A church with pagan origins - Ysbyty Cynfyn Stone Circle

I got Tam to set the Satnav on my phone so I could visit this church on my way home yesterday.  I meant to last time I went that way (across the hills and dales) but ended up driving straight past it! The relatively modern church is dedicated to St John the Baptist,  and the ancient stone circle remains, which are built into the early circular church enclosure, are in the Vale of Rheidol.  There is a narrow-gauge railway of that name in nearby Devil's Bridge.    It sits in the shadow of the Plynlimon and Rheidol ranges.

In these photos you can clearly see the stones from the stone circle.  The church is only 19th C and was locked, but you could tell this was sacred ground. Two ancient yew trees were inside the circular enclosure. Once, on the site of the actual church, a Knights' Hospitaller monastic hospice once stood.  They were the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem.  This site was also on the Pilgrim's route from St David's.

Two smaller standing stones from the circle were made gateposts at some point in the past . . .

HERE is the excellent page from The Journal of Antiquities about the Stone Circle and it history.

I cut off the end of the church photo, as the Portaloo sat outside the porch did nothing for the general ambience!  The church dates from 1827, and has a wooden font, which I would have liked to have seen.

Similar fun and games in the churchyard was also had at Disserth Church, off the road from here to Llandod.  I think those all got a bit out of hand though, and they were stopped as not very seemly and viewed as insulting to the church services which going to church was meant to be about!

Amongst the older gravestones, this beautifully inscribed one has survived virtually unmarked.  An unusual house name . . .

Now I am already planning my next dream holiday - to visit Orkney and its archaeological sites.  On my own - so I think it will be an organized coach trip.  I need to build up confidence to go further afield on my own (further than Malvern or Carmarthen that is!!) Not cheap, doing it that way, but I can't be organizing flights, (and parking for at the airport), hotel, and trips.

The same company I've checked out do affordable trips to the Isle of Man too, and Tam has suggested that she and Rosie also come along, which would be lovely.  That's been high on my bucket list for years, and Keith and I had planned to go before he became ill.  His paternal line is Manx for 100s and 100s of years.

There are a couple of days more of holiday photos, but you probably won't get excited about Jaresh (the ancient Antioch) - Graeko-Roman remains (nearly 200 acres of them!) or my obsession with Lawrence of Arabia and his Crusader castles, so I will enjoy them myself.

Quilting group tomorrow, so bet get my sewing organized to take.