England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llangwyfan St Cwyfan

The Parish

The parish of Llangwyfan lies in northern Denbighshire forming a small part of the border with neighbouring Flintshire. Llangwyfan sits at the base of the Clwyd Hills about 5 miles east of the county town of Denbigh. The B5429 shadows the Afon Clwyd on its eastern side at around 60 metres above the sea and Llangwyfan is a further half mile east and another 60 metres higher. A scattered settlement with no real centre, Llangwyfan is mostly formed from pastoral farmsteads and scattered cottages dotted along the gentle slopes immediately below the steep face of the Clwyd Hills. The area would have been, and still largely is, pastoral with sheep on the upland moors and cattle in the Vale. The area is today an important one for outdoor activities and the Offa's Dyke National Trail follows the crest of the Clwyd Hills passing just over a mile to Llangwyfan's east. Fast flowing becks drain the parish westwards into the nearby Afon Clwyd which heads northwards to reach the Irish Sea just west of Rhyl As stated Llangwyfan is sited at around 120 metres above the sea but land rises dramatically eastwards onto the Clwyd Hills reaching over 450 metres on both Moel Arthur & Moel Llys-y-coed. Llangwyfan parish was tiny by Denbighshire standards and irregularly shaped being in the form of a skewed "Y" shape and covering around 1,100 acres, it would have held a population of close to 250 parishioners. Like most of Wales there is no mention of Llangwyfan in Domesday Book as that book did not cover this area.

The Church

St Cwyfan's church sits towards the northern edge of Llangwyfan it sits amongst the buildings that once formed the sanitarium of Llangwyfan Hospital, a remote isolation centre treating tuberculosis. The church stands outside the gates of Fron Yw Nursing Home. Pevsner describes the church as "an endearing single chamber" but the building has little of any great age within it. One northern window carries a date of 1684 and the southern porch one of 1714 and these are probably typical of the period for most of the fabric. The interior is in a rustic Georgian style whilst the roof carries Victorian crested ridge tiles. A narrow lane heads northwards from the pass climbing to the gap south of Moel Arthur, where it terminates sits the church in its oblong churchyard. The churchyard is open and with no obstacles to photography.