Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
St Dwynwen's Church, Remains of, Llanddwyn Island
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 3026 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Rhosyr Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH3869162759 Site Type (preferred type first) : MEDIEVAL CHURCH Status : Scheduled Monument , Listed Building II
Description : Situated on Llanddwyn Island. The walls are of rubble with dressings of brown sandstone. The church is now in ruins, but from the remaining evidence the chancel appears to have been built in the early C16th. The N and S transepts are featureless but probably contemporary with the chancel. The lower courses of the walls of the nave remain, but in view of the disproportionate size it is probable that it is of earlier date than the chancel. The church was a prebend of Bangor cathedral. (RCAHMW, 1937)
As described above. Ruined walls up to 5.4m high. The NE wall of the chancel has a good, round arched window with moulded label. <2>
SE wall intact, moulded window, weathered, chancel walls visible. Nave just visible, 1m high wall. S transept wall visible. Definite 0.5m high wall of church yard enclosure visible around S and W end. Possible destruction on E side. <3>
Well known place of pilgrimage in medieval times. <4>
Also listed grade I. A mainly 16th century church, including chancel. Smaller possibly earlier ends, rubble masonry, sandstone dressing, arched opening. (RCAHMW, Undated)
St Dwynwen's Church is a multi-phased building, probably dating to the late 12th or early 13th centuries. The building was constructed of worked and unworked mortar-bonded masonry and designed in a cruciform plan. The church, which is enclosed in a circular bounded churchyard, is unusually orientated NE-SW. The church is depicted in a mid-18th century engraving as ruinous with all of its roof missing. It is still in a ruinous state. <12>
The brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck (fl . 1730–79) illustrated seventeen monastic sites in Wales in their main series of ‘Antiquities’ including Llanddwynwen. Hugh Hughes (1790–1863), an artist of Welsh origin, published in 1823 The Beauties of Cambria, containing ‘sixty views of the most sublime and picturesque scenery in the twelve counties of Wales’. Unusually, these were engravings on wood, including Llanddwyn Priory (Moore, 2005).
Folklore associated with St Dwynwen’s church, Llanddwyn (Owen, 1898).
An illustrated description of St. Dwynwen's church and Prebendary's residence as found in 1879 with brief discussion regarding documentary evidence suggesting an earlier Church on the site. (R.W.B. 1879).
St Dwynwen's Church, Remains of, Llanddwyn Island (Lladdwyn, 1846).
