LLANPUMSAINT HERITAGE
WALKING TOUR

The village of Llanpumsaint is named after the five saints (Welsh 'pum saint') Gwyn, Gwynno, Gwynoro, Ceitho and Celynin - brothers who are said to have built the first Christian church on the site of an earlier pagan temple in the 5th or 6th Century.

Probably the oldest surviving artifact within the church is the 10ft by 2.5ft stone mensa top which was discovered in the churchyard during restorations in 1882 and is now set in the floor of the church under the Communion Table.

Another ancient object which survived is the Ogham stone which sits at the southern end of the churchyard. This stone is marked with a cross within a circle and the inscription marked along the edge bears testimony to the Irish influence in this part of Wales at that time.

Little is known of the church's history during the medieval period though the font bowl dates from the 13th Century and an Elizabethen silver chalice bears the date 1574.

A slit window in the North wall was apparently a 'leper's window' through which sufferers of this highly contagious disease could peer into the church without coming into contact with the other church-goers.

The church was visited in 1710 by Archdeacon Tennison and it was noted that the windows needed glazing, the walls were in want of rendering and the chancel's earthen floor was very uneven!

The east window in the church, a memorial to Canon Joseph Lloyd and his wife Mary is the work of Mildred Eldridge, the wife of famous poet, RS Thomas.

The yew tree in the graveyard is thought to be at least a thousand years old.