St Mary's Church -- lost and found

Thanks to Marc, Vanya and others, we think we have tracked down the site of the medieval Church of St Mary the Virgin (Eglwys Fair), on the side of Banc Du at grid ref SN 07680 34746. This was probably the church where Henry Tudor worshipped after landing at Dale, on 8th August 1485, and marching northwards. According to legend, he stayed at Fagwr (or Fagwyr) Lwyd, while his followers camped on the plateau west of Cnwc yr Hydd summit. Afterwards, he continued with his growing army via Newport and Cardigan up to Aberystwyth and then on to the fateful Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The "lost church" is shown on the old maps as Eglwys Fair, but in the wrong place, to the west of the fence. It is actually below the old quarry shown on the satellite images, and although the piles of rubble / collapsed walls were still visible a century ago, now they are completely covered with turf.

After a search, it has to be said that the signs of the old church are quite subtle. All we can see is a disturbed area on a grassy shelf about 20m from the old quarry. In an area about 7m x 7m there are a number of low hummocks about 80 cms high, with a slight hollow in the middle. On prodding the hummocks, I discovered that they are all located on boulders or piles of smaller stones. Some of these stones are loose -- and that indicated that this is all that is left of an old building. (If all of the stones were to be solidly embedded in the turf, that mightv indicate that they are very old glacial erratics, just as we find on the area west of Cnwc yr Hydd......)

Anyway, a little piece of local history rediscovered!

Some of the uncovered stones -- in a short space of time I was able to strip the turf off 13 of them.

We don't know how much time has elapsed since this old church became derelict. It was probably built some time in the early Middle Ages by a rich local patron, as a "chapel of ease" linked to Nevern -- and maybe used by travellers and by parishioners who found the journey to Nevern too daunting. How big was it? Well, there is a faint impression that shows up in satellite images suggesting a rectangular building c 15m x 5m, aligned approx N-S. I suspect that it fell into disrepair in the middle 1500's, when a new Church of St Mary the Virgin was built in its present location, down next to the river in Cilgwyn. When the building collapsed, I suspect that some of the stone might have been cannibalised and used for the cottage called Penlan-Oleu, a short distance to the east, across the fields.

PS.  More interesting info from Vanya:

from Archives: Site of St. Mary's Church (Eglwys Fair) .
Royal Commission for Ancient Monuments in Wales & Monmouth 1914:
The site of the little chapel of St Mary is reputed to be the summit of Banc du, at the foot of which, 3/4 mile to the north is the present chapel of St Mary Cilgwyn.
About the year 1900 The Pembrokeshire Archaeological Survey reported upon the few remains then visible as follows:
"They consist of large stones forming three sides of a rectangular figure. There is no trace of mortar but in several places both faces of the foundation of wall or hedge are visible, and judging by the size of the stones, some of which are very large, the building, if building it was, must have been very ancient. The east side of the enclosure measures 21 yards and the north side 19 yards. The south side measures only 9 yards but it is possible the stones may have extended further westward and that they are concealed by a mound of rubbish excavated from the neighbouring quarry. The curious feature is that the greatest length is from North to South; whereas in a church one would expect to find the building longest from east to west. The ground rises from the east side of the enclosure so that it would seem that the west wall if there was one must have been below the level of the contour of the land which slopes from the quarry to the east "

Father Gildas from Caldy Monastery has studied early Celtic Christianity extensively and thought it could be an early chapel as their orientation was North west. Rather like the earlier chapel to the North of Nevern Church. That too is built in a similar fashion very like St Govans Chapel in South Pembrokeshire. It would be interesting to compare the dimensions of the three of them.

That's intriguing, suggesting the the western side of the church was below ground level, which is indeed sloping below the edge of the quarry, and that there was a sort of platform on which the church was built.  The enclosure within which the church was built has been lost without trace.  There is also a suggestion that the quarry post-dates the church.  That fits with my assumption that this quarry, like the others on Cnwc yr Hydd, was opened up in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to provide shale and mudstone slabs for local buildings and walls. 

PS.  3rd April 2021.   The mystery deepens -- at the "new" site of St Mary's Church Cilgwyn Maye (who now lives there) has pointed out to me that there are at least two inscribed stones with crosses which are quite discernible.  One stands close to the porch, and the other is built into the fabric of the church, at its NE corner high above the ground.  Stones such as these are generally assumed to date from around 800 - 1000 AD -- so if the stones were carved and used on this site, that suggests the presence of a chapel in the early Middle Ages, possibly used at the same time as the other "Eglwys Mair" high up on the slope of Banc Du..........