St. Cattwg's Church
Our church is the main focal point of our village, as it is seen as soon as you enter Llanspyddid especially from Brecon. The summer of 2006 had seen many members of our community starting to tidy up and restore the churchyard. With overgrown trees and brambles on the south side of the churchyard it was very difficult to even see our village from the main road. These have now been removed, the ground leveled and seeded with grass seed; hopefully we will have nice green grass there in the springtime. Other on-going projects at the moment involve removing overgrown bushes so that we can see the lovely old yew trees; trying to remove as much ivy as possible from some of the old unattended graves and the east wall of the churchyard. To see more of the work we have completed to date, have a look at our Churchyard Restoration pictures at bottom of this page.
Below - Extract from Sant Cattwg's Church. Llanspyddid. Historical Notes.
The dedication, location and morphology of the churchyard indicate that this is an early medieval foundation. As with so many churches in rural Powys little of its subsequent history and development is known.
The Church was restored in 1880 by C. Buckeridge when he re roofed and partially rebuilt the church giving it "a regular and boring interior" (Haslam) and a west bellcote. The specification for the work required existing masonary to be re-used and excavation beneath the floor to a dept of two feet, and until comparatively recently this was one of the few surviving churches in the old county of Breconshire with a completely stone tiled roof. In 1964, however, it was found necessary to replace the stone on the north side with artificial tiles and the south side of the roof was also replaced in 1983. There are three original windows, Crossley and Ridgeway in Arch Camb 1952 were of the opinion that the pulpit tester or sounding board, a notable feather of the interior was an adaptation of all that remained of the late 15th Century Rood Screen. This was restored in 1958.
Below - Extract from Sant Cattwg's Church. Llanspyddid. Historical Notes.
The dedication, location and morphology of the churchyard indicate that this is an early medieval foundation. As with so many churches in rural Powys little of its subsequent history and development is known.
The Church was restored in 1880 by C. Buckeridge when he re roofed and partially rebuilt the church giving it "a regular and boring interior" (Haslam) and a west bellcote. The specification for the work required existing masonary to be re-used and excavation beneath the floor to a dept of two feet, and until comparatively recently this was one of the few surviving churches in the old county of Breconshire with a completely stone tiled roof. In 1964, however, it was found necessary to replace the stone on the north side with artificial tiles and the south side of the roof was also replaced in 1983. There are three original windows, Crossley and Ridgeway in Arch Camb 1952 were of the opinion that the pulpit tester or sounding board, a notable feather of the interior was an adaptation of all that remained of the late 15th Century Rood Screen. This was restored in 1958.
St. Cattwg's Church Incumbents
Extract from Sant Cattwg's Church. Llanspyddid. Historical Notes.
???? - Gwilym Gam
???? - Howel ap Cadwgan 1404 - Roger Horchard 1419 - David Mawr 1492 - William Morgan 1502 - David ap Rosser byr. ???? - Thomas Meredith 1571 - Thomas Williams ???? - Daniel Williams ???? - William Jones 1630 - John Griffiths 1663 - Edward Games 1666 - Jacob Wood 1668 - Edward Wood 1703 - Morgan Prosser 1705 - Thomas Morgan 1706 - Thomas Williams |
1731 - Edward Williams
1781 - Benjamin Jeffreys 1800 - John Jones 1833 - H Pritchard, Curate. 1839 - J Morris, Curate. 1844 - J.M.Downes, Curate. 1847 - J.M.Jones, Vicar. 1853 - J. Morgan, Vicar. 1884 - Thomas Griffiths, Vicar. 1938 - T.R.J Jones, Vicar. 1959 - J.A. Bowen-Jones, Vicar. 1967 - G. Rex Morgan, Vicar. 1980 - James Coutts, Vicar. 1984 - John Lewis, Vicar. 1991 - David Thomas, Vicar. 2010 - Tim Williams, Vicar. 2016 - Awaiting new Vicar. |
St. Cattwg's Churchyard / field Restoration
From the Summer of 2006 through to the Spring of 2009, the residents of Llanspyddid got together and started the mamouth task of restoring the churchyard and adjacent church field. After the completed refurbishment project the “Church Field” was blessed and opened by the Rev. David Thomas to mark the hard work undertaken by villagers and other kind hearted people from outside the village, keen to help us to restore the Church Field and make it accessible for us to enjoy.
Although it’s main purpose remains as an extension to the church yard and in time possibly serving as a burial ground, it is hoped as a village we can enjoy and make use of it for Village Fete’s, Games etc.
Although it’s main purpose remains as an extension to the church yard and in time possibly serving as a burial ground, it is hoped as a village we can enjoy and make use of it for Village Fete’s, Games etc.