The present building was probably built during the 13th Century from an earlier chapel. Inside the chancel is an early priscina and the 13th Century font appears to have the base from an earlier period. There are also the remains of a medieval cross on the south side of the church. The massive tower has a small pyramidal roof rising within the English type battlement, housing at its foot two bells dated 1713 and 1714.

The church has been restored many times since the original Norman building, with a South Porch added in 1851 by Thomas Penrice of Kilvrough, recorded as such for posterity above it’s solid oak door.

The east window of the chancel has a stained-glass window, which is a memorial to seven men of the Parish who lost their lives to the First World War.

The church key is available from the nearby Winston Hotel . Groups should telephone (01792) 232140.

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In 1874-75, using his own inheritance from the death of his parents a few years earlier, Reverend J. D. Davies, rector of both Cheriton and Llanmadoc (1868 – 1911), carried out restoration work on the medieval building. A keen carpenter, he also carved the church’s choir stalls, altar rails and the embossed wooden ceiling. Other Gower churches which evidence the rector’s handiwork include Llanmadoc Church, Llanrhidian Church and Oxwich Church .

The Reverend, famous for his historical writings on the peninsula, died in 1911 and is buried close to the south porch of the church.

It is difficult to find a more idyllic and serene spot as the churchyard at Cheriton but, in 1770, the churchyard was the scene of vicious and prolonged fighting between two feuding factions of the famous Lucas family. Reverend John Williams was again the rector at the time of this bitter argument, but on this occasion he was not to play a role in the uproar, as the crowd who gathered there locked him within the church for the duration of the fight, believing it to be an offence for the clergy to witness the shedding of blood.

At the time, it seems that Cheriton held some kind of court for legal arbitration and John Lucas of Horton, together with his son, also named John, gathered at the church to claim a certain tract of land by rights of an earlier marriage in the family. They arrived at the church with many men, prepared to take the land by force should their reasoned argument fail to procure them the acreage in question. To argue against the Horton Lucas’ claim, yet another John Lucas, this time of Stouthall, arrived at Cheriton – again with his own army of followers. Rational debate failed to raise an amicable settlement and a great and bloody battle ensued, resulting in one of the party being murdered. They fight did not end until the High Sheriff of the County of Glamorgan arrived at the scene with his own band of armed officers of the peace.

Opposite the church, across the stream, once stood a great 17th Century mansion with its own spring – Craddock’s Well. The well was said to possess supernatural powers and pins used to be dropped into its waters as votive offerings.

The Church is kept locked but visitors can borrow a key from the very friendly shop in Llanmadoc.

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Whilst the church looks antiquated, the 13th Century building was, in fact, rather extensively renovated during the 19th Century. most of the church’s current features date from this later period although one of the three church bells date from as far back as the 15th Century.

The church is usually kept lock except for its services.

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The church is dedicated to St. David and is believed to have been built by Henry de Gower, who was the Bishop of St. Davids between 1328-47. Despite having been vastly altered during its restoration in 1905, the church still retains its air of antiquity – this being aided, of course, by its largely pastoral setting.

An interesting feature of Llandewi Church is its chancel, which is inclined south of its nave – a feature designed to purposely remind its congregation of Jesus’ posture on the cross.

The church can often be found open during the summer months – providing a great opportunity to explore its interior decoration which – though simple and uncluttered seem perfect and fitting to the building’s air of isolation and tranquility.

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The story of St. Cennydd, is a strange and fascinating one and mixes historical fact and fictional legend to a degree where it is now difficult to draw an accurate dividing line between them. Cennydd was born of an incestuous relationship between Dihocus, Prince of Brittany and his beautiful daughter. With a hugely deformed leg, a legacy of his parents’ unnatural and sinful union, the child was taken to the court of Loughor, where King Arthur had been called to decide upon the fate of the crippled infant. With King Arthur’s ruling that the boy’s destiny should be decided by God, Cennydd was cast afloat in a wicker cradle upon the waters of the Burry Estuary. It was Christmas Day and the waters were icy and unkind, yet the little child suffered no hardship as the cradle carried him deeper out into the estuary and towards the raging Atlantic Ocean.

