Tourism - Saint Catwg's - Port Eynon, Gower, Wales.
N 51° 32.789 W 004° 12.740
30U E 415935 N 5711295
The Medieval Church in Port Eynon, is full of local History, as you enter through the Norman Arch, you discover an ancient Font, 3 RNLI monuments, local & War memorials, The most visited monument, is found in the Churchyard. Located in Gower, Wales.
Waymark Code: WMQDM5
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/11/2016
Views: 3
St Cattwg's - Port Eynon - A 'Church in Wales' episcopal church, in the Parish of South West Gower, in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon.
Whether your interest is in architecture, history, woodcarving, stained glass, war memorials, graves of the famous or ordinary people. In the churchyard, is a marble memorial sculpture to the three lifeboat crew who lost their lives at sea in 1916.
The Church in Port Eynon, a seaside village, was founded during the 6th century by St.Cattwg a missionary to the Gower. The first reference to the present building was in 1165. St Cattwg's a medieval church located in Port Eynon, South Wales.
Port Eynon is served by a bus service running approximately every hour.
The church is part of the "In the Steps of the Saints" Walking trail;
"Christian worship has taken place on Gower for at least fifteen hundred years, and in many cases churches stand where simpler structures of the Celtic period stood. The oldest are over eight hundred years old, and most newer ones rest on even older foundations. A great number of carved and lettered stones and other remains connect us to their ancient past, and to the faith of those who worshipped there. The churches contain a wealth of fascinating features of architectural, historical and artistic interest, showing the high regard in which they have been held as focal points of their small communities." Text Source; (
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"Monuments within the church are dedicated to various locals, those who died in the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars and those who died in the lifeboat disaster.
In the churchyard stands the memorial to the lifeboat disaster of 1916.Of those who died only the bodies of William Eynon and George Harry were recovered and they are buried in the churchyard. That of Billy Gibbs, the coxswain, was never recovered.
St Cattwg’s church now has a facilities suitable for the disabled and a facility to serve tea and coffee. The new facilities were made possible through generous grants from various organisations and villagers." Text Source; (
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"Port Eynon church is much-restored, probably built in the C12, and dedicated to St Cattwg. The pulpit in the church is in memory of three lifeboat men drowned while attempting a rescue on the 1st of January 1916; besides the gateway to the church there is another memorial to these men: a life-sized marble figure standing on a granite base. The west window in the south of the nave (produced by Celtic Studios) also commemorates the RNLI, and shows the calming of the sea and the miraculous draught of fishes." Text Source: (
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"This seaside village church was founded during the 6th century by St. Cattwg's missionary to Gower, St. Cennydd. The present building dates from the 12th century and was given to the Knights of St. John by Robert de la Mare around 1165. The doorway is Norman and the stoup for holy water in the porch is said to have been given by a Spanish sea captain ingratitude to his rescuers." Text Source: (
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"A church has stood on the site of the present St. Cattwg's Church since the 6th Century AD but the present building originated from the 12th Century. Dedicated to the Celtic Saint of Llancarfan, the most distinctive feature noticed by present day visitors is perhaps not the church itself but the memorial statue of the lifeboatman sited in the most visible corner of the churchyard.
This large sculpture of a lifeboatman, dressed in typical early 20th Century garb, is made from the finest Italian marble and commemmorates members of the village lifeboat crew who lost their lives to the sea during a particularly daring rescue attempt in the Bristol Channel in 1916. A further memorial to this disaster can be found within the church itself in the form of a commemorative pulpit." Text Source: (
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