England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Clydey St Clydai

The Parish

The parish of Clydey lies in the extreme east of Pembrokeshire forming a substantial part of the border with neighbouring Carmarthenshire. Clydey, itself, is not named on modern day maps but encompasses a large swathe of rural Pembrokeshire with small villages including Bwlch y Groes and Star being closest to its notional centre. The centre of the parish is about 6 miles southwest of the small Cardiganshire market town of Newcastle Emlyn. The area is almost devoid of significant roads, Clydey church sitting about 4 miles east of the A478 road which connects Cardigan with Narberth. The economy of Clydey would have been almost totally bases upon farming, there are dozens of small farms scattered across the parish. A small tributary of the Afon Cych drains the parish northwards and the latter here forms the county boundary; the Afon Cych makes its way north then joins the Afon Teifi to reach the Irish Sea through the Teifi estuary. Clydey church is sited at around 120 metres above the sea but the wider parish is undulating to hilly with local heights reaching almost 400 metres on nearby Frenni Fawr. Clydey parish was extensive, it covered around 5,000 acres and within this vast area it would have supported a population of close to 1,300 parishioners. Like most of Wales Clydey is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Clydai's church sits within the confines of Cwm Cneifa with a couple of farms for company in a totally rural setting. The dedication to St Clydai is unique and refers to a daughter of an early Breconshire king. The church has its origins in the 13th century but only the tower remains from that era although the churchyard contains 5th or 6th century carved stones indicative of a very earlier Christian site. Sadly the remainder of the church was rebuilt in the 1780s in a rather insensitive manner, Pevsner comments that the "steep rood-pitches overwhelm the tower". The church is reached by following the narrow lane northeastwards from Star, at a sharp double-bend an even narrower dead-end lane heads to a small parking area. The churchyard is cramped and compact being surrounded on three sides by mature forest, the trees making for a difficult building to adequately capture photographically.