England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llangwnnadl St Gwynhoedl

The Parish

The parish of Llangwnnadl lies in the extreme southwest of Caernarvonshire on the remote Lleyn Peninsula and some 12 miles west of Pwllheli and about 29 miles southwest of Caernarvon. Llangwnnadl sits both on and immediately west of the B4417 road which forms the western coast road of the peninsula running from Caernarvon to Aberdaron. Whilst Llangwnnadl has a small presence on that B road most of the rather scattered settlement lies long a parallel lane between it and the sea. Scattered hamlets otherwise form the majority of the parish. This far west the climate largely precludes all but the most hardy of arable crops and the twin pillars of pastoral farming and herring fishing provided the main income for the parish. Within the parish are many relics proving a long period of human inhabitation, in a field to the west of the B4417 stands a prehistoric standing stone of which there were many across Lleyn at one time. Today the parish is visited by the newly created Wales Coastal Trail which sticks rather close to the shore as it passes through. Llangwnnadl is drained the short distance to the Irish Sea by "a torrent" as early gazetteers put it, the Afon Fawr being little more than 3 miles in length and reaching the sea at the popular beach of Traeth Penllech.  As a coastal settlement there are properties from sea level up to around 70 metres at the B4417, land is rolling but dominated by isolated peaks which rise to 182 metres on nearby Mynydd Cefnamwlch. The Lleyn Peninusla is characterised by numerous rather small parishes and Llangwnnadl was no exception, covering just over 1,200 acres it would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llangwnnadl is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area,

The Church

St Gwynhoedl's church sits about a half mile west of the B4417 almost on the banks of the Afon Fawr. The dedication refers to a local saint of the 6th century and is their apparent burial place. As one approaches all appears to be normal until an angle is made and one can see the unusual triple-nave structure that is the church, there are three almost equally sized naves alongside each other making the church wider than it is long. The church is also largely of an unusual time for church-building dating from the early 16th century and being Early Tudor in style. Pevsner notes an inscription of 1520 on a pier whilst the southern doorway is estimated to be a decade later c1530. The central section, topped by the bell-turret, is slightly older than its twins. The church received the customary Victorian restoration, in this case of 1850, at which point some windows were replaced but much else was left unchanged. Arriving at the site there is a small triangular parking area set into the churchyard allowing a lengthy visit. Metal gates lead into a churchyard which is open and uncluttered with no obvious obstacles for the photographer.