Llandeilo Talybont Church - 1

As promised, here are a few more of my images from St. Fagan's. It shows Llandeilo Talybont church. This medieval church was originally Roman Catholic, but during the days of Henry VIII and the Reformation, it was ransacked and turned into an Anglican church. I can remember this church standing at its original location, on marshes adjacent to the River Loughor, between Pontarddulais and Hendy. In fact, Pontarddulais was originally called Llandeilo Talybont. The church was eventually abandoned, due to its isolation, encroaching marshland and the ensuing floods. You can read more about the church's history, and see images of it in its original location here and here.


Before it was dismantled and removed to St. Fagan's, Llandeilo Talybont had fallen into a sad state. Having lived within a few miles of the church during my childhood and adolescence, I remember it being a dirty grey colour, instead of pristine white. The interior of the church had been vandalised, and desecrated by a Satanic cult, who left behind many remnants of black masses celebrated there. For more information about the reconstruction of the church, including images of it before and after restoration, visit this page.

Even though I'm not a religious person, I love old churches. Since its reconstruction at St. Fagan's, Llandeilo Talybont has yet to be reconsecrated, but it has a lovely, airy and peaceful feel to it. This pic shows my first glimpse of the interior.


Here's a close-up of the rustic stone font you can see about half way down the far right hand side of the above image. I love its functional simplicity.


Here's a look at some of the interior artwork. This particular work is above the altar. Although the artwork inside the church is in an authentic, pre-Reformation, medieval style, it's not original artwork. However, upon stripping away layers of limewash, etc, during the restoration, numerous authentic medieval paintings were found, which are believed to date back to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. In order to preserve them, the paintings were removed to another part of the museum. You can see one of them here.


I'll be posting a few more images of the church's interior soon. In the meantime, if you want more information, including historical and architectural data, visit the National History Museum's Llandeilo Talybont page.