England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanwonno St Gwynno

The Parish

The parish of  lies in northern Glamorgan comprising much of the famous "valleys" of the county, it lies some 12 miles northwest of the capital, Cardiff. Llanwonno, itself, is a mere spot on the map sitting astride the mountain between Cwm Rhondda and Cwm Clydach. In all the extensive parish covers parts of 3 valleys the Cwm Cynon completing the set. Unusually the parish church sits isolated on its mountain top accompanied only by an inn. Several major roads serve each valley, the A4233 that of the Afon Rhondda Fach, the B4273 that of the Afon Clydach and the A4059 that of the Afon Cynon all headed along the respective valley bottoms and headed towards Cardiff. This is a parish that has changed beyond recognition, at one time a rural scene of pastoral farming echoed in "How Green was my Valley"; the explosion of mining and related heavy industry filling each of the valleys with mines, furnaces and their iconic rows of terraced miners' cottages. Population exploded during the Victorian era with many arriving from other parts of Wales, England and Ireland to take up the positions available in back-breaking work. Modern developments arrived in abundance to speed the flow of goods and raw materials out of the valleys and to the ports, the Aberdare Canal arriving first only to be superceded by both mineral and passenger railways along each valley and all directed to Cardiff and its fast developing port. Today the Rhondda Fach has lost its railway but that up Cwm Cynon remains. All 3 rivers drain southwards to eventually meet at Pontypridd as the Afon Taff which continues southwards to reach the outer Bristol Channel through Cardiff. The parish encompasses ground of may differing heights, the valley bottoms rise steadily from Pontypridd at 50 metres with their upper reaches such as Mountain Ash at 120 metres and Maerdy at 280, the church of St Gwynno stands at 340 metres but is far from being the highest ground within the parish that honour falls to Mynydd Maerdy above Treorchy at 482 metres. Llanwonno parish covered a substantial proportion of northern Glamorgan totalling just over 13,000 acres which would have supported a population reaching over 1,600 by the end of the transcript period but probably averaging around 1,000 during it. Like most of Wales Llanwonno is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

As already mentioned the church of St Gwynno sits on top of a mountain surrounded by forestry plantations and accompanied only by the Brynffynon Inn. As Pevsner puts it it is "extraordinarily sited in a forest clearing high on the hills between the Rhondda and Cynon valleys. The church sits within the traditional circular "llan" indicative of an early Christian site of worship. Whilst Pevsner cites the walls of the nave, southern porch and chancel as "medieval" he neglects to give a date or a style to these walls, the only remaining intact feature is the southern doorway. If the Decorated styled windows of the chancel and the nave's southern wall were genuine medieval then that would tie in with the believed dates of origin. Much of what we see today, however, is a consequence of the major remodelling carried out in 1893 which created the unusual arrangement at the church's western end which Pevsner describes as a saddle-backed bell gable carried on deep buttresses which form a porch-like enclosure below. The best approach is from Ynysybwl in Cwm Clydach from where a lane climbs steadily curving gradually around from a northern course to a westerly one before arriving at the inn which has a vast car park. Opposite the in  a gate leads to a stiff climb through the churchyard to the church. There are one or two trees within the churchyard bit all are avoidable by the photographer.