William Blethyn was a prebendary of York and a

bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

. He died in 1591.

Life

Blethyn was reputed to have been born at Shirenewton Hall, a large country house at Shirenewton in Monmouthshire, although his descendants were also said to have resided at Dinham, in a mansion on the site later occupied by Great Dinham Farm."Llanvair Discoed and Dinham" from Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire,1901 at caerwentcom.com
/ref> He was educated at Oxford, at either

New Inn Hall New Inn Hall was one of the earliest medieval halls of the University of Oxford. It was located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford. History Trilleck's Inn The original building on the site was Trilleck's Inn, a medieval hall or hostel for stu ...

or Broadgates Hall. He took orders, became

archdeacon of Brecon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of mos ...

in 1567 and also bishop of Llandaff in 1575, holding several livings at the same time in order to boost the scanty endowments of the see. Blethyn made efforts to maintain the fabric of his cathedral. He died in October 1590, leaving three sons, and was buried in the church of

Mathern Mathern ( cy, Matharn; older form: ''Merthyr Tewdrig'') is a historic community (parish) and village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, about south west of the town of Chepstow, close to the Severn estuary, the Bristol Channel and the M48 mot ...

References

;Attribution Glyn Simon: Enthronement Sermon September 1957 (Friends of Llandaff Cathedral Report 1958) 1591 deaths Bishops of Llandaff 16th-century English bishops 16th-century births Year of birth missing Archdeacons of Brecon {{Anglican-bishop-stub