Llanddewi Rhydderch is a village in
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...
, Wales at OS . It is off the
B4233 road, roughly southeast of
Abergavenny
Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...
, lying within the
administrative community of
Gobion Fawr.
History
The township of Llanddewi Rhydderch grew around the small ''llan'', or
monastic
Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...
cell named after
St. David.
St David's Church holds regular services every week. The present incumbent, Fr John Humphries, has served in the parish since 2012. In 2015 the church was successful in obtaining a National Lottery Grant to clear land at the back of the church to turn into a WW1 Memorial Meadow. The
churchyard
In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...
has a very old
yew tree, which may be many centuries old and became a finalist in Woodland Trust Welsh tree of the year competition.
The village has been home to the honorary consulate of
Kiribati
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
since 1996. It is the only official representation of the country in Europe.
Landmarks
A
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
chapel on the edge of the village is a
Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
and holds services every Sunday.
Notable people
Josh Wardle, the developer of the web-based word game
Wordle
''Wordle'' is a web-based word game created and developed by the Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle. In the game, players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word, receiving feedback through colored tiles that indicate correct letters a ...
, was brought up in the village. In 2022 he sold the game to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' for a sum in excess of $1m.
References
External links
Photo of the churchChapel Website
Villages in Monmouthshire
{{Monmouthshire-geo-stub