St Baglan’s Church, Llanfaglan

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This remote church, no longer used for worship, is thought to be on an a pre-Christian site. It contains a stone from the 5th or 6th century inscribed with two Brythonic names. You can walk across the field to the church but please keep the churchyard gate closed.

Aerial photo of St Baglan's Church showing lines of ditches in fields
Aerial survey photo from 2005. The darker
lines in the fields denote prehistoric ditches.
Courtesy of the RCAHMW and its Coflein website

Evidence of a late-prehistoric settlement here was uncovered in the dry summer of 2005. Aerial surveys by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales showed lines where barley had ripened at a different rate because ditches were dug there in prehistoric times to create enclosures. One line corresponds with the original boundary of the church cemetery (later enlarged). Other lines appear like ripples spreading from the churchyard.

The stone church is listed Grade 1. The nave dates from around the 13th century. The southern part was added in the first half of the 16th century, and the porch in the first decade of the 19th.

Two stones carved with crosses in the 13th or early 14th century form the top and sill of an opening in the porch. They may have been gravestones. The sill also features a carving of a boat with raised bow and stern, possibly added once a mariner’s gravestone.

Above the door is a recycled gravestone carved in the 5th or 6th century with the name of Anatemori (or Anatemorios), son of Lovernius. Anatemori is Enaidfawr in modern Welsh. Lovern or Lowern is Breton or Cornish for ‘fox’.

The Victorians didn’t rebuild the church, leaving it as a fine record of earlier church architecture. Notable features are the window-less nave and the 18th-century interior fittings. Some of the wooden pew enclosures are marked with I/DM 1767. They belonged originally to David and Margaret Jones of Cefn Coed.

The church is dedicated to St Baglan ap Dingad, who is thought to have lived in the 6th century. He became abbot of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey island), and was earlier at Llancarfan, Glamorgan.

The church fell out of use after places of worship were built in more convenient locations. There was only one Sunday service per year here by the early 20th century. Volunteers from the Friends of Friendless Churches now maintain the building.

In 2017 Lord Snowdon was buried in the family plot here. He was a renowned photographer of celebrities and married Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II. His family owned Plas Dinas, near Bontnewydd. The grandparents of another great photographer, Philip Jones Griffiths, are also buried here. They lived at Cae Glas in Llanwnda.

With thanks to Ifor Williams

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More about the church – Friends of Friendless Churches website

More about the prehistoric enclosures – Coflein website

Copies of the old photo and other images are available from the RCAHMW. Contact: nmr.wales@rcahmw.gov.uk 

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