St Michael Archangel Cwmdu

 

This week the Church Explorer takes you back to Wales where he visits a couple more churches. This particular church at  Cwmdu I one I have passed ever time I went along the A479 to our caravan or on the way home. As I had gone to set up the caravan on my own I took the opportunity to stop off on my way home. The big problem I had was the church was locked so no photos inside I am afraid. There is little history on Wikipedia so I have given a link to the St Catwg Misitery area for you to look at. The church may not have been open but the churchyard was full of headstones and tombs to look around

From the gate all you see is the porch on the church, yew trees block off the view

South view from in the churchyard

The porch which has a locked gate

West end tower entrance door

North side

East end of the church

South east view of the church

A second porch on the chancel for the use of the priest is an unusual feature

South view of the tower

Back with a south view of the church

Two things I noticed of the wall of the church, the plaque on the left I cannot read and maybe an old gravestone, on the right is more recent and tells you where Cartloe son of Teyrnoc is buried dated 1830

Sahara's headstone

Four table tombs marking the resting place of one family

Three chest tombs which again I think are the same family

Going further north across the churchyard where the graves are very close together

Collage of the churchyard

Walking further west on the north side some of tombs covered in ivy with more recent burials in the foreground

The chest tombs are well forgotten with all this ivy on them

Different monuments

I presume these two headstones were laid down for safety but are not covered in moss

Looking east over the north side

These are beside the path on the south side

Near the entrance

I will leave you with this photo of monument on a base south of the church.

Till next time may I wish you all a peaceful week