Llangadwaladr, Denbighshire
Llangadwaladr is an isolated mountain parish in Denbighshire, some seven miles west of the nearest town, Oswestry, Shropshire. It covers an area of sparsely settled hill-farming country around the valley of the Afon Ysgwennant beneath Gyrn Moelfre.
History
The parish was originally a chapelry of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, but was later formed into a separate parish, consisting of a main body, where the parish church was located, entirely surrounded by Llansilin and the detached township of Tregeiriog (the only village, in the neighbouring valley).[1]
A correspondent in By-gones, relating to Wales and the Border Counties, stated that an elderly local had told him about a form of "mob" or "folk" football formerly played between the parishes of Llangadwaladr and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, where the opposing teams would "contend from morning even until night, and sometimes [...] fresh help would be fetched up in the evening".[2]
St Cadwaladr's church
The Church in Wales parish church is dedicated to Cadwaladr Fendigaid and was mentioned as "Bettws Kadwaladr" as early as 1291.[1] It is sheltered by yew trees, some of which are over 1,000 years old.[3] Some of its current fabric dates from the 15th century, with major alterations made in 1883 by W. H. Spaull of Oswestry: a re-set mediæval window survives in the vestry.[4]
Lewis noted that St Cadwaladr's church possessed a "very elegant set of communion plate" presented by Sir John Trevor of Brynkinallt.
The Rev. Robert Williams (1810–1881), author of the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum, the first Cornish-English dictionary, was the perpetual curate of Llangadwaladr and Rhydycroesau from 1837 to 1879. A native of Conwy, where his father was Vicar, he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating MA, and was appointed a Cursal Canon of St Asaph Cathedral in 1872. In 1879 he became Rector of Culmington, near Ludlow, where he died and was buried in the churchyard in 1881.
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Llangadwaladr, GENUKI
- ↑ Bye-gones, relating to Wales and the Border Counties, Oswestry: 1899, 175
- ↑ St Cadwaladr's church, Llanfyllin Deanery
- ↑ Church of St Cadwaladr, Llangadwaladr, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
