St Tudwal's

The site

Llanstadwell is a historic parish church serving an area of over 3000 acres containing 4000 souls.  It has been a holy place for 1500 years.  Its setting is typical of an ancient Celtic site with easy access to the waterway, yet discretely hidden from the open sea and the attention of raiders.  The word ’llan’ is Welsh for church and Llanstadwell is a corrupt version of  The Church of St Tudwal, although in 1291 the name was written as Lanstowel.  St Tudwal was a sixth century bishop who was well-known in Brittany and North Wales, and whose intervention was at one time invoked at times of public calamity.

The Tower

The tower is Norman, reputedly built in the reign of King Stephen (1135-54).  These were times of civil war and violence, which explains its fortress-like appearance.   The tower was useful to ships navigating the Haven , but it also served as a fighting platform for archers, who fired from the battlements.  Seventy five well-worn steps ascent the tower in a clockwise spiral, facilitating defence from above by right-handed swordsmen.  The tower has three stages and has a plain corbel table and battlements.

For centuries people entered the church by a doorway in the west wall and down a flight of steps.  The top of this doorway can still be seen from the churchyard.

The belfry holds two bells cast in 1684 during the reign of Charles 11 (l660-85).  Bells were reintroduced after the prohibitions of the Commonwealth and one bell is inscribed VIVAT REX (long live the king)- probably in honour of the “Merry Monarch”.

The Nave

A great rebuilding programme carried out through the third quarter of the nineteenth century largely determines the character of the interior of the church.  The roof and the floor were raised by four feet.  The old roof lines can be seen in the nave and on the tower walls.  In the chancel the old roof lines can also be seen in the stone pointing of the more recent restoration work.  New windows, the north doorway and the Victorian

Box-like pews were all added at this time.  In 1875-76 the sum of £329 was paid to the contractors who carried out the work.

The square lead-lined font of an earlier period retains the old position near the entrance to the tower.  It holds five gallons of water and in earlier times would have been filled and kept locked.

The list of vicars is complete from 1535.   The first was Thomas Balymore who entertained Richard 11 on his journey to Ireland in 1394, for which he received the handsome sum of forty shillings to defray his expenses.  In 1662 John Lunffey, Vicar of Llanstadwell, was removed from his living because he refused to comply with the Act of Uniformity and the Book of Common Prayer.  On leaving the church, he returned to his former trade as a hatter.

The North Transept

This is the site of an ancient transept chapel.  As elsewhere, the floor of this section

was raised four feet during the 19th century.  Previously worshippers enjoyed an unimpeded view of the chancel sanctuary by means of a “squint” or “hagioscope”.  This was a narrow oblique opening in the wall or pillar of a church which permitted a view of the main altar from the transept.  A small tunnel and tops of its archway are still visible low down on the north wall of the chancel.

The original earth floor below, provided a resting place for the dead, as the churchyard was used for other and often recreational purposes.  Approximately two hundred years ago, burials began to be conducted in the church grounds, the oldest gravestone is dated 1802, but in less than a century there was little space remaining, and in 1880 a new cemetery was consecrated in Honeyborough.

Some years ago an old stone altar slab was discovered resting on the floor below this transept., 

The lectern is fairly recent and is believed to have been cared in the local dockyard.

The Chancel

The east window by Kemp, is dedicated to the memory of those who fell in 1914-18 War.  Their names are inscribed on a brass plate in the nave.  An Epiphany scene shows the Wise Men arriving in Bethlehem The fine oak furnishing dates from the 1940s.

 

 

There is an ancient “piscine” or water-stoup in the south wall of the sanctuary.  There is a most beautiful silver chalice (hallmarked 1599) from the reign of Elizabeth 1 (this is not on view).  The chalice is inscribed in latin  “POCULUM ECCLESIE DE LAN SET WAL” - The Church of Llanstadwell.

Supposed traces of a “leper window” may be found outside the north wall of the chancel.  In mediaeval times, this allowed many sufferers from contagious diseases to view the proceedings within and to receive the sacrament without entering the church.  Also on the north wall is a memorial to a long-serving incumbent,Rev. Lacy Henry Rumsey, an Oxford graduate, was vicar from 1873-1911.  The pulpit and the north door are also dedicated to memory of his family.

 

The South Transept

This part of the church was built as a extension to accommodate the population explosion experienced in the Parish in the 19th century, when Brunel brought the Great Western Railway to Neyland.  The buttresses near the pulpit and the organ show the line of the original outside wall.  Neyland now has its own St Clement’s Church, the daughter church to that at Llanstadwell.

The south transept was furnished as a Lady Chapel in the 1950s and the  tiny clergy vestry was also enlarged at the same time.  Note three deeply carved pew-ends, possibly 17th century, that embellish the headstalls and depict musical subjects.

The Church Registers are in the National Library at Aberystwyth, but copies are held in the vestry and records are still maintained with details of every baptism, marriage and burial.  The first entry records the christening of Michael Jones in 1714.

Surviving records show Baptisms 1714-1904, marriages 1714-1892 and  burials

 1714-1903.

History of the Bells

The two bells are interesting and possibly unique as an existing pair cast by William Covey and Thomas Covey who originated from Limerick.

Willian Covey is mentioned in the parish accounts of St Nicholas Gloucester as working with Roger Purdue, a bell founder from Bristol.  The connection between the two founders may have begun when Roger’s father William Purdue moved from Somerset to Limerick in 1669 to retire.  He died in 1673.

Tobias Covey, son of William, married a Purdue.

There was a bell in St Mary’s Church, Cardigan inscribed VIVAT RED FLOREAT REX.  This is similar to the smallest bell at Llanstadwell.

Two other bells by William and Thomas Covey occur at Llangyndeyrn, Carmarthenshire dated 1679.

The smallest bell is inscribed  VIVAT RED ET: FLOREAT REX  **WC** **TC** 1684.  The bell is 27” in diameter.

The largest bell is inscribed  RICHARD:SWAYNE:VICAR:TP:IC:1684*WC*TC*WILLIAM:MORDANT ESQ:

The bell is 31” in diameter

SERVICES

St Tudwal’s Church 

                                    8.30am          Communion

                                    11am              Morning Prayer (communion on last Sunday                                                            of the month)                                                                                                    

                                    6pm                Evening Service (1st & 3rd Sundays)

CHURCH OPEN DAILY FROM 10AM - DUSK

CONTACT:                Vicar, Rev. Paul Flavell, The Vicarage, 68 Church Road,                                      Llanstadwell, Milford Haven SA73 1EB

                                   (01646) 600227