not even Pevsner deigns to assign a definite date for the nave. The church is tiny, merely 35 feet in length and consists of the medieval nave, a modern and rather short chancel and topped with a bell-cote on the western end that was rebuilt into its present form. The church stands in isolation on a narrow lane paralleling the cliff-tops with stunning views across the largely tree-less expanse to the Irish Sea complete with Ynys Enlli in the distance, parking is best on the western end where a track runs beside the churchyard forming the entrance way. The churchyard has a rough-stone wall surrounding it and is totally devoid of any obstacles for the photographer.