England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Maentwrog St Twrog

The Parish

The parish of Maentwrog lies in northwestern Merioneth forming a short stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Denbighshire, Caernarvonshire is also not too far distant. Maentwrog is located roughly 7 east of the port of Porthmadoc ad sits on the A496 road which links Blaenau Ffestiniog with Harlech. Maentwrog is a former port, at one time the principal port carrying Ffestiniog slate to the world, sitting upon the Afon Dwyryd and consisting of a single street of that road lined with properties. The wider parish forms a long and thin strip along the southern side of the river with a further settlement away from that course in Gellilydan. Much of the parish was set to pasture with little dry and flat land suitable for arable, much was also managed woodland with forest products produced. There was a little manufacture in the village with flannel and stockings as important products. Today Maentwrog thrives largely upon tourism drawn by the industrial heritage of the area's slate industry as well as by the outdoor activities encouraged by its landscape, hiking, mountain biking, fishing and kayaking being especially important. Maentwrog is drained westwards by Afon Dwyryd which soon reaches the Irish Sea through its estuary which passes Portmerion. Maentwrog is sited between sea level and 20 metres above it, however the landscape is one of deeply incised valleys with high hills all around, just over 2 miles north sits the summit of Moelwyn Bach at 710 metres, the hills rising to the south towards Trawsfynnyd are lower nevertheless reach 623 metres on Moel Ysgyfarogod. Like most Welsh upland parishes Maentwrog was extensive covering almost 5,300 acres and supporting a population of close to 900 parishioners. Like most of Wales Maentwrog is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Twrog's church (Twrog was an eminent British saint, who flourished at the close of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries) sits west of the A396 tucked away behind fronting properties and accessed through an impressive stone lychgate of 1897 complete with a pyramidal clock turret rising above the entrance. Today's church is, however, not the original medieval church in which most of these marriages would have taken place, that church was demolished in 1814 by a rather plain and simple structure. In its turn that simple structure was substantially rebuilt (Pevsner says "transformed") in 1896 to which we owe most of what exists today. The church's stand-out feature is its tapering tower topped with a splay-footed spire is an addition added by that transformation, as is the chancel and most of the church's windows. The main street has a few parking bays to the north of the entrance, the stone lychgate leads to a short ye-lined pathway before entering the churchyard. The favoured southeastern viewpoint is compromised by trees but all other angles are available for the photographer.