England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanystumdwy St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Llanystumdwy lies in southern Caernarvonshire forming a stretch of the county's Irish Sea coastline. Llanystumdwy is located roughly 6 miles northeast of the market town of Pwllheli and sits on the coastal A497 road which links Pwllheli with Criccieth and Porthmadog. Llanystumdwy is a small village which benefits greatly for having been bypassed by the A497 which now cuts to its south leaving the former route as the village's main lane with most properties either lining it or on short mostly dead-end lanes away. Whilst the village may be small the parish is extensive covering almost half od the distance of this thin peninsula of a county, the wider parish being a mixture, in almost equal parts arable and pastoral according to estimates in early gazetteers. In addition to 3/4 in farming some remaining 1,000 acres were engaged in woodland management and as a coastal settlement with access to the sea some fishing would have also occurred. Of general tourist interest and well sign posted, the village is the sight of the grave of the distinguished Welsh politician David Lloyd George. Modern developments in the form of the railway line connecting Pwllheli with Porthmadog have come to the parish without granting Llanystumdwy a station. Most of the parish is drained to the sea at the village by the Afon Dwyfach which reaches the sea after skirting it behind a spit for a short way. The village of Llanystumdwy stands at around 20 metres above the sea but the interior rises substantially to include the isolated hill-fort topped hillock of Carn Bentyrch which tops out at 228 metres. The wider parish covers an estimated 6,200 acres and that acreage would have supported a population of around 1,259 parishioners, it is a sad loss to genealogy that most of the registers pre 1813 have been lost as an estimated 300 marriages are now lost to history as a consequence. Like most of Wales Llanystumdwy is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St John's church sits on the northern side of the former route of the A497 as it once wandered through the village and almost alongside the Afon Dwyfach. Of the original medieval church that once sat in this partial "llan" there is no trace it having been demolished and replaced in 1819. However that too has been replaced by today's church which is not the venue of these marriages as it was only built in 1862, these marriages being in the early medieval church or its immediate successor. Today's church has an unusually wide nave and short stubby chancel all topped off with a western bellcote. It is a simple local stone built edifice suited to its small community. Parking on the former route reflects its wide status as a former A road enabling s straightforward visit to a churchyard which has no obstacles for the photographer.