Saint Twrog - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at Maentwrog, having come to Wales early in the Age of the Saints.
Saint Twrog - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at Maentwrog, having come to Wales early in the Age of the Saints.
It is believed that Twrog was the son of Ithel Hael o Lydaw of Brittany. He was also the brother of Saint Tanwg of Llandanwg, Saint Tecwyn of Llandecwyn, Saint Tegai of Llandegai and Saint Baglan of Llanfaglan and Baglan. [1]
He was a member of the college of Bardsey which was founded as a monastery in 516 AD.
There are three other dedications to Saint Twrog: Bodwrog in Anglesey (St Twrog's Church, Bodwrog), Llandwrog near Caernarfon, and the ruin on Chapel Rock near Beachley by the Severn Road Bridge.
When Twrog first arrived in the village now called Maentwrog, the valley was very marshy, which provided him with the wattle that he would have needed to build his cell. Outside the church near to the belfry door is a large stone known as the Maen Twrog (maen being the Welsh for stone). Twrog is reputed to have thrown the stone from the top of Moelwyn crushing a pagan altar in the valley below. It is said that his handprints can still be seen in the stone. The parish of Maentwrog gets its name from this stone [2]
In the book of Welsh mythology, the Mabinogion, a hero Pryderi was killed at the Glaslyn river and is buried in Maentwrog. The boulder supposedly hurled by the saint is the one said to mark Pryderi's grave.
Port Talbot is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately eight miles from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south east of the town. It is one of the biggest steelworks in the world, but has been under threat of closure since the 1980s. The population was 31,550 in 2021, comprising about a fifth of the 141,931 population of Neath Port Talbot.
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Llanfaglan is a parish in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It lay in the medieval cwmwd of Is Gwyrfai.
Saint Mael and Saint Sulien's Church is a church located in the town of Corwen in Denbighshire in Wales. It was formerly located in the ancient county of Merionethshire.
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Saint Baglan was a 6th-century hermit who lived at Baglan in Wales.
Maentwrog is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire, lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the village. Its population of 585 in 2001 increased to 631 at the 2011 Census. The Community of Maentwrog includes the village of Gellilydan.
Saint Tanwg is the patron saint of Llandanwg, Gwynedd, Wales. He is presumed to be the founder of St Tanwg's Church, the small church at Llandanwg near Harlech, although the presence of an inscribed stone which has been dated to the 5th century suggests the church was already in existence when Tanwg and his brothers arrived in the area early in the 6th century. This Llandanwg Stone is inscribed with two names, one being Ingenui ; the other is indecipherable. The stone is not local. It is thought to have come from the Wicklow Hills in Ireland. This means that it was probably brought over by a rich person. It is a reasonable conjecture that Ingenuus may have been the founder of the church in the late fifth century, and that St. Tanwg lived at this llan a generation or two later. Another stone, called the Equester Stone, is of 6th century date. It is inscribed Equestrinomine, an unusual form of wording otherwise known only from 4th century inscriptions in Italy and Gaul.
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Saint Twrog's Church is in the village of Maentwrog in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. It is in the Deanery of Ardudwy. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.
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Saint Tecwyn is the patron saint and founder of Llandecwyn in the Welsh county of Gwynedd.
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St Twrog's Church is a small rural church at Bodwrog in Anglesey, North Wales. Built in the late 15th century in a medieval style, some alterations have been made but much of the original structure still remains. It has two 15th-century doorways and some 15th-century windows. The bull's head decoration used on the church denotes a connection with the Bulkeleys of Beaumaris, a prominent north Wales family over several centuries. Set in a remote part of the countryside in the middle of Anglesey, it is dedicated to St Twrog, who was active in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The church's tithes were paid for at least two hundred years to Jesus College, Oxford, which has historically strong links with Wales, and the college at one point built a house for the priest who served St Twrog's and a neighbouring parish.
Llandecwyn is a hamlet near Penrhyndeudraeth in Gwynedd, Wales.
Cynfarwy was a Christian in the 7th century about whom little is known. He was venerated by the early church in Wales as a saint, although he was never formally canonised. St Cynfarwy's Church in Anglesey is dedicated to him, and his name is also preserved in the name of the settlement around the church, Llechgynfarwy. His feast day is in November, although the date varies between sources.
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Gellilydan is a village in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, in Maentwrog community. It lies 4 miles (6 km) south-south-east of Blaenau Ffestiniog and 1.2 miles (2 km) north of Llyn Trawsfynydd and the disused Trawsfynydd nuclear power station. It is near the junction of two trunk roads, the A487 and the A470.
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