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The area
St David’s church is located just off the A40, a mile west of Trecastle, and is the centre point of the small Llywel hamlet. With a striking presence from the main road, St David’s is supported by a warm community which always offers a friendly welcome and is home to a wealth of heritage artefacts.
The church
When the first stone church was built here in Llywel, there was nothing in Trecastle except for the motte and bailey castle, erected around 1100 by Bernard of Newmarche who had conquered Brecon in 1087. Trecastle grew significantly only in the 18th and early 19th centuries, as a stopping point and trading centre on the coaching road from Carmarthen to Gloucester. Nothing, of St Llywel’s wooden or mud church or hermitage remains. There must have been a substantial structure on the site in the 12th century, for Giraldus Cambriensis records that Llywel church was burned around 1188 when there was still constant fighting between the Celts and the Normans who had not securely occupied the land west of Brecon. Most of the present structure is a re-build completed between 1480 & 1520. Like many Welsh churches it reflects the new prosperity and confidence of the Tudor period.
The tower at the west looks as if it were built for purposes of defence, probably in the 14th century and is 65 feet high with 70 steps to the top. This is the oldest part of the present church and may belong to the c14; it has larger blocks of stone than the rest of the church, able to bear more weight, with a high batter or slope at its base. Near the top is a moulded string course and cornice with gargoyle rainwater spouts. There is a sheer stair tower on the south side, without a splayed base, but with higher battlements. It is likely that this was used as a look-out post in times of trouble. Each face has two louvred bell lights with pointed heads. The west side has its base cut back to accommodate a low hollow-chamfered west door. A holy water stoup survives on the south wall of the west tower door.
The church itself is built with local purple and grey sandstone rubble and slate roof with red terracotta cappings. In 1836, Caernarfon slates replaced the local tile stones from the old quarry on Myddfai mountain. The north wall has numerous putlog holes between the stones, intended to support horizontal scaffolding logs. These were left open to facilitate the erection of scaffolding during the lime-washing of the walls each spring
The chancel is slightly lower than the nave, and perhaps a slightly later build. There is a Tudor flat-arched priest’s doorway in red sandstone with a 19th century door. There is a vault under the chancel containing shelves for coffins; it is said that after the last burial, the grille was locked and the key thrown back into the vault;
The former School room lies within the northern section of the churchyard. It is a single storey building, with rubble stone walls and a gabled slate roof. With a low stone chimney stack at the west end. It has a central doorway with windows on either side. A larger doorway to the east leads to the store room.
Inside:
Pulpit and Altar – Carved by Harry Hems of Exeter, the figures around the pulpit represent Christ, the Good Shepherd and the three major Welsh saints to whom the church was formerly dedicated: St David, with a dove on his shoulder; under the next canopy is St Padarn, holding a model of the church he founded at Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth and nearest to the wall is St Teilo with his bell.
Also carved by Harry the altar central roundel displays the Lamb of God: with, to the left, carvings of corn and vine (producing Bread and Wine); and to the right, a lily plant to represent the Virgin Mary and a passion flower to represent the Passion of Christ at the Crucifixion.
Bell tower – In the bell chamber, only one of the original 4 bells survives. It bears the inscription ‘PROSPERITY TO THIS TOWN AND PARISH W.E. 1739′ the WE being the bell founder, William Evans of Chepstow. The original 15th century frame with four parallel pits survives, now supported by reinforced concrete beams. Church records show Bell 3 was sold in 1810 for £35, Bell 2 was sold in 1814 for £23, Bell 4 was sold in 1836 for £35. The surviving bell was re-cast in 1767 and in 1804.
Tiled Reredos – The chancel was refurbished in 1888 when the tiled reredos was installed Such extensive colourful wall tiling is unusual. The quality of the tiles is fine, particularly in the groups which form the symbols of the four Evangelists on either side of the altar. These are Godwin tiles, made at Lugwardine in Herefordshire.
Home to the Llywel and Ogham Stones –
The Llywel Stone is covered in incised patterns dating from the 5 th century and is one of the most important Celtic stones in Britain.
`MACCVTRENI + SALICIDVNI’ is repeated in Ogham script down the right edge and on the back. The initial `Mac’ suggests that this is a Gaelic name; the suffix shows the gender was male. This is one of the first examples of any form of writing, and indeed of bilingual information. It is thought that the two small crosses between the two names were added in the 7th or 9th Century.
The Ogham stone, is known as the Aberhydfer stone, to record the place where it was found, on the Roman road near Traeanglas church. A Latin inscription was incised on the top half of the face, in crude Roman letters which become larger and clumsier lower down. This is the only stone in Wales in which the Ogham script has been scrawled across a primary Latin inscription: also, it is the only example of Latin being used earlier than Ogham rather than contemporary or later.
There is so much to see during a visit to St David’s, dedicated friends of the church have over the years put together a range of literature and information for our visitors to enjoy.
Our Activities:
With a core of parishioners attending regular services and especially our family worship events, we are fortunate to be supported by both old and young.
Childrens church craft sessions are held to coincide with key celebrations in the church calendar, with the pinnacle being the childrens Christmas craft and nativity.
A plethora of fundraising events are held, from demonstration evening, sponsored event, flower festivals and heritage open days, all of which are very well supported by our friends in the local community and wider.
St David’s Llywel members would like to say thank you for all the kind donations we have received after a very successful St David’s Day gift day . Our next community event is our annual Strawberry tea and Songs of praise on Sunday July 27th more details to follow Strawberry Tea 3pm – 4.30pm
Songs of praise 5pm .
Churchwarden and Ministry Area Council Member
Ministry Area Council Member – Nicola Davies email: nickydav15@hotmail.com