England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cilgerran St Llawddog

The Parish

The parish of Cilgerran lies in the extreme north of Pembrokeshire indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Cardiganshire. Cilgerran is located about 2 miles south of the Cardiganshire market town of Cardigan in the valley of the Afon Teifi. Cilgerran is a substantially sized village built as a strip along a lane which runs parallel to the river. No mention of Cilgerran would be complete without mentioning its 13th century castle which stands in an impressive site overlooking the river. Cilgerran sits just a mile to the east of the A478 road which links Cardigan with Narberth and onwards to Tenby. As a border settlement (between Norman Pembrokeshire & the rest of Wales) Cilgerran and its castle were fought over many times before peace was reached in the area. The main employment of the parish would have been a mixture of quarrying and farming, with a mixed regime prevailing. The Afon Teifi largely drains the parish, it runs in a deeply incised and wooded gorge 30 metres below the settlement before reaching the Irish Sea through Cardigan. Cilgerran is sited at around 40 metres above the sea the land being undulating to around 150 metres high to the south. Cilgerran parish was slightly smaller than many in the area, it covered an area of almost 2,700 acres and supported a population of almost 900 parishioners. Like most of Wales Cilgerran is not mentioned in Domesday Book as that did not cover this area.

The Church

St Llawddog's church sits at the western end of the village, appropriately enough on Church Street. Pevsner rightly bemoans the loss of the mediaeval church, the present building dating from the 1850s. The exception to this is the rather plain tower which remains and is of the 15th century. Sadly the remainder of what was, reputedly, a fine church was demolished in the 1830s, a poor temporary building lasted just 15 years, thankfully the present building has outlived that poor effort. The church stands in a considerably elevated position above Church Street, the site banked by a high stone wall to almost double head-height. Access is by a sloping tarred pathway and metal gates. There are no real obstructions to photography within the churchyard.