St Ceyndd Church, Llangennith
Introduction
The photograph on this page of St Ceyndd Church, Llangennith by Rude Health as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Image: © Rude Health Taken: 1 Jul 2015
The largest church in the Gower, St Cenydd's has a massive stone tower with a distinctive saddleback roof. The church is built on the site of a priory established by St Ceyndd. Cenydd was born in the area, a fact brought home by an information panel in the church with the rather humorous and eye-catching title 'Local Boy Makes Good'! The village of Llangennith clusters round a central village green and the church of St Cenydd,which was founded in the 6th century. According to legend the church was established as a hermitage by St Cenydd; but in 986 the early buildings were destroyed by Vikings. The present structure dates from the 12th century - it was consecrated in 1102 - when Norman war-lords were building castles and churches all over Gower, as elsewhere in Britain. The large fortified square tower is unusually placed north of the nave and features remnants of a significant Norman arch in its east wall, possibly associated with a small priory which was attached to the church through the Middle Ages.