When The Saint Goes Marching In

Sat on a large flat rock associated with St Tydecho. I found it a bit slopey for comfort

Exactly 1500 years ago a small group of men set off by boat from Brittany and ended up on the Welsh coast at what is now Tywyn, no doubt a bit seasick. They were Christians from the Roman church and may have been seeking a quiet spot to settle and form a monastery, but they ended up spreading across the countryside preaching and setting up churches.

One of them, Tydecho, made his way up the Dyfi valley with his goats and there are now four churches bearing his name including my own local church at Mallwyd. Another such church is further up the valley at Llanymawddwy, and last week I headed up there with the current incumbent of St Tydecho, to take photos of the places the saint had lived and farmed a millennium and a half ago.

St Tydecho with his shepherd's staff

There is St Tydecho's Seat (Cadair Tydecho), a rock formation way up in the hills overlooking the farmland for miles around, where he rested from his labours from time to time. Religious graffiti artists have scratched crosses and dates into this Seat, one reads 1859, another 1799. The current Reverend had inscribed one in 2012. He had farmed this very sheep farm for 25 years before becoming a priest, and so feels a kinship with this ancient saint who according to the legends farmed the same soil, ploughing the ground apparently with a deer and a wolf instead of a horse. I suspect there may have been one or two embellishments to the facts over the years.

There is a stream called Llaethnant, or Milk Stream, which must be the very watercourse that in one story our saint is credited with turning into milk.

St Tydecho's at Llanymawddwy

We walked up behind the church at Llanymawddwy and found the large flat stone that Tydecho apparently caused his enemy's backside to be glued to by some heavenly power. (That's the photo at the top of this page, but I remained unstuck, thankfully.)

The church here is now closed due to safety concerns with its end wall being in danger of collapsing outwards, but we obtained the huge iron key from the neighbouring house and tiptoed inside, to admire a beautiful stained glass window depicting Jesus with St David and St Tydecho on either side.

1859 graffiti

1799 graffiti

St Tydecho's "Well"

St Tydecho's Seat

On our way back we paused briefly at the hill where his goats had rested, exhausted from the long journey from the coast. Taking this as a sign from God, Tydecho had been about to select the spot as where his church would be founded when the goats got their second wind and trotted on for another mile or two to what is now Llanymawddwy. Their original resting spot was nevertheless remembered as a relatively holy site and marked centuries later by a chapel (now converted to a holiday home.)

These photos will be on display at our church's Open Day on Saturday 17th September which I hope you will all be able to attend (I'll be playing the organ with Anna on violin) but for those who can't be there, at least you can get a flavour of them right here.

The view from his Seat overlooking the upper Dyfi valley