Tuesday 28 January 2014

Llandewi Fach

Saturday morning was sunny, so we went off on another little excursion. This time it was just up near Painscastle for St David's church, Llandewi Fach. It can't be reached by road - you have to cross at least two fields to get to it.
Thanks to a map reading error on my part, we had a slightly longer walk than that, when the road we were on degenerated into a deeply rutted track which the car would not have been able to handle. We parked by the side of the track, under the Roundabout, and followed the track across a ford, and then down a hill. We could see the church across the valley, but the track led through a gate and a farmyard, so we called out to a chap who was working down there, and he said it was all right to come through.
As we crossed the field to the church, a blackbird exploded out of the hedge, with a sparrowhawk in hot pursuit! How they managed to fly through such a tangled hedge I don't know, but the blackbird doubled back over the hedge, and we think he got away.
The yews in the churchyard are ancient, but the church itself was almost completely rebuilt in the 1860s, complete with a little fireplace in the north wall. In the 1960s it was renovated again, and electricity was put in - the plugs are still the original bakelite ones. I'd been convinced that the church had no electricity - even though we'd walked up the field right next to the poles carrying the power lines!
Back in the churchyard, I did notice my first snowdrops of the year.
The church is no. 9 on the Kilvert trail.

2 comments:

RE said...

You're 'd' short, Lesley. It's Llanddewi Fach!


R (D) E

Eigon said...

It's only one 'd' on the leaflet!