England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llysworney St Tydfil

The Parish

The parish of Llysworney lies in southern Glamorgan within the Vale of Glamorgan yet not too far from its southern coastline with the outer Bristol Channel. Llysworney is located roughly 3 miles west of the small market town of Cowbridge and sits just north of the of the B4270 road which connects Cowbridge with Llantwit Major. Llysworney is a small and compact village sitting alongside the B4268 road which connects the B4270 with the cross-county A48, most properties line either this B road or sit to the west around the church. The Vale of Glamorgan is relatively rich land offering good farming for both pastoral and arable production and a mixed regime would have been followed here at the time of this transcript. Llysworney is drained westward by the Stembridge Brook which becomes the Afon Afun and leads on to the Ewenny River and the Bristol Channel through the Afon Ogwr's joint estuary. Llysworney is sited at around 60 metres above the sea in gently rolling countryside where local heights rise to almost 100 metres within a mile or so to the south. The Vale of Glamorgan has many rather small parishes and at just under 1,000 acres Llysworney was one of these, despite this small area it supported a population of around 200 parishioners. Llysworney is, like most of Wales, not recorded in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Tydfil's church sits on the western edge of the village almost encircled within its churchyard by narrow lanes. The church is something of an enigma in terms of its dating, Pevsner declines to assign a date just referring to the church as having "an early origin" whilst its Listed Building record merely states "medieval", a broad term covering several centuries. The central location of the tower, a rather squat and blocky example, is more typical of an early foundation. The basic nave and chancel is augmented solely by a southern porch. The church has one early dateable feature as the belfry carries windows from the Tudor period. More modern is the rather extensive restoration of Victorian times, in this case from the mid 1890s and which is described by Pevsner as "insensitive". Despite the narrow lanes a small lay-by has been constructed to the north of the churchyard to permit a car or two to get off-lane. An arched metal gateway grants entry through the local stone wall surrounding what is a small and rather cramped churchyard, it is difficult to get sufficiently far away from the church to permit the photographer full rein.