England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanbadarn Trefeglwys St Padarn

The Parish

The parish of Llanbadarn Trefeglwys lies almost half wat along Cardiganshire's Irish Sea coast but sits a little inland from that. Llanbadarn Trefeglwys is located roughly 11 miles north of the university town of Lampeter and sits on the B4577 road which crosses the county from Aberarth to Tregaron. Whilst Llanbadarn Trefeglwys is the name of the parish it does not appear thus on Ordnance Survey mapping where the principal settlement of the parish is Pennant sitting in the northern banks of Afon Arth and is a small crossroads settlement. Much of the parish sits above the 150 metres contour and consequently is dominated by upland grazing of mainly sheep, a woollen manufactory made good use of the fleeces and employed a few as did the two corn mills, otherwise most were engaged in a mixture of pastoral and arable farming with the former dominant.  The parish is drained westwards by the Afon Arth which soon reaches the Irish Sea at Aberarth. Llanbadarn Trefeglwys is sited at 140 metres by its church but much of the land rises inland topping out at 343 metres to the south at Trichrug in Cilcennin parish, other spots regularly exceed 250 metres. Like most upland parish in Wales Llanbadarn Trefeglwys parish was extensive covering almost 5,600 acres, its largely dispersed population is shown by early gazetteers as a little over 1,000 parishioners with Pennant the only significant cluster. Like most of Wales Llanbadarn Trefeglwys is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Padarn's church sits on the southern side of the B4577 roughly a half mile west of Pennant, it sits within a circular "llan" indicative of an early Christian site. The church's fabric is largely the result of many restorations with the true age of the building lost as a consequence. Documentary accounts from the 1850s state the church was completely rebuilt and rededicated in or close to 1650. Two major restorations since then have removed all dating detail, the first of 1856 also removed the earlier chancel whilst the second of 1906 created today's large bellcote and placed Perpendicular styled tracery into the windows, both restorations were through affairs. When Pevsner visited the church was rough-cast but nowadays has been painted a blazing white to be seen for many a mile. Outside the entrance there is a cut-off loop of the road allowing undisturbed off-street parking, the entrance is through a relatively modern lychgate, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.