Amongst the torrents of the winter’s storm, the cradle finally came to rest at Worm’s Head, Rhossili where a thousand seagulls snatched Cennydd from his cradle to take him safely to the shore. With a nest of feathers to comfort and shield him from the elements, the boy was then nursed by the wild birds. With the aid of a magical bell, the fabled ‘titty bell’, delivered to the tended baby by a protecting Angel, that gave the child nourishment, Cennydd grew strong and wise. For 18 years Cennydd lived on Worm’s Head, living on the wild plants and herbs that grew there until God told the young man to head inland to the place now known as Llangennith (a corruption from the saint’s name Cennydd). There, Cennydd founded the Priory that, destroyed by the Danes in 986 AD, was later rebuilt in 1140 as Llangennith Church by Henry de Beaumont (also known as de Newburgh), Norman Lord of Gower.

Within the church today there lies a large slab of stone carved with an intricate design of Celtic Knotwork. This was unearthed during restoration work on the church and was, at the time, believed to be the grave cover of St. Cennydd, whose remains are said to be buried beneath the floor of the medieval church (for some time up until the second half of the 15th Century, the saint’s skull was used for the swearing of official oaths in the village). Although the stone was later identified as a portion of a 9th Century Celtic wheel cross, locals still know it affectionately as “Cenny’s Stone”.

Unfortunately, despite its history, Llangennith Church is not the prettiest of the Gower Churches, but it does possess a certain atmosphere found nowhere else on the peninsula. Whether that atmosphere is conjured from the church’s location, open to the rough salt winds from the Atlantic Ocean , its defensive, castle-like architecture or the supernatural legends ascribed to its saintly founder, one can only speculate.

Another interesting item that can be found in the church is a carved effigy of a 13 th Century knight. Nicknamed the “Dolly Mare”, the stone is believed to represent a member of the De la Mare family.

Of interest in Llangennith Churchyard is the grave of Phil Tanner – “The Gower Nightingale.” Widely thought of as Britain’s finest ever folk singer, his funeral was attended by the Mayor of Swansea, numerous local councillors as employers and friends of the BBC. Despite this mass attendance his gravestone is dedicated solely to his wife Ruth Tanner.

A key to the church is available from the nearby P.J.’s Surf Shop.

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Early Gower churches did not possess north side windows. These were laid in 19th century restorations. It is interesting to note that Llanmadoc has the only church still possessing no north-side window on the whole of the peninsula.

The Reverend J. D. Davies was the Rector of Llanmadoc Church, along with that of nearby Cheriton from 1860 to 1911. He has become famous locally for writing what has become known as The Gower Bible – huge volumes of work depicting the local customs, history and legends of his parishes which he entitled “A History of West Gower”. A historian’s dream, the books have not been available in print for many years but a copy of each volume is available for study at Swansea Reference Library.

These marvellous books were not the only work the Rev. J. D. Davies bestowed upon his beloved peninsula. His skill as a master carpenter is evidenced in the finely carved oak altar that still stands within Llanmadoc Church and the curiously styled old rectory that lays across the road from the church grounds was both built and designed by the rector (he based his design around a house he saw during a holiday he partook in Switzerland ). The Reverend, one of the more famous and loved characters in the peninsula’s long history, died, aged 81 in 1911.

The church is usually kept locked, but a key can be borrowed from the friendly owners of Llanmadoc’s village shop. The first items of note as you enter the dimly lit building are the two large stones that stand within the twin recesses of the left hand wall. The first of these has been identified as the village boundary stone and dated around the 13th century. The second stone is the larger of the two and is believed to be the remains of the old churchyard cross. This once stood on a raised platform with steps leading to it from all directions. Most of these churchyard crosses were destroyed by Puritans under order of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century.

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Set on the tower roof is a large block of stone masonry, measuring 1.7 metres long by 0.9 metres wide by 1.7 metres high, called the “Parson’s Bed.” This was originally used as the hearth for beacon fires that were lit during more troublesome times to warn the locals of enemies approaching by land or sea.

Within the porch, laying horizontally, is situated one of Gower’s many historical curiosities – a fragment of a Viking sarcophagus lid measuring over 2 metres long and known locally as the “leper stone.” The stone dates from the 9th Century and was found buried near the West Tower doorway in 1865. (It was moved to its present day position in 1910.) This is the only stone of its kind found in the whole of Wales but they are quite common in the north of England where they are known as “Hog’s Backs.” It features the rather striking image of two human faces surrounded by strange and grotesquely configured animal representations. How such an item, so unique to Wales , should reach Llanrhidian from North England is a mystery, as baffling to archeologists today as it was when the carved stone was first discovered in the village all those years ago.

