England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llanfair St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Llanfair (also known as Llanfair juxta Harlech) lies in western Merioneth forming a short stretch of the county's Irish Sea coast. Llanfair village is located roughly a mile south of the ancient fortified town of Harlech and sits on the A496 coast road which connects Harlech with Barmouth. Llanfair is a middle-sized village which sits squeezed onto the edge of the narrow coastal plain with steep hills rising immediately east of the village, an arrangement which has led to a rather linear village mostly built along a narrow lane which parallels the main A road. Whilst Llanfair sits close to the coast the majority of the parish is rough upland, early gazetteers describe 4/5ths of the parish as "waste", a term used to describe unenclosed moorland and mountain. The economy was dominated by pastoral farming, sheep on the uplands with cattle on the coastal meadows. Llanfair had a short coastline with no port so those maritime activities were not present. Modern developments have come to the village, a coastal railway line was also squeezed through between village and sea giving nearby Llandanwg its station. Today much of the area has tourism as a backbone, the scenic uplands inland proving attractive to hikers. As a coastal settlement drainage is swift and short to the nearby Irish Sea. Llanfair is sited at 40 metres above the sea albeit some inland properties still within the village limits are almost 100 metres higher, land rises steeply inland reaching 477 metres on nearby Foel Ddu. Merioneth parishes are extensive in area and by those standard Llanfair was actually one of the smaller, despite this it covered just under 5,300 acres within which it would have supported just over 450 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llanfair is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of the narrow lane paralleling the A496 towards the southern end of the village. Although a church is mentioned here as early as 1188 the present building dates from the early 15th century and is largely in a Perpendicular style. Only the eastern end is original, the western end having been largely rebuilt during the extensive Victorian restoration of the mid 19th century. The church had a northern chapel prior to this time but that was also removed. The bellcote and most of the fenestration also dates from Victorian time. Whilst the lane has street parking it is limited. The churchyard is fronted by a smartly restored local stone wall with a neat stone lychgate granting entry.A few trees crowd the western end of the building but otherwise the churchyard in unimpeded for the photographer.