ST LLAWDDOG, LLANLLAWDDOG, CARMARTHENSHIRE
Dyfed PRN 5367
RB No. 3496
NGR SN 4578 2942
Not listed (1998) Not Listed 2021.
SUMMARY
19th century church; 0% medieval core fabric. On site of, and in same location as, medieval church (PRN 12685).
A 2-cell church, small. Consists of chancel, 2 bays; nave, 3 bays; vestry (north), 1 bay; all 1848-9. West porch, 1940s. Construction is in local rubble. Slate gable roofs. Openings mainly from 1848-9 and neogothic, in limestone; western single bellcote, 1848-9.
Roofs, floors and finishes: 1848 – 1940s.
Condition – good.
Archaeological potential – good. Very shallow external cutting around 30% of church; suspended floors in 60% of church?; external memorials lie significantly close to 100% of church.
Structural value (pre 19th century) – poor. 0% pre-1848 core fabric.
Group value – medium. C19 landmark church; large churchyard with good memorials; associated pound.
Phasing:
Phase 1 – Chancel, nave and vestry, 1848-9.
Phase 2 – West porch, 1940s.
DESCRIPTION
St Llawddog, Llanllawddog, is 3-celled church, of small size. It was (re)built in 1848-9, on the same site, and in the same location as its predecessor (PRN 12685), but retaining nothing from the earlier fabric.
The present church consists of a 2-bayed chancel, a 3-bayed nave, a west porch and a transeptal, single-bayed vestry north of the chancel. Construction is in roughly coursed local rubble; the interior is plastered. All dressings are in limestone and from 1848-9, except in the west porch; the openings are neo-gothic. A simple, gabled single bellcote lies on the west end, from 1848-9. The roofs are slated gables.
The earlier church was described in 1796 as ‘small and simple, the door and windows of good freestone… but of rude masonry’ (Anon., 1921, 20). There was a western gallery reached by an external staircase, and the walls were whitewashed within and without (Williams, 1915, 81). A bell was present in 1705 (Evans, 1917(i), 32). In 1720 the floor was uneven, but the roof and windows were in ‘good repair’ (Evans, 1921, 13).
The church was entirely rebuilt in 1848-9, to the designs of the architect Collard (Williams, 1915, 81). The chancel was refitted in 1910 (NLW, SD/F/401) and the west porch was added in the 1940s (Griffiths & Lewis, 1992, 1). There appear to have been no subsequent major alterations.
The octagonal font may be 17th century (RCAHM, 1917).
There is a very shallow external cutting along the north wall of the nave. Floors may be suspended in the nave and vestry. Many external memorials lie significantly close to all walls.
The church was not listed in 1998. Not Listed in 2021.
SITE HISTORY
There is some evidence for the pre-conquest religious use of the site –
Celtic dedication.
St Llawddog, Llanllawddog, was not a parish church during the medieval period but a chapelry of Abergwili parish in the medieval Deanery of Carmarthen which was appropriated to St Davids Cathedral. It is mentioned 1148-76 (Williams, 1915, 81).
Llanllawddog was a parish by 1787 (ibid.) but 1833 the living was still in the patronage of the Vicar of Abergwili (Lewis, 1833). The living was a perpetual curacy endowed with £800 royal bounty.
In 1998 St Llawddog, Llanllawddog, was a parish church. The living was a vicarage, held with Llanpumsaint (Benefice no. 682) in the Archdeaconry of Carmarthen, Rural Deanery of Carmarthen (St Davids, 1997-8).
SOURCES CONSULTED
Map Evidence
NLW, Ordnance Survey 1:2500, First Edition, Sheet XXIII.16.
NLW, Parish of Llanllawddog, Tithe Map, 1838.
Rees, W., 1932, South Wales and the Border in the XIVth century.
Church in Wales Records
Griffiths & Lewis, 1992, Quinquennial Report, Llanllawddog.
St Davids, 1997-8, Diocesan Year Book.
NLW, SD/F/401, Faculty – Reredos, credence and altar rail, 1910.
Parish Records, Carmarthenshire Record Office, Carmarthen
(CPR/5 – Llanllawddog)
Printed Accounts
Anon., 1916, ‘Reviews and Notices’, Archaeol. Cambrensis, Vol. XVI, Sixth Series.
Anon., 1919, ‘Miscellanea’, Archaeol. Cambrensis, Vol. XIX, Sixth Series.
Anon., 1921, ‘Iolo Morgannwg’s Excursion, June 1796’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 14.
Crossley, F. H., and Ridgway, M. H., 1947, ‘Screens, Lofts and Stalls situated in Wales and Monmouthshire: Part 8’, Archaeol. Cambrensis, Vol. XCIX.
Evans, G. E., 1915, ‘Churchwardens’ Presentments, AD 1684’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 10.
Evans, G. E., 1917(I), ‘Churchwardens’ Presentments, AD 1705’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 11.
Evans, G. E., 1917(ii), ‘Llanllawddog Parish’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 11.
Evans, G. E., 1921, ‘Church Items, 1739-1820’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 14.
Jenkins, T., 1912, ‘A Carmarthenshire Diary, 1826-55’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 8.
Lewis, S., 1833, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales.
RCAHM, 1917, Inventory: Carmarthenshire.
Salter, M., 1994, The Old Parish Churches of South West Wales.
Williams, R. E., 1915, ‘Llanllawddog Church’, Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 10.
Updated: August 2021 – PKR
