England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd St Cynfarch & St Mary

The Parish

Denbighshire has two main bodies of land, that in the north being around the county town of Denbigh with a smaller area in the south around Llangollen, linking the two is a narrow area of Denbighshire land within which Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd forms the largest block of land. Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is located roughly 2 miles south of the market town of Ruthin and sits on the A525 road which links Ruthin with Wrexham. Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is a mid-sized crossroads village sitting within the valley formed by the Afon Clwyd, most properties line either the main road or the lane headed west to cross that river. There are two distinct parts to the wider parish, that near the river is a mixture of pasture and small arable fields, the latter supplying the corn mills that the Afon Clwyd powered, to the east, however, stands the Clwydian Hills, topped with the Offa's Dyke National Trail, here rough mountain moorland is the haunt of hardy sheep. Modern developments have come and gone from the area, a branch railway line once passed through linking Ruthin with Llangollen but has closed and left only its infrastructure to mark its former presence. Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is drained northwards by the Afon Clwyd which makes its way to the Irish Sea arriving through Rhyl. Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is sited at around 90 metres above the sea but eastern prospects are filled with the Clwydian range which reaches 447 metres on Moel Llanfair and 467 on Moel Gyw. Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd parish was fairly extensive covering 7,000 acres of which 2,000 were described in early gazetteers as common or waste, rough upland grazing, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 1,250 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Cynfarch & St Mary's church stands east of the A525 as it passes through the village, it sits opposite to the lane headed for the Afon Clwyd, Bron y Clwyd, and sits tucked away behind the White Horse Inn. Whilst there has been a church here since early times that which stands here today dates almost entirely from the 15th and later centuries, Pevsner was unable to identify any feature which pre-dated the Perpendicular era. The church is double-naved like so many in Wales and probably dates from the 14th century. The western tower, which abuts the northern nave, is better documented being mentioned in will donations dated 1536. A southern window carrying a mason's date of 1626 probably reflects a substitution rather than referring to an original build date. All of the non-medieval features date from an extensive restoration in Victorian times, in 1870-72. That restoration saw the while church refreshed, the southern porch added and most of the internal fixtures & fittings replaced or renewed. The church shares a car park with the inn, the gates sitting next door to it, the main issue for the photographer is the lack of depth to the churchyard and the relative size of the church which makes gaining landscape images encompassing the full panorama rather tricky, other angles are acceptable.