GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications and palaces of England, Wales, the Islands.
 
 
Home
The listings
Other Info
Books
Links
Downloads
Contact
 
Print Page 
 
Next Record 
Previous Record 
Back to list 

Llanddewi Church of St David

In the community of Port Eynon.
In the historic county of Glamorgan.
Modern authority of Swansea.
Preserved county of West Glamorgan.

OS Map Grid Reference: SS46008905
Latitude 51.57924° Longitude -4.22393°

Llanddewi Church of St David has been described as a Fortified Ecclesiastical site although is doubtful that it was such.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Church comprising W tower, nave & chancel, with a S porch. Church said to have been out of repair in 1871, subsequently renovated; fabric C12 & later. (Coflein)

The church may have been built in the C12, as indicated by the Norman font and the possibly Norman north window of the nave. It came briefly to importance in the period 1328-47 when bishop Henry de Gower established a palace in the vicinity. The Bishop was patron and his manor of Llanddewi was the parish. Since the ruination of Knelston church, Llanddewi church served that parish also. The original church was perhaps just the nave, with the chancel and tower a little later; both are connected to the nave by similar arches. The chancel is markedly inclined to the south relative to the axis of the nave. It is larger than usual relative to the size of the nave; perhaps because of its episcopal connection (cf Hodgeston, Pembrokeshire.) The tower has a saddleback roof, characteristic of Gower, set transversely. It is a little off the nave axis. Glynne indicates that before the restorations of the C19 the tower had a corbel table and battlement on the east side only (or, at least, only one side was visible), and only one belfry light, to the north. An ogee-headed lancet in the south wall of the nave was inserted in the C14 or C15. A high level window at the west of the nave suggests the former presence of a west gallery. The stone jambs of inner doorway were restored in 1717 by David Hughes, the letters DH17 being carved at the left side. The church underwent restoration 1876 at expense of CRM Talbot, in the course of which box pews including a remarkable C17 squire's pew known as the Henllys Seat were unfortunately lost. In another restoration in 1905, at expense of Miss Emily Talbot; the windows were throughout restored; two new ones were added, to north and south of the nave. Full replastering was carried out internally, and at this time mouldings on part of the chancel arch were probably lost. A further £200 was spent on restoration in c1920. A small boilerhouse was added at the north west corner in the angle of the nave and tower. (Listed Building Report)
Comments

Towered church suggested as defensive by Harrison. Part of a group of Gower churches that Harrison suggests where fortified against the welsh but what protection such churches had was likely to be against pirate raids and it is arguable if such protection can be considered as 'defensive' or 'fortification'. It should also be noted it was standard for all churches to use martial symbols like battlements to represent God's dominion on earth and that church towers are structure which have to hold heavy, moving and vibrating bells and which need to be strongly built for this reason, particularly in places, like much of Wales, where mortar is of poor quality.
Links to archaeological and architectural databases, mapping and other online resources

Data >
Coflein   County HER       Listing    
Maps >
Streetmap   NLS maps   Where's the path   Old-Maps      
Data/Maps > 
Magic   Historic Wales   V. O. B.   Geology   LIDAR  
Air Photos > 
Bing Maps   Google Maps   Getmapping   ZoomEarth      
Photos >
CastleFacts   Geograph   Flickr   Panoramio      

Sources of information, references and further reading
Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, the four welsh archaeological trusts and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain Designated Historic Asset Descriptive Information from The Welsh Historic Environment Service (Cadw), licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown.
Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Lidar coverage in the UK is not complete. The button above will give an idea of the area of coverage. Higher resolution lidar images in both DSM and DTM form may be available from Lle A geo-Portal for Wales (click the preview tag to bring up a map and then select format byclicking on the small blue diamond in the top right corner of the map.)
Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of the described site.

This record last updated before 1 February 2016


¤¤¤¤¤