Peaceful Places is a heritage tourism trail, launched in 2014. The trail encompasses churches and chapels across the north of the Ceredigion county of Wales, each with its own story. There are 17 places to visit which can be found at Cardigan Bay, and in the valleys and hills of the Cambrian Mountains. [1] The heritage contained within the places of worship span from pre-Christian to modern times. [2]
The trail spans 17 destinations, [3] from the coast to the uplands, featuring flora and fauna, family history and human events and achievements. The trail offers short walking routes [4] and also points visitors to examples of architecture, art and craftsmanship. [5] The initial concept of the trail came from Roger Haggar, the church warden at Saint Michael's Church, who wanted to raise the profile of the churches and chapels in the area. [6]
Peaceful Places was designed to drive tourism in Wales in response to the faith tourism action plan – the Welsh government aim to make faith tourism more a part of the visitor experience. [7] Edwina Hart, the Economy Minister, said that religious places need to become an “integral part” of the visitor experience by 2020. John Watson encourages the uses of churches and chapels for tourism, commenting “If you're going to tell the story of Wales, you cannot tell it without religion”. [8] The trail is designed to encourage visitors to see the sacred places from a different perspective; as places to spend time in a quiet setting. [9] Peaceful Places was officially launched on 7 June 2014. [10]
Place | Location | Description |
---|---|---|
St Michael and All Angels Church | Laura Place, Aberystwyth SY23 2AU | Overlooks the sea and lies within a conservation area which includes the grade one listed university building and the castle ruins. |
St Matthew’s Church | Borth (signposted from the sea front) | Views across to Aberdyfi, the Tarren mountains and the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains. |
St David’s Church | Capel Bangor, between Aberystwyth and Ponterwyd | Situated at the gateway to Rheidol Valley, surrounded by a wooded nature reserve, a river, a hydroelectric power station and an historic steam railway. |
Capel Siloam | Cymystwyth | Lies on the Glyndwr Way walking route. Local history archive housed in the vestry. |
St Michael’s Church | Eglwysfach SY20 8SX. Situated on the tourist trail to Dyfi Furnace and the nearby Ynys-hir RSPB nature reserve. | The church dates from 1833 and an 18th-century lych gate remains from a previous older church. |
St Peter’s Church | Elerch (Bont-goch) SY24 5DP | St Peter’s Church was designed by William Butterfield, an eminent Victorian architect. |
St Michael and All Angels Church | Hafod SY25 6DX | Situated amongst woodland with trails for cyclists and walkers.The church was designed in 1803 by James Wyatt. There are remains of a Sir Frances Chantrey sculpture. |
St Padarn’s Church | Church Street, Llanbadarn Fawr SY23 3QZ | Ten bells in total - ringing on a Sunday morning. |
St Michael’s Church | Llandre SY24 5BZ (follow "Eglwys Church" signs) | Associated with a holy well and a yew tree, said to be around 2000 years old. Also has a 'Poetry Path' |
St Michael and All Angels Church | Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn SY23 4LA. Between Capel Seion and Devil's Bridge | Medieval church, built by the Welsh lords of Creuddyn. Sheep graze in the courtyard. |
All Saints Church | Llangorwen SY23 3DW | Gothic church, built using local stone. |
St Hilary’s Church | Llanilar SY23 4SA | The church has a square tower which houses two bells. |
Church of the Three Saints | Llantrisant SY23 4RL | The current church is 19th century in origin and stands in what appears to have been a circular graveyard. |
St Mary’s Church | Strata Florida SY25 6ES. Close to Pontrhydfendigaid. | The church lies beside the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey. The grave of Dafydd ap Gwilym is said to be here. |
St John the Baptist Church | Ysbty Ystwyth. One mile south of Ponterwyd | The circular church graveyard houses large upright stones and the graves of the first recorded quadruplet babies. |
St John the Baptist Church | Ysbyty Cynfyn SY25 6DE | The church dates back to approximately the 16th century. Another church was built in 1876 to cater for a large mining community. |
Capel Ebenezer | Ystumtuen | Originally built in 1823. |
Peaceful Places was created by the North Ceredigion Churches Heritage Trail project, supported by Cadw’s Heritage Tourism Project with investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It is managed by Treftadaeth Llandre Heritage, a community group interested in natural and cultural heritage that involves local people. [11] The trail is supported by Churches Tourism Network Wales. [12] The interpretive outputs of the project, such as displays, publications and the trail website, were developed by consultants Countryscape and Creu-Ad.
The Peaceful Places heritage trail was launched on 7 June 2014 at St Michael’s church, Llandre. It was attended by Edwina Hart, the Minister for Tourism. [13]
Cadw is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. Cadw works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage sites of Wales, to make them available for the public to visit, enjoy, and understand their significance. Cadw manages 127 state-owned properties and sites. It arranges events at its managed properties, provides lectures and teaching sessions, offers heritage walks, and hosts an online shop. Members of the public can become members of Cadw to gain membership privileges.
