St Isan's Church is a listed Anglican church in the suburb of

Llanishen Llanishen (, ''llan'' church + ''Isien'' Saint Isan) is a district and community in the north of Cardiff, Wales. Its population as of the 2011 census was 17,417. Llanishen is the home of the former HMRC tax offices, the tallest buildings i ...

, Cardiff. The church's origins are medieval, though the present building was extensively remodeled during the Victorian and Edwardian years.

Early history

Saint Isan Saint Isan was a 6th-century saint of South Wales and Patron Saint of Llanishen in Cardiff, Wales. He was said to have been a follower of the 6th-century Celtic teacher St Illtyd. In A.D. 535 he and Saint Edeyrn came eastwards from the small reli ...

and his companion

Saint Edeyrn Saint Edeyrn ( century) was a pre-congregational saint of Wales, related to Vortigern and the royal house of Kingdom of Powys, Powys and the brother of Saint Aerdeyrn and Elldeyrn. Edeyrn is the patron saint of Lannédern in France and Llanedeyrn ...

are believed to have been active in the area in the 6th century, after having been sent by St Teilo to establish religious settlements. Isan reached what is now Llanishen in 535 or 537 AD, and established a 'llan' (enclosure) at the site. This would have consisted of a primitive structure which served as both a church and as accommodation for visitors. The llan would have also included a farming plots and would have been surrounded by a palisade. Isan died in 537 AD, so his time in the district would have been fleeting, but had significant effect. As the Celtic church was still using

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as its language, Isan also used the name Dionysius. As local people did not use or understand Latin, this name was corrupted to Dennis or Denys, and was later applied to St Denys' Church in

Lisvane Lisvane () is a community in the north of Cardiff, the capital of Wales, located north of the city centre. Lisvane is generally considered to be one of the wealthiest residential areas of Wales, with many properties worth in excess of £1& ...

. An associate of Isan's was St Edeyrn, from whom the name

Llanedeyrn Llanedeyrn () is a former village, now a district and community, in the east of the city of Cardiff, Wales, located around 3.5 miles from the city centre. The parish of Llanedeyrn rests on the banks of the river Rhymney and is visible nesting o ...

is derived, and who also has a church dedicated to him in Llanedeyrn. The first mention of a proper church at the location dates from the 12th century, at which time it was a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

to St Mary's Church in what was then the separate and fairly distant town of Cardiff, which would not absorb Llanishen until the late 19th century. The church consisted of a nave, chancel, a tower and a porch. A sanctuary, chancel and north and south windows were added in the 14th century. The tower was added in the 15th century. It, together with the medieval nave, survive, along with a small portion of the south chancel wall which is thought to be the oldest surviving part of the church.

Later extensions and further history

The first enlargement occurred in 1854 when Prichard and Seddon added a north aisle and an arcade. After the opening of the

Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from Colliery, collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 18 ...

, Llanishen's population began to grow as the village began to transform into a suburb. The 1854 aisle was demolished and replaced by H.D. Blessley in 1907–8, a new nave and chancel also being added, together with a second (south) arcade which matched the style of the 1854 arcade. A

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 ...

was added in 1927. The church gained listed status in 1952. In 1993, the Llanishen Local History Society planted a tree at the site of St Isan's original llan.

St Faith's Church, Llanishen

The sister church of St Isan's is St Faith's on Morris Avenue. It was built in the 1960s to serve the area's growing population of the postwar years.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llanishen, Saint Isan Grade II* listed churches in Cardiff Church in Wales church buildings in Cardiff 12th-century church buildings in Wales Llanishen, Cardiff