England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanddeusant St Simon & St Jude

The Parish

The parish of Llanddeusant lies in the extreme east of Carmarthenshire forming an extensive stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Breconshire and also a shorter stretch of the border with Glamorgan. Llanddeusant is located roughly 7 miles south of the market town of Llandovery and sits about 3 miles east of the A4069 road which links Llangadog with Pontardawe. Llanddeusant, itself, is a small village with only  a handful of properties gathered around the church, the wider parish is upland and extensive covered in small clusters of farmsteads where a tough living is eked out amongst some of the highest summits in southern Wales. The hamlet of Llanddeusant, which gives its name to the parish, is an ancient meeting place of old trackways crossing the landscape, many are now followed by the regional trail, The Beacons Way. Much of the parish is remote and tough, a place where only the hardiest of sheep can make a living, in the valleys which cross the parish cattle would have been grazed on lusher pastures. Today Llanddeusant earns its living from tourism with hiking, fishing and widlife being its primary draws for visitors. The mighty summits of Y Mynydd Du, The Black Mountain, and the delights of Llyn y Fan Fach which sits below it being major attractions, as well as the many waterfalls within the parish. Llanddeusant is drained westwards by the Afon Sawdd which meets the Tywi near to Llangadog, the Tywi flows southwestwards through Carmarthen to Carmarthen Bay and the Irish Sea. Llanddeusant is already high at its church which stands at 260 metres, land rises dramatically onto Y Mynydd Du, however, reaching 800 metres at the summit and border with Breconshire. As already mentioned Llanddeusant parish covered an extensive upland area of just over 10,000 acres within which it would have supported, in a dispersed environment, around 550 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanddeusant is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

.
The Church

St Simon & St Jude's church sits within the hamlet of Llanddeusant accompanied by the former inn, now a Youth Hostel, and a few cottages, high above the Afon Sawdd which lies some 50 metres below to the south. The round churchyard or "llan" is indicative of an early Christian site, an important location astride the trackways which criss-cross the area. The church has a double-nave, the northern being the earlier and 14th century in origin and Perpendicular in style. The southern nave was added a century later at which time a remodelling of its partner was also carried out. The 4-bay arcade is less easy to date, Pevsner simply says late-medieval, and has fine pannelled barrel roofs. A typical Victorian restoration took place here in the mid 1880s which refreshed the church but hid some dating details. A roughly surfaced area to the south of the churchyard is well-used for parking where white metal gates grant entry to a churchyard which is largely open and uncluttered with few obstacles for the photographer.