Within the church, the handiwork of the famous Reverend J. D. Davies can be viewed – the altar and all 324 wooden bosses for the ceiling were all carved by his genuinely gifted hands in the late 19th Century.

Outside the church, a natural spring can be discovered beside the small cave near the west wall of the churchyard and set into the gate post at the opposite end of the grounds are two memorial plaques from the doomed village of Llanelen which are perhaps best left untouched given their reputation for being cursed.

The Church is kept locked but visitors may borrow a key from the service station at the cross-roads at the top of the village.

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The church was largely rebuilt in the closing decade of the 19th Century at the sole expense of Miss Olive Talbot. Prior to this Victorian rebuilding, the church was very much an ordinary affair and Miss Talbot, wanting the church to be a memorial to her father – C.R.M. Talbot, of Penrice Castle, let the full swing of Victorian design transform the church into what was later described as a little “jewel box” of a building. The resplendent new church of St. Nicholas reopened in December 1894, just weeks after the unfortunate benefactor, Miss Talbot’s, death.

Nicholaston Church stands strangely aloof from its parish, on the seaward side of the A4418 South Gower Road. The church offers no parking spaces (only small lay bys some distance from the church, allow any such facilities). The fabric of the building is believed to have been constructed from stone from Cefn Bryn. Overlooking the Bristol Channel , in a niche over the porch, stands a fine statue of St. Nicholas. Other interesting features of the church include its single bell, which dates from 1518 (but was re-tuned at the time of the church’s Victorian rebuilding) and the font which is a carved from a mighty slab of stalagmite.

The best time to view the church is around the time of its Sunday morning service which is held at 11.15 am, as it is usually locked for security reasons at other times of the week.

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At the height of the summer season, when the sun is roasting all who bathe beneath its unblinkered stare, it is a most disquieting experience to stumble from the bustling sands and head for the chill and shaded solitude of the church grounds. The clammy, twilight atmosphere that clings to this churchyard transports its visitors to a ghostly other-world, a feeling that is undisturbed, perhaps even amplified, by the contrasting sound of the sun-worshipping tourists that flock but a stone’s throw from its ivy clad walls.

Given such a picturesque and genuinely eerie setting, it is not surprising that one of the strangest ghosts of curious supernatural beasts on the peninsula has chosen to manifest itself here. This horse-like creature creature, seen striding down through the woodland graves towards the foreshore on its hind legs, is a being more readily identified amongst ancient Germanic folklore than in any other closer to home. The church’s spring well, which has now run dry, is also reputed to be haunted – by a ghostly horse that drinks from its water before running into the sea and disappearing!

Within the Church itself, which is unfortunately kept locked for most of the year, are some very interesting items of note. The font, for example, is believed to have been brought to the church by St. Illtyd himself! Looking up, and the beautiful ceiling decorations in the chancel area of the church were paid for by Dame Lilian Bayliss, a director of England’s Old Vic theatre, who fell in love with the church whilst holidaying in the area. Whilst in the chancel, the stone effigies of a knight and his lady – believed locally to represent the heads of the Norman De la Mare family, who lived in Oxwich Castle and who drowned in the waters of Oxwich Bay in the 14th Century. The effigies have been nicknamed by villages as the “Dolly Mare.”

Despite local belief, however, more recent suggestions have dated the effigies to the early 15th Century, suggesting that they are arepresentation of the Castles later occupants – probably Sir John Penres and his wife, Margaret Fleming. The figures are not, as might be first suspected, sculpted from solid rock but have, instead, been constructed of sand particles which have been cemented together with plaster and coated with a plaster coat.

The Rev. J. D. Davies, local historian, author and rector of several Gower Churches in his day, was born in the old Rectory here, which was situated on the rocks sandwiched between Oxwich Church and the sea. This has now, unfortunately, been completely obliterated by the encroaching tide.

On a final, salutary note, at the rear of the churchyard stands the grave of an unknown soldier whose body was washed ashore upon the neighbouring beach during World War I. Given its anachronistic setting, such a monument provides a perfect moment to reflect upon and honour all those who gave their lives defending their country during those awful and bloody years of conflict.

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Known officially as the Church of All Saints, Oystermouth Church is the largest medieval church on the whole of the Gower Peninsula and has some fascinating internal and external features, including some amazing grotesques and church bells originating from the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba, which were brought from the gutted original building in 1865.

in the church’s burial ground lays the body of Thomas Bowdler, infamous for his expurgated versions of Shakespeare and the Bible.

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