England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ilston St Illtyd

The Parish

The parish of Ilston lies in western Glamorgan in the heart of the Gower Peninsula and roughly 7 miles west of the town & port of Swansea. Ilston sits just over a half mile north of the A4118 road which links Swansea with Port Eynon. Ilston, itself, is merely a hamlet, a small group of cottages sitting at the bottom of a wooded valley together with the parish church, the main settlement within the parish is Parkmill, on the A4118 and linear along the valley of the Pennard Pill. The area is noted for its traces of ancient occupation, to the west is Cathole Cave where archaeologists have found evidence of flint tools as old as 10,000 years BC, the hillsides are also home to several chambered tombs, a Roman coin horde was once found in the parish and Parkmill was the first Baptist Chapel in Wales at the ancient chapel of St Cenydd. There were two main strands to Ilston's economy, pastoral farming dominated the land-use whilst the limestone quarries of Pengwern Common employed many. A cloth manufactory did run for a short time exploiting the power of Pennard Pill but was discontinued. Ilston is drained westwards by Pennard Pill which runs the short distance to the outer Bristol Channel. Ilston is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in its valley setting, Pengwern Common rises to touch the 100 metre contour in one or two spots. The Gower has a mixture of a few large and many small parishes, Ilston was in the middle of that range and covered just under 2,800 acres which would have supported a population of close to 350 parishioners. Like most of Wales Ilston is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Illtyd's church stands within the hamlet of Ilston reached from Parkmill along the lane trending to the northeast and then by footpath crossing a brook to the churchyard. It is believed that a church was first created on this site as early as the 6th century as a monastic cell, all traces of that church have been erased but are believed to site below the footprint of today's tower. By the 12th century a simple Norman nave existed again erased by later changes. The earliest surviving medieval masonry dates from the 13th century Early English Gothic period, the asymmetrically aligned chancel and the tower complete with saddleback roof date from this period. The church, unfortunately, suffered decay and lack of maintenance and by the 1840s was in a poor condition. The restoration of 1847 needed to be drastic and it has created the blend of modern & medieval we see today, whilst restoring the church to good order it also added the southern porch and the vestry. As part of a Millennium project the blocked-off base of the 13th-century tower was reopened into the nave and restored to function as a chantry chapel. Where the footpath leaves the access lane there is ample parking, the short walk is a delight through woods and across the brook. The compact churchyard has lots of close trees with the southeastern aspect majorly impacted but enough angles remain for the photographer.