Ceredigion, historically Cardiganshire, is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Aberystwyth is the largest settlement and, together with Aberaeron, is an administrative centre of Ceredigion County Council.
Borth is a village and seaside resort in Ceredigion, Mid Wales; it is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberystwyth, on the Ceredigion Coast Path. The community includes the settlement of Ynyslas and the population was 1,399 in 2011. From being largely Welsh-speaking, the village has become anglicised; over 54 per cent of its residents were born in England. According to both the 1991 and 2001 censuses, 43 per cent of the residents of Borth were primarily Welsh-speakers.
Oswestry ( OZ-wəss-tree is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. Located on the coast between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, its resident population was 1,274 in the 2021 census.
Barmouth is a seaside town and community in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales; it lies on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the historic county of Merionethshire, the Welsh form of the name is derived from aber (estuary) and the river's name, Mawddach. The English form of the name is a corruption of the earlier Welsh form Abermawdd. The community includes the villages of Llanaber, Cutiau and Caerdeon.
Lampeter is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and Cardigan, and has a campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. At the 2011 Census, the population was 2,970. Lampeter is the smallest university town in the United Kingdom. The university adds approximately 1,000 people to the town's population during term time.
Tregaron is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales. It is sited astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi, and is 11 miles (18 km) north-east of Lampeter. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the ward of Tregaron was 1,213 and 67% of the population could speak Welsh; Tregaron is a community covering 33 square miles (85 km2); two-thirds of the population were born in Wales.
Cenarth is a village, parish and community in Carmarthenshire, on the border between Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, and close to the border with Pembrokeshire, Wales. It stands on the banks of the River Teifi, 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Cardigan and 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Newcastle Emlyn, and features the Cenarth Falls, a popular visitor attraction, and several other listed structures including an 18th-century corn mill incorporating the National Coracle Centre.
Tintern is a village in the community of Wye Valley, on the west bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire, Wales, close to the border with England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Chepstow. It is popular with tourists, in particular for the scenery and the ruined Tintern Abbey. Modern Tintern has been formed through the coalescence of two historic villages; Tintern Parva, forming the northern end of the village, and Chapel Hill, which forms the southern end. The village is designated as a Conservation Area.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in narrow gauge heritage railway in Ceredigion, Wales, between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge; a journey of 11+3⁄4 miles (18.9 km).
Llanerchaeron, known as "Llanayron House" to its nineteenth-century occupants, is a grade I listed mansion on the River Aeron, designed and built in 1795 by John Nash for Major William Lewis as a model self-sufficient farm complex located near Ciliau Aeron, some 2+1⁄2 miles south-east of Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. There is evidence that the house replaced an earlier mansion. A later owner, William Lewes, was the husband of Colonel Lewis's inheriting daughter.
Soar-y-mynydd or Soar y mynydd is a Calvinist Methodist chapel near the eastern extremity of the large parish of Llanddewi Brefi, Ceredigion. It is claimed to be the remotest chapel in Wales. Its name is Welsh for ‘Zoar of the mountain’. Zoar or its Welsh equivalent Soar is a not uncommon chapel name in Wales which derives from the mention in Genesis 19:20–30 of the place which served as a sanctuary for Lot and his daughters and which was spared by God when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
Llandre, or Llanfihangel Genau'r Glyn, is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It lies 5 miles north of Aberystwyth in the north-west of the county, on the road from Rhydypennau to Borth. To the north of the community lies the village of Dôl-y-bont. The community is called Geneu'r Glyn.
Llanfechain is a village and community in Powys, Wales, on the B4393 road between Llanfyllin and Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain. Historically it belonged to Montgomeryshire. The River Cain runs through. The population of 465 at the 2011 Census was estimated at 476 in 2019.
Aberystwyth is a university and seaside town and a community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and 16 miles (26 km) from Aberaeron, the county's administrative centre. In 2011, the population of the town was 15,935.
The Welsh Archaeological Trusts are four archaeological organisations established in the mid-1970s to respond to rescue archaeology. They are independent charitable trusts which together provide a uniform regional archaeology service across Wales, working closely with Welsh Government and local authorities and forming a 'tripod' of archaeology and cultural heritage institutions with Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
Cwmsymlog is a short valley, sheltering a hamlet of the same name, in Ceredigion, in the west of Wales. Once an important mining area, but the mining slowly declined and finally came to an end in 1901. Now it is peaceful, open countryside with a few mining remains, scattered houses and farmland. It is also the name of a Site of Special Scientific Interest at that location.
The Wales Coast Path is a designated long-distance trail which follows, or runs close to, the coastline of Wales.
St Michael's Church is a parish church in the town of Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales. St Michael's is the fourth church to stand on the site. The first dated from the 15th century but was in ruins by the mid-18th century. Its replacement only stood for some forty years before itself being replaced in 1829-1833 with a church designed by Edward Haycock Sr. of Shrewsbury. Nothing of the two earlier buildings remains. The Haycock church was itself superseded by the present church, built by Nicholson & Son of Hereford in 1886-1890. A fragment of the Haycock church remains to the west of the current building.