England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Capel Garmon St Garmon

The Parish

The chapelry of Capel Garmon, its mother parish being Llanrwst, lies in the extreme southwest of Denbighshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Caernarvonshire. Capel Garmon is located roughly 4 miles south of Llanrwst and sits just over a mile east of the A470 road which links Llanrwst with Blaenau Ffestiniog. Capel Garmon is a small village, little more than a hamlet, which sits along a north-to-south running lane high upon a hill to the east of the valley of Afon Conwy, most properties lie along that lane but many more lie scattered across the wider area of the chapelry and in smaller hamlets such as Garthmyn and Penrhyddion. For much of its existence Capel Garmon has been an upland pastoral farming chapelry, the higher ground being the home of hardy sheep whilst cattle grazed the lusher pastures, there was some attempt at extraction of the local lead ore but it was largely uneconomic and periodically abandoned. The Victorian period saw slate quarrying flourish in the area bringing some prosperity to the chapelry at the expense of hard labour. There is much evidence of early occupation within the chapelry's area with the Capel Garmon Long Cairn as its best example, the best preserved Neolithic monument in its county, it is believed to have been created by peoples from further south who came to the area to manufacture stone axes. The cairn is 100 feet in length and sits within a trapezoidal stone enclosure characteristic of such monuments. Today Capel Garmon sits within the Snowdonia National Park and benefits a little from the outdoor tourism attracted to that highly scenic area. Capel Garmon is drained westwards by a fast-flowing stream which heads steeply downhill to the Afon Conwy, the Conwy takes water north to reach the Irish Sea at Conwy. Capel Garmon is sited at around 230 metres above the sea but the chapelry covers land from 20 metres to over 300 metres whilst eastwards land rises to 468 metres on Moel Seisiog. Around 8,000 acres of the extensive Llanrwst parish was allocated to Capel Garmon which would have supported a population of close to 700 parishioners. Like most of Wales Capel Garmon is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Garmon's church sits at the main junction within the small village sitting opposite the Tafarn Penllyn (White Horse Inn). Sadly the church is not that in which these marriages would have been celebrated rather it was built in 1863 on the same site as its predecessors of which it is believed to be many going back to early times. The church has a single chamber with nave and chancel combined with a prominent northern porch. The church was clearly of little architectural interest for Pevsner who's account is merely 3 lines of text. For parking there is ample on-street parking in the social housing of Maes Llydan opposite to the site. The main entrance is towards the north where iron gates break the local stone walling, trees are a problem for the photographer, they totally remove all southern aspects and leave only the more difficult views from the north making for a challenge on a sunny day.