[1241] St Mary’s Church, Beddgelert, Wales

Beddgelert, Snowdonia, North Wales

 

The church is to be found at the edge of Beddgelert, near to where the Rivers Glaslyn and Colwyn meet.

 

By the 13th century the small monastic community that had established itself here was reorganised and became an Augustinian priory. In the 1230s the church was rebuilt to reflect this new status, very likely under the patronage of Llywelyn the Great. It would have been sizeable, with other buildings, long since destroyed, standing in what is now a grassy field south of the church.

 

St Mary’s has twice been burned; once by soldiers of Edward I’s army after the conquest of Gwynedd in 1283, and again in the 15th century. The historic remains were damaged further by unsympathetic Victorian ‘restoration’, but traces of the medieval building are still visible. Look for the three tall lancet windows above the altar, and the wide arches on the north side of the church. These features date from the 13th century.

 

Beddgelert probably gets its name from the founder of the original church, Celert, about whom not much is known. However, there is a more colourful, popular derivation: Gelert was said to be a favourite hound of Llywelyn the Great. One day the prince went hunting, leaving the dog to guard his infant son. Returning home, he found his hall in chaos, Gelert smeared with blood and the baby missing. In fury he slew the dog, only to discover his son immediately afterwards, unharmed, beside a huge dead wolf, whose throat had been ripped out by Gelert. Llywelyn, it is said, never smiled again.

 

The story is dramatic, moving and entirely untrue – the invention of a local 18th-century hotelier who spread it to attract tourists to the area. The ‘grave’ of the legendary canine hero is a pleasant, short walk to the south of St Mary’s Church.

 

Text source: www.snowdoniaheritage.info/en/location/125/st-mary-s-chur...

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