England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmerch St Dyfnog

The Parish

The parish of Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmerch occupies most of central Denbighshire almost stretching from county boundary to county boundary, it forms a short stretch of the border with neighbouring Flintshire.Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmerch is located roughly 3 miles southeast of the county town of Denbigh and sits on the A525 road which links Denbigh with Ruthin. That is to say the small village of Llanrhaeadr sits on that road and holds the parish church together with its sister settlement Pentre Llanrhaeadr, the wider parish is 14 miles in length by 3 miles wide and encompasses a greater part of the Vale of Denbigh as well as extensive low hill country to its west. This diversity of landscape gave it a mixed economy, the Vale holds almost equal parts arable and pastoral farming whilst the upper ground westwards trended towards low density sheep grazing on upland pastures, underlying it all is limestone which was also extensively quarried for lime burning and local building, the limestone also contained seams of gem-stone quality of agate and chalcedony. Modern developments have come to the parish and gone, the branch railway line linking Denbigh with Ruthin has closed and largely disappeared. The Nant Mawr drains steeply down from the higher ground to join Afon Clyweddog which drains the parish northwards to reach the Irish Sea to the west of Rhyl. Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmerch covers a wide range of altitudes from around 40 metres by the river to 490 metres on Tir Mostyn in terrain that varies from lush gentle Vale to upland mountain. This extensive parish covered almost 27,000 acres and was one of the most extensive in its county, that acreage would have supported a population of around 2,050 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanrhaeadr yng Nghinmerch is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Dyfnog's church sits within the village of Llanrhaeadr on the western side of the former course of the A525 before it was straightened and bypassed the village, the church sits opposite to the King' Head Inn. Most of the church dates from the Perpendicular era or later, there is one exception to this in the tower doorway which appears to be earlier but is not dated by Pevsner. The church has a double-nave, a characteristic of many churches in this area, the stained glass carries inscribed dates of 1508 & 1533 which may or may not reflect the original build date or some reworking thereof.  The nave has a northern arcade of 4-bays with rather simplistic octagonal piers. The church received a major restoration from 1879 to 1881 at which time many windows were replaced in a clashing style on the nave's northern face. Within the grounds of the churchyard is a holy well said to have healing qualities and which may have been the driver to place a church on this site. The lychgate granting entry is set into a little dead-end side lane which often has space for a car or two, the church is unfortunately placed for the photographer - tight to the southern boundary of thick tree cover which eliminates all of the favoured aspects and leaves a very limited range of options.