Llantrisant Church, Ceredigion (PRN 5490)

LLANTRISANT CHURCH, PONTARFYNACH, CEREDIGION

Dyfed PRN 5490

 RB No. 3114

 NGR SN 7267 7498

 Not listed (1998) Not Listed 2021

 SUMMARY

19th century church; 0% pre-19th century core fabric. On site of, and in same location as, medieval church.

A 3-cell church, small. Consists of chancel, 2 bays; nave, 4 bays; south porch; all later 19th century. Construction is in local rubble, rendered throughout externally and plastered within. Slate gable roofs. All openings are from the later 19th century, neo-gothic, with grey oolite dressings; limited external buttressing and western single bellcote, later 19th century.

Roofs and floors: later 19th century. Finishes: mainly earlier 20th century.

Condition – good.

Archaeological potential – very good. No external cutting nor drain; external earthworks around 50% of church, building debris?; no underfloor void?.

Structural value (pre 19th century) – poor. 0% pre 19th century core fabric.

Group value – high. Upland C19 landmark church; 3 ECMs; associated building.

Phasing:

All later 19th century.
DESCRIPTION

Llantrisant Church is a 3-celled church, of small size. It was entirely (re)built in the later 19th century on the same site, and in the same location as its predecessor, but nothing was retained from the earlier fabric.

The present church consists of a 2-bayed chancel, a 4-bayed nave and a south porch. Construction is in local rubble but is concealed beneath external render, from the earlier 20th century, and internal plaster. All dressings are simple, in grey oolite and from the later 19th century; the windows are single, double and triple lancets, cusped in the chancel side walls, with timber frames. The nave walls have limited external buttressing, from the later 19th century. A gabled single bellcote, with a string-course, rises from a broad, shallow external pilaster buttress on the nave west wall, which is pierced by a double lancet with a circular port above, and carries decorative external corbels, all from the later 19th century. The roofs are slated gables.

The form of the pre-19th century church is not known. The present church is said to be the third on the site (Hook Mason, 1989, 2). Its predecessor is shown on the Ordnance Survey 1” map of 1834 as ‘in ruins’ having been abandoned c.1803 when the nearby church at Eglwys Newydd was built.

There is neither an external cutting nor a drain around the church. Amorphous earthworks north and west of the church may represent debris from the previous structure. There may be no underfloor void. No external memorials lie significantly close to the church.

The church was not listed in 1998. Not Listed 2021.

There are 3 in situ ECMs, all with incised crosses (Dyfed PRNs 9730 – 9732); 2 remain in the yard, the third is now inside the church.

SITE HISTORY

 There is good evidence for the pre-conquest religious use of the site:-

3 ECMs; Celtic dedication?; churchyard formerly circular?.

Llantrisant Church is not shown as the site of a medieval religious establishment by Rees, 1932; nevertheless it was the site of an upland chapelry of Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn parish during the medieval period, of the medieval Deanery of Ultra-Aeron.

It had become abandoned by 1833 as a direct result of the establishment nearby of Eglwys Newydd church (Lewis, 1833), but was brought back into use in the later 19th century, to serve the nearby Frongoch lead mines.

In 1998 Llantrisant Church was a chapelry. The living was a vicarage, held with Ysbyty Cynfyn and Eglwys Newydd (Benefice no. 828) in the Archdeaconry of Cardigan, Rural Deanery of Llanbadarn Fawr (St Davids, 1997-8).

 The three saints commemorated in the dedication are unknown.

 SOURCES CONSULTED

 Map Evidence

Blaeu, J., 1648, Map of Cardiganshire.

Rees, W., 1932, South Wales and the Border in the XIVth century.

Church in Wales Records

Hook Mason, 1989, Quinquennial Report, Llantrisant.

St Davids, 1997-8, Diocesan Year Book.

Printed Accounts

Lewis, S., 1833, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales.

Various, 1994, ‘The Church in Ceredigion in the Early Middle Ages’, in Davies, J. L., and Kirby, D. P. (eds.), Cardiganshire County History Vol. I.

Up dated: August 2021 – PKR.

Heneb - The Trust for Welsh Archaeology