England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Pendoylan St Cadoc

The Parish

The parish of Pendoylan lies in the heart of the Vale of Glamorgan roughly 5 miles northeast of the market town of Cowbridge. Pendoylan sits a little over 2 miles north of the A48 road which links Cowbridge with Cardiff. Pendoylan is a small and compact village sitting on the western banks of the Afon Elai with subsidiary hamlets such as Clawdd-Goch similarly located along that valley. The soil here is extremely fertile making the area Glamorgan's bread-basket in contrast to the largely pastoral methods employed elsewhere in the county. The northern portion of the parish is dominated by the castellated mansion of Hensol Castle, a much enlarged building of uncertain age which stands in parkland less than a mile from the noise of the modern M4 motorway. Such modern developments have avoided Pendoylan, the M4 being to its north whilst the railway line from Cardiff to Bridgend stays east of Afon Elai. That river drains the parish eastwards passing through Cardiff's western suburbs to emerge as a part of the Cardiff Bay project. Pendoylan is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in its valley setting, land rises away from the Afon Elai to local high points of just over 130 metres between Pendoylan and the A48. Covering close to 2,500 acres Pendoylan parish was one of the larger Vale parishes, that acreage would have supported a population of around 400 parishioners. Like most of Wales Pendoylan is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Cadoc's church stands on the eastern side of the main north to south running lane through the village, its western tower looming above the road is a characteristic sight of the village. The main body of the church, nave and slightly lower chancel, is believed to date back to the late 14th century Perpendicular era; however, such change was wrought in 1855, almost amounting to a complete rebuild that one cannot be definitive. As evidence for the Perpendicular origins of the chancel Pevsner cites the imposts of the chancel arch which are of that style. The big, unbuttressed, western tower which stands flush to the lane is however of more certain dating with Pevsner granting a date of c1500 at the very end of the medieval period. It was the money of the Fothergills of Hensol Castle that financed the major rebuild of the church in 1855, here the entire southern wall, the chancel's eastern wall and the southern porch were entirely rebuilt. Work did not stop there as the western tower received its own restoration/rebuild in 1893 at which time the interior was also restored. The lane passing the church is well-used by locals for parking despite its narrowness, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.