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

The Parish

The parish of Trefriw lies in the extreme east of Caernarvonshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Denbighshire. Trefriw sits about 2 miles northwest of the Denbighshire market town of Llanrwst and stands on the B5106 road which links Conway with Bettws y Coed. Trefriw sits where the Afon Crafnant arrives into the broad valley of Afon Conwy, a sedimentary fan spreads out on which most of the village's properties sit, either on alongside the B5106 or along the steeply sided valley of Afon Crafnant. Trefriw had a varied economy, as a tidal port it handled imports of coal, lime & such heavy goods bound for Llanrwst whilst it became noted for the export of slate from the nearby quarries of Llanrychwyn, the area of the parish also contained valuable ores of lead & zinc which were exploited, for a brief time the valley was marketed as a spa for its healing waters and in addition there was typical farming of a parish bordering rich water-meadows & upland grazing. Today Trefriw is frequented for its woollen mills, using the fleeces of those hardy upland sheep, and to visit Rhaeadr Y Tylwyth Teg, or Fairy Falls as it is marketed to the tourists, a 20 minute amble from the village. Afon Crafnant meets Afon Conwy less than half mile from the village and the latter drains the parish northwards to reach the Irish Sea at Conway. Trefriw is sited at around 10 metres above the sea but backs onto impressive mountains which rise to 678 metres on Creigiau Gleision and even higher beyond that at the main range of the Carnedd massif. Trefriw parish was rather small by the standards of this upland region covering only a little over 1,200 acres but would have supported a population of close to 400 parishioners. Like most of Wales Trefriw is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the heart of the village on the western side of the B5106 at the junction with the lane following Afon Crafnant. There are local legends that the church, and indeed thereafter the village, was founded by Llewellyn the Great to save his princess a long walk to the existing church at Llanrychwyn and that the church was first built in 1230. Whether these legends are true or not is not the business of this account. Suffice it to say there is nothing in the fabric of St Mary dating back to those early times. The church has a double nave and the southern nave is dated to the 15th century and Perpendicular in style whilst the northern nave is from a century later. Whilst these are the basic fabric dates it must be said that most of the exterior was substantially altered during the thorough restoration of c 1850. The roofs are late medieval survivals but no other major features survive from that period. The western side of the B5106 is used for on-street parking below and north of the church. The main entrance, a wrought iron gate, sits at the road junction. Trees to both east and west restrict the angles from those viewpoints and the churchyard is quite steeply sloping from west to east both obstacles limit the aspects available for the photographer.