Sexton’s Cottage, Llanbeblig

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This cottage, near the main entrance to St Peblig’s Church, bears the date 1825 on a circular slate plaque above the doorway. It’s now a private house – please don’t enter the cottage or garden.

There was a large opening in the gable end of the building which faces the main road, for the church’s horse-drawn hearse. The building was also home to the sexton of St Peblig’s. His job was to maintain the church and churchyard, probably including digging graves.

The building was funded by an accumulation of funds in four parish charities, one of which was a bequest by spinster Margaret Griffith, youngest sister of John Griffith of Brynydol. She died in 1774 and left £20 to the poor of the parish. Interest from the money was distributed by the churchwardens.

Another of the charities was the bequest of spinster Margaret Jones, who died in 1716. The fund’s interest paid for bread, distributed to the poor on several Sundays each year. Another contribution came from the bequest of Lewis Thomas of Caernarfon, interest on which was distributed on St Thomas’ Day (21 December).

The sexton in Victorian times was Thomas Morris, originally of Holywell, Flintshire. After his death in 1914, aged 82, the press recalled that he was one of a small band of men who bravely risked their lives during a cholera outbreak in Caernarfon in the 1860s (when it was widely thought the disease was transmitted through the air). This probably referred to the burial of cholera victims at St Peblig’s.

The lower part of the aperture for the hearse was closed up and the upper part became a window. Some of the original cobbles survive by the former hearse entrance.

The Church in Wales sold the building in 2007 but it remained empty and decaying until 2013, when a new owner began to restore the building and convert it back to residential use.

The slate plaque set in the gable reads: “Llanbeblig Parish Property. 1825. Revd J W Trevor, Vicar, D Rowlands, H Owen Church Wardens”.

Postcode: LL55 2ES    View Location Map