England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llandegley St Tecla

The Parish

The parish of Llandegley lies in central Radnorshire roughly 5 miles east of the spa town of Llnadrindod Wells. Llandegley  sits on the A44 road which links Kington through to Rhayader and onwards to Aberystwyth and is a small settlement, now thankfully bypassed by the main road, with most properties lying around the church. Llandegley  sits in upland central Wales and like many such parishes is rather extensive with large acreages of relatively unproductive land mixed with lusher areas close to the river systems. Whilst there is some arable it is far outweighed by the pastoral element, cattle in the lusher valley pastures whilst the tracts of upland rough grazing are the home of hardy sheep. There has been some modest exploration in search of minerals to extract but the lead veins so discovered were not lucrative and eventually were closed. The parish is drained westwards by a series of small streams all headed into the Afon Ithon which, after passing through Llandrindod Wells soon meets the Wye and begins a long journey to the outer Bristol Channel arriving through Chepstow. The area surrounding Llandegley  is hill-country with the vast bastion of Radnor Forest standing to its east, the church is already at some height, 240 metres, but the land to the east rising to summits such as Nyth-grug at 538 metres and Great Rhos at 660 metres whilst the rugged ridge of Llandegley  Rocks at 436 metres rises barely a half mile south of St Tecla's church and presents a challenge to the many hikers making good use of the landscape. The extensive wider parish covers close to 4,300 acres and would have supported a population of around 400 parishioners. Like most of Wales Llandegley  is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St tecla's church stands alongside the cut-off route of the former A44 prior to the bypass, it sits within the traditional circular "llan" indicative of an early Christian site. The church is one much altered from the small chapel that existed here in medieval times, little of that time remains within today's church, an early 14th century priest's doorway in the Decorated style whilst the southern doorway is Perpendicular either 15th or early 16th century in date. The late 17th century, an unusual date for major church-works saw major repairs and the construction of a tower with a timbered belfry which sadly collapsed and was eventually removed. A more traditional period, the Victorian era, saw typical restoration work which not only repaired and renewed the existing fabric but also added the chancel to what had been a simple single-celled chapel, this work was completed between 1874 and 1876 and employed a similar Perpendicular styling. It took until 1953 before the collapsed tower was replaced by that of today complete with its short steeple above. A small circular green with the village's telephone box sits at the junction with room for a car or two to park outside the churchyard gates. The churchyard, itself, is open and uncluttered with no obvious obstacles for the photographer.