Cefn Meiriadog (sometimes Cefnmeriadog) is a rural

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

, Wales, just south-west of the city of

St Asaph St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

. The boundary of the community on three sides is the

river Elwy The River Elwy () is a river in Wales forming a tributary to the River Clwyd. Though the source of the river may be on the northern flank of Moel Seisiog, south-east of Llanrwst, the river only receives the name Elwy at the village of Llanger ...

, which here forms the county boundary with Conwy County Borough. Arguably the largest settlement in the community is the hamlet of Bontnewydd. Also in the community are the hamlets of Groesffordd Marli where Ysgol Cefn Meiriadog is situated, and Cefn. Wigfair - geograph

The community is named for a small ridge of the same name (''cefn'' in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

means "ridge"). It is said that the place was named for St Meiriadog, a 4th or 5th century Breton saint.

Cefn Caves Cefn Caves are a group of four interlinked caves in the limestone cliffs of the Elwy valley, north of Denbigh, in Denbighshire, North Wales. Early excavations found both human and animal remains dating back to the Paleolithic period. The cave net ...

are nearby, where human and early

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

remains dating back 250,000 years have been discovered. Visitors to the site have included

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, in 1831. The site is known as

Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site The Bontnewydd palaeolithic site (), also known in its unmutated form as , is an archaeological site near St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales. It is one of only three sites in Britain to have produced fossils of ancient species of humans (together wit ...

. There is a local spring, ''Ffynnon Fair'' ("St Mary's spring"), and it was once believed to have healing properties. The poet

Siôn Tudur Siôn Tudur (also ''John Tudur'', c. 1522–1602) was a 16th century Welsh language poet. After serving as a yeoman in the courts of Edward VI and Mary, Siôn returned to Wales where he was tutored by Gruffudd Hiraethog Gruffudd Hiraethog (died ...

(1522 – 1602) lived at Plas Wigfair (GR028712) nearby.

St Mary's Church, Cefn

About 300 metres SE of the fort ''Bryn y Cawr'' ("Giant's Hill", at the SE end of the ridge) stands the small St Mary's church (Grade II listed). The stone was quarried at the site of the church; the church was opened and consecrated on 3.9.1864 by Bishop Short of St Asaph, and the new ecclesiastical parish of "Cefn" was created on 7. 2. 1865, made up of two "townships": Wigfair and Meiriadog (both in Denbighshire), previously part of St Asaph parish.

Population

In 2011 the population of Cefnmeiriadog was 389, with 30.4% able to speak

References

{{authority control Villages in Denbighshire Communities in Denbighshire