I was very disappointed to find St Brides was locked, BUT in the porch . . .
Isn't this amazing? A wonderful very early Medieval stoup. I was delighted to find this and it was so unexpected. The current church is Victorian, but this clearly survived (thank heavens) from a previous church. Strictly speaking, the church is not in Rhayader but in Cwmdauddwr, as it is the other side of the River Wye. I shall return in the summer as apparently it is a very wild flower rich meadow in the churchyard, and is only mown biannually to allow the plants to set seed.
This almost totally underwhelms with its casual mention of the Lord Rhys (Rhys ap Griffith, of Dinefwr Castle in Carms) gifting a vast area of land to the monks of Strata Florida in 1164. Mind you, he had SEIZED vast tracts of Ceredigion so was able to be very open handed about giving it away again! Just to imagine him standing there though - SUCH history in one small area. Plus, just as I was driving out, I noticed what was originally a Holy Well (now a tap!) beside the road, so this site really is ancient.
A family table tomb grave of about 7 burials, with the memorial slabs on the top. Not seen that before.
Then it was back towards Newbridge-on-Wye , and Llangwrthwl, the little church with the huge standing stone in the churchyard. Keith and I visited it when we first moved here, but it was Covid times and the church was locked. That was a shame as it has a stunning font . . .
This has been a special site for thousands of years. There are many more standing stones on the common (I will explore this summer), but this one must have been a pagan site to have the church built there to Christianise it.
The view down to the altar. Then turn around and . . .
Isn't this an amazing Medieval font? It has four carved heads on it - I presume Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Originally it graced the interior of Abbey-Cwmhir, above Llandod. At the dissolution of the monasteries, however, it was rescued and brought here. The pillars from Abbey-Cwmhir went to be used in St Idloes church at Llanidloes. They were apparently made by the same craftsmen who worked at Worcester Cathedral, as well as Llandaff and St David's, so it likely that they also were responsible for this font.
Some lovely stained glass windows.
In memory of the fallen of this tiny village.
Memorials on the end wall of the church, from the late 1700s.
Opposite the church, a drystone barn survives well still.
Yesterday it was sunny all day and I spent an hour or more out in the garden in the morning and half an hour later. I alternated between pruning and weeding about 6 or 7 feet of the stone chippings path up to the polytunnel - prior to digging and ripping up all the grass on the left hand side of that. I am going to plant raspberry canes up along there. It will be a slow business though. I pruned the Buddleias, the apple trees and a couple more roses yesterday. Progress.
Now it's off to my Quilting Group for the first time since I went to New Zealand. It will be lovely to see everyone again but I probably won't get much quilting done!
I love the stoup in the first church and am so glad it survived. Super standing stone and font in the second church. You do have some interesting churches near you.
ReplyDeleteI am so lucky to live here in many ways. Surprising stonework in churches is just one of them! I really was NOT expecting to find such wonderful Medieval survivals at all, let alone in both churches. As I drove home from quilting group today, I passed Llanlleonfel church, on its pine-ringed hill, just outside of Garth. Every time I pass it, I think of Professor Charles Thomas who, on his way to the University of Wales at Lampeter, would make a special detour to this church to pay homage to the 7th C inscribed stone there. Indeed, he wrote a whole book about it (Silent in the Shroud) which interpreted the true meaning of the inscriptions in a manner way beyond my comprehension - but then I have shied away rather from attempting a proper understanding! Occasional words in Latin I can comprehend, but he decoded and interpreted them letter by letter. This is also the church where John Wesley's brother Charles married Sarah Gwynne of nearby Garth House. Kilvert also explored it, so I never drive by without thinking of these things.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to meet Charles Thomas (he was a good friend of my personal tutor at Uni) and she got me to send him a copy of my dissertation. He and half a dozen other Pictish worthies in fact.
Isn't it amazing how its all survived for so long. I wonder if any of the new builds of today will last as long. We've been out buying a new to us car. OH's Focus was beginning to cost us money and the garage have given us a good px deal, picking it up on Friday. I've sorted out the shed as well and evicted several large spiders. Take care. Xx
ReplyDeleteIndeed - but then so much was lost before we even knew about it. The Reformation has a lot to answer for, as have - churchwise - the very people employed to restore/rebuild a church, the ones who gave not a thought to our past history.
ReplyDeleteGlad you have a new to you car coming your way. Lulu says she would have dealt with your big spiders - she caught a huge one here last night and stopped it from doing a U-turn from the guest bedroom and coming into mine!
Wow, that fount is gorgeous. Such lovely old churches.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It was such a pleasant surprise! Exactly what I like to find in a church.
DeleteEven though I don't subscribe, I do love the history and beauty you find in an old church.
ReplyDeleteI am not a church goer, except to "bother" them. There is so much history in a church.
DeleteThanks now I know what I missed so I shall endeavour to return when I get back to our caravan. Really like the font
ReplyDeleteIt was well worth the visit. You will love it there.
DeleteWhat d’you suppose happened to the old stone fixtures like fonts that were removed from churches? I’m thinking they’d be hard to actually destroy… Reused as building materials in newer structures, as happened to Greek and Roman artifacts???
ReplyDeleteSometimes they were buried, sometimes moved elsewhere or incorporated from old church into its (Victorian!) replacement, sometimes they ended up in people's gardens for planting flowers in, sometimes they got broken up and rebuilt into later church walls. Or plain just disappeared.
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