England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Jordanston St Cwrda

The Parish

The parish of Jordanston lies in western Pembrokeshire about 4 miles southwest of the port of Fishguard. Jordanston is sited a mile south of the A487 road which connects Fishguard with the tiny city of St Davids. Modern Jordanston is very small, not even a hamlet, marked on the map by the parish name is a farm and church, with other scattered farms and cottages across the wider parish. The economy of the area is farming related with a mixed regime pertaining even today. Jordanston is drained by the upper headwaters of the Western Afon Cleddau, draining southwards through Haverfordwest to reach the Irish Sea through the vast estuary of Milford Haven. Jordanston is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in rolling countryside where local heights rise to around 150 metres on the coastal hills of Rhos y Clegyrn. Jordanston parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering around 1,900 acres it would have supported a population of 150 parishioners. In common with most of Wales Jordanston is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Cwrda's church sits, accompanied by the neighbouring farm, in splendid isolation amongst the fields on the western side of the lane leading from the A487 towards Letterston. Sadly St Cwrda is not a mediaeval church but a Victorian replacement built in 1863. A "plain, little church" according to Pevsner with a rather thin western tower. Despite this recent build there have been later modifications, that thin tower required restoration just 18 years after completion whilst the southern vestry was added in 1909. The church sits just inside the gateway to the farm, Jordanston Hall, behind local Preseli stone walls, the churchyard has a few trees but is relatively free from photographic obstructions.