There has been a church on this site going back to pre-christian days, the current church was rebuilt in stone in the 13th century.
There are several ancient artifacts kept at this church, the most interesting perhaps, were introduced by King Edward III in 1376 A.D. The Parish Stocks, preserved on the North wall of the Nave once stood by the entrance to the Churchyard. Offenders were brought into Matins to confess their misdeeds and were then set in the stocks for the remainder of the day.
The featured Headstone is viewable from the main road, as it lies just over the boundry wall near the entrance of the church, to read the stone, you will need to enter the Churchyard between Dawn & Dusk.
The fallen cross headstone, shown in the gallery photos of this listing is the only broken stone I could find in this ancient cemetry,
It is suggested it was frost damage due to the intricate carvings on the stone.
The headstone reads :-
In Memory of
Jenkin Edwards,
of this Parish
Furnace Manac Rhymney
died April 15 , 1847
aged 36 years.
The Stone like Jenkins life was cut short in his prime.
"Ancient Welsh churches are generally dedicated to the memory of their founders and our Parish Church dedication is unique in that it is related to a Saint who was born and spent his early years in the Parish. St. Catwg (A.D. 500 – 570) was the eldest son of Gwynlliw and Gwladys, ruler of a large tract of land centred on Gelligaer who leaving their residence in their declining years, separated in monastic fashion Gwynlliw to live at Newport on the site of what was to become St. Woolos Cathedral and Gwladys on the site of a Chapel near Gelligaer which was to be named after her.
Forsaking all claims to his father’s territorial rule Catwg preferred a life of learning and religion and completing his education at Caerwent when he was 18 years old, founded a celebrated centre at Nancaravan in the Vale of Glamorgan. To him, flocked students from Ireland and the continent and his monastery’s reputation for learning lived on into Norman times.
He is considered to have been one of the founders of Christian Wales and his teachings spread far and wide throughout the countries lying in the Atlantic fringe of Western Europe.
A great traveller, he and his followers founded 25 places of worship in South Wales, to be found on the Roman highways which they utilised in their peregrinations. Further afield St. Catwg founded a monastery on the river Liffey in Ireland, a chapel in Amlwch in Angelsy and in Scotland where, at Cumberslang on the Clyde, there is another Church which commemorates him. Southwards there is evidence of his influence in Cornwall, where, near Padstow is a village and church named St. Cattock’s.
A devastating plague in A.D. 546 caused Catwg and many others to sail to Brittany where he founded an oratory on what today is known as the ‘Ille de Cado’from which sprang a great number of places named after him. In the present chapelle on the island of his oratory is a memorial to ‘the son of the Prince of Glamorgan’ and nearby hangs a painting of the Parish Church of Gelligaer.
After a sojourn of some years in Brittany, St. Catwg returned home, eventually to suffer martyrdom at the hands of the Saxon invaders. Historians have failed to agree on the site of his death but it may well be that he died at Gelligaer where a group of fields with names reminiscent of monastic connections contain a stone known as Maen Catwg."
Source :- (
visit link)
Street address of Church:
St Catwgs Church
Church Road
Gelligaer , Caerphilly Wales