Name: | Llanddew | CISP No: | LDDEW |
Place: | Llanddew | Grid Ref: | SO 540 3070 (GB) |
Parish: | Llanddew | Stones: | 1 |
County: | Brecknock (Brycheiniog) , Wales | Saint(s): | Dewi |
Site Type: | ecclesiastical |
Westwood/1885, 147: `The church of Llanddew is one of the oldest in the county of Brecknockshire, and is historically interesting as the parish church of Giraldus Cambrensis, with whom it is associated in some of the most stirring and interesting episodes in his eventful history. It was here, in 1187, that Archbishop Baldwin commenced his crusading mission through Wales, "the Word of the Lord being preached at Llanddew". Giraldus accompanied the Archbishop in his tour of South Wales.
"The church is a massive structure of the thirteenth century, cruciform, with lancet-windows. It is severely plain, but perfect in design ... The long chancel with its three lancets on each side, its eastern triplet, its trefoil-headed priest's door, is unsurpassed for the perfect combination of perfect plainness with perfect excelence'.