Llangadfan is a small village in

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales, based in the

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 ...

of Banwy. The village lies on the A458 between Foel and

Llanerfyl Llanerfyl is a village and community (Wales), community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. Located near the River Banwy, the community includes the village of Llanerfyl, several farms and wide tracts of marchland. The southern part of the communit ...

, from

Llanwddyn Llanwddyn () is a village and Community (Wales), community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. The community is centred on the Lake Vyrnwy reservoir. The original Llanwddyn village, about northwest, was submerged when the reservoir was created in ...

. Dyfnant Forest is located nearby. The village is said to be known for its country dances.

Geography

Llangadfan is a village (area of ) and a parish, which lies on the banks of the

River Vyrnwy The River Vyrnwy (, ) flows through northern Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England. The name derives from Severn, the river of which it is a tributary. Course The river used to be sourced from the many rivers and streams running off the mount ...

and extends into the Banwy River and Nant-yn-Eira stream.

Llanfyllin Llanfyllin ( – ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. The community (which measures 41.8 square kilometres) population in 2021 was 1,586 and the town's name means ''church or parish'' (Llan (placename), llan) ''o ...

railway station (now closed) is to its north-east and Llanfair is away to its east-south-east. The pub here is known as "Cann Office Hotel".

Climate

The lowest average temperature recorded is in January and the average maximum is during August. The average annual rainfall is with a maximum monthly average of in December and lowest average of in June.

Notable landmarks

Llangadfan is home to St Cadfan's church, a medieval church whose original features have been obscured by a 19th century restoration. The church was originally said to have been established by

Saint Cadfan Cadfan (), was the 6th century founder-abbot of Tywyn (whose church is dedicated to him) and Bardsey, both in Gwynedd, Wales. He was said to have received the island of Bardsey from Einion Frenin, king of Llŷn, around 516 and to have serv ...

(who had to flee under pressure from

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

with his companions) somewhere between 510 and 515, shortly before he departed and founded a monastery on

Bardsey Island Bardsey Island (), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Wales, Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh language, Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to t ...

where he served as its abbot from 516 to 542. This church was the seat of the Parish of Llangadfan for centuries, then being part of the County of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

. ;Features of St Cadfan's church St Cadfan's church, in the Diocese of St Asaph, located 14 miles to the west of Welshpool, originally of 15th century medieval vintage, was restored in 1867–68. It has been built over a raised sub-circular churchyard which was expanded in 1910 in the western direction. It has a small single chamber (a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

) with an east facing window in east west layout. While the porch (southern direction),

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

(in the northern direction),

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

, new windows, and bell turret ( on the west, over the nave) belong to the nineteenth century restoration, a

stoup A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or other Christian art. It is used in Catholic, as well as many Lutheran and Anglica ...

and a few other older structures are still visible. Stone masonry with square blocks of greyish

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

is irregularly coursed in the porch, the vestry and the bell turret and fully plastered. The roof (gabled to the east and west) is made of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

s with black ceramic red ridge tiles with a cross

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

. Peaked arches with

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a window blind or window shutter, shutter with horizontal wikt:slat, slats that are angle ...

boards are provided on the Northern and southern sides. The north wall has three windows, "two to the nave, one to the chancel; each has a

two-centred arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was partic ...

with two trefoiled two-centred lights of grey freestone; and continuous hoodmoulds ending in head stops and having a central stop as well."

Cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

floor is provided inside the church. The roof is made of timber where rafters and

purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin. P ...

s are exposed. The north and south walls are fitted with wooden benches fixed over stone plinths. The main entrance to the church is through a pair of wrought iron gates set in stone pillars in the north-west wall, which is the main entrance. Entry to the church is also through a gravelled path from the

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

. The southern wall has stone steps which lead to Tyn-llan (a public house in the past). The churchyard is closed within a boundary wall except the extended part of western end of the church. There is an earthen bank of 1 m height, which delimits the earlier boundary of the church where there is a

made of stone. The churchyard has plantation of many trees of yews,

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

s and ashes; some are dated to 1732.

Other buildings

One of the buildings of Llangadfan, ''Abernodwydd'', a timber-framed house originally built in 1678, has been removed and re-erected at the

St Fagans National History Museum St Fagans National Museum of History ( ; ), commonly referred to as St Fagans after the village where it is located, is an open-air museum in St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales, chronicling the historical lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the Wels ...

, near Cardiff. In 1849, the village was said to contain a mansion and 1931 acres of land. The Cann Office Hotel dates back to at least the 17th century when it was a post office known as the "Can Office". It later became an inn, and the chief village pub and restaurant. Some interesting ancient artefacts have been unearthed in the Llangadfan area, including a stone implement unearthed during a drain maintenance job in August 1931 and a bronze

palstave A palstave is a type of early bronze axe. It was common in the middle Bronze Age in northern, western and south-western Europe. In the technical sense, although precise definitions differ, an axe is generally deemed to be a palstave if it is hafted ...

which was discovered in the spring of 1833 in the second field from Parc farmhouse.

Notable people

Famous residents of the village include: * Gruffudd Llwyd (c.1380-c.1420), medieval poet. * William Jones (1726–1795), Welsh poet, physician and radical * David Bynner (1838–1866), a local educator and publisher of a small arrangement of music; born and died in the village. * John Cadvan Davies (1846–1923) Wesleyan Methodist Minister, poet and

Archdruid Archdruid () is the title used by the presiding official of Gorsedd Cymru, the Gorsedd. The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, the award of the and the C ...

; born in Yr Allt Farm, * Shani Rhys James MBE (born 1953), successful painter, based in the village.BBC Wales Art
Shani Rhys James
last updated 28 September 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-07. *

Eleri Mills Eleri Mills (born 1955) is a Welsh painter. Life Mills was born in Llangadfan in Powys, and gained a B.A. in Art and Design from Manchester Polytechnic. She was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy in 2000 and in 2012 was an artist-in-residen ...

(born 1955), a Welsh painter.

References

{{authority control Villages in Powys