England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Efenechtyd St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Efenechtyd lies in central Dnbighshire roughly 2 miles south of the market town of Ruthin. Efenechtyd is located just under 1 mile northwest of the A494 road which links Ruthin with Bala. The hamlet that is Efenechtyd is situated in a side valley of the Afon Clwyd and has just a few properties gathered around its own small brook and church. The largest settlement in the parish is on the A494 Pwll-glas which is situated on the valley slope west of Afon Clwyd and has most properties lining the A road. Despite the area being moderately hilly this was primarily an arable farming parish, indeed early gazetteers wash lyrical about its crops of "excellent wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and turnips". Today a substantial part of the parish acreage sits within Ruthin's golf course. In addition to the farming there were quarries gathering both the local limestone and also ores of barytes for which there was a crushing mill employing a few. Within the parish there is the ancient hilltop fort of Pen y Gaer which was Bronze Age in its creation and survived long enough to be taken over by the Romans and extended in the year 75. Efenechtyd's small broom drains the parish northwards before meeting the Clwyd at Llanfwrog, continuing north the Clwyd passes St Asaph to reach the Irish Sea just west of Rhyl. Pwll-glas is sited at 100 metres above the sea with Efenechtyd some 30 metres higher to the west of the Clwyd most hilltops summit between 250 & 275 metres but the eastern view is filled with the full Clwydian Range with its highest ground 467 metres at Moel Gyw. Efenechtyd parish was very small for an upland parish, covering barely 1,400 acres it would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. Like most of Wales Efenechtyd is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Michael's church sits with the southeastern quadrant of the main crossroads that forms the hamlet of Efenechtyd, the church stands within a circular "llan", a sign usually of an early Christian site. St Michael's is not that old but does have fabric from the medieval period despite a thorough Victorian restoration/rebuild. It has just a single chamber and is barely 60 feet from end to end. The earliest remaining medieval feature is the east window which is early 14th century and Decorated in style but the remainder is probably later and Perpendicular or 19th century. The Victorian restoration of 1873 added the bellcote and the western doorway (inside is an ancient door of uncertain vintage) and replaced most of the fenestration. The church is in possession of a highly unusual font it being a wooden tub hollowed from a single block of oak, undoubtedly ancient but never had its date scientifically dated. The lanes around the churchyard are rather narrow so one must search to find somewhere close by that doesn't block. The churchyard is entered through a stone-built lychgate, it is compact but there are adequate views for the photographer.