England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Penllech St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Penllech lies n the extreme southwest of Caernarvonshire forming part of the county's Irish Sea coast and sitting towards the southern end of the Lleyn Peninsula. Penllech is located about 10 miles west of the small port of Pwllheli and sits on the B4417 road which forms the coast road of the peninsula connecting Nevin with Aberdaron. There is very little to modern day Penllech, no defined village merely a scatter of farms and cottages across the area of the parish. Whilst Penllech would have primarily been a farming community, a mixed regime dominated by pastoral farming, the local herring fleet was very active and this supplemented local incomes. Today the area is a remote and beautiful one, the new Welsh Coastal Trail passing along the rear of the sands of Traeth Penllech. As a coastal community Penllech is drained by numerous fast flowing streams descending to the sea. Penllech is sited between sea level and 60 metres above it by the church, land rises steeply inland to reach 182 metres on Mynydd Cefnamwch, a landscape of rolling countryside spotted with isolated hills giving dominating views. Penllech parish was fairly typically sized for the lower areas of its county, it covered just under 2,200 acres and would have supported a population of around 250 parishioners. As with most of Wales Penllech is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church sits amongst farm buildings a couple of hundred yards west of the B4417, the turning being roughly 2 miles south of Tudweiliog. Whilst there was undoubtedly a fairly ancient church here one, today's building is the result of a complete rebuild in 1840. The church is now cared for by the charity "The Friends of Friendless Churches" as the congregation declined to almost nothing. A single shell of undivided nave & chancel is topped by a western bellcote, the body having some early English Gothic style lancet windows. The approaching lane heads westwards then southwestwards before another sharp turn by a farmyard marks the start of the track to the church which can just be seen beyond the farm buildings. Polite parking can be made without blocking farming activities and the church is best reached from here on foot. The site is open and obstacle free for photography.