Llanafan Fawr a small community in Mid Wales that is well worth visiting

Llanafan Fawr is a small hamlet nestled in the Cambrian Mountains on the B4358 between Newbridge on Wye and Beulah. So small in fact that most people who drive through it barely register that it’s there but if you are a tourist you should stop and get out of your vehicle and wonder around. For such a small place there is so much to see and so much history to learn.

Llanafan Fawr a Guide

Let Sean Westlake who is Chair and a member of the Wales Official Tourist Guide Association guide you around this small but important hamlet in Mid Wales.

The History of Llanafan Fawr

We can argue that the history of Llanafan Fawr stretches back behond 330BC. We know for example that there is a large Yew tree in the churchyard that has been dated to between 2200 and 2300 years old and that the church tower itself is built upon a Bronze Age burial mound.

Go and have a look at the Yew tree situated at the rear of the church, it has spread out over the last 2000 years and has many trunks. You can walk under and inside the tree. What changes that yew has witnessed over the past 2000 years, I wonder how many travellers and pilgrims have done just that during that time. If only trees could tell stories.

A Church Dedicated to Saint Afan

Afan was the son of Cedig ap Ceredigion who was the son of Cunedda Wiedig who was king of Gwynedd and also a cousin of Saint David the patron Saint of Wales.
Afan founded the church in Llanafan and he became Bishop. He is also said to have been bishop of Llanbadarn in Ceredigion.

He became a martyr upon his death by Irish or Danish pirates on the banks of the river Chwefru. It is also claimed that his ancestor a Bishop Ieuan in the 10th century was also killed by pirates.

Saint Afan was buried in the church yard and the site became one of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.

The church was surrounded at one time by a large circular cemetery which has now had one side cut off by the B4358, but you can still see where the original wall would have been by the shape of the car park outside the old Red Lion Inn.

As you enter the church itself have a look at the stone wall on the right hand side there are two carved with Celtic symbols.

Inside the church near the alter you will see a pillar stone dated to between the 7th and 9th century with an incised Celtic cross.

There is also a 13th century font, which is small and circular on a circular stem.

An Unusual Headstone

Standing by a very unusual headstone. It marks the resting place of a local man John Price. It also names the murderer as well. The inscription reads ‘John Price who was murdered on The Darren Hill in this parish by R Lewis April 21, 1826

The Red Lion Inn

The Red Lion Inn has a history dating back to at lease 1188 when Gerald of Wales stayed at the inn while travelling through Wales looking for support for the crusades for ‘Richard The Lion Heart’
The current building dates to the late 15th Century about 1472 and was a half timbered hall house, it was at the time Llanafan Fawr Farm before being converted to an inn during the early 19th Century.
The building is known as a cruck frame building because of the high cruck beams which are still visible around the old bar.

What’s a cruck frame I hear you ask? Well going back to the early days of sailing ships and the Royal Navy, Wales was covered in oak trees and these were slowly cut down and transported to the navy shipyards.

Much like today the people transporting these timbers did not want to travel back unloaded so the purchased old timbers from the dismantled ships, timbers no longer good enough or required for ships but where still sound and took them back with them.

These timbers were the sold to be used in house building. They were usually the ships ribs and therefore a certain shape and when placed on their ends resembled an upturned hull.

When the inn was still open you could see the timbers with their slots still in them where other ships timbers fitted.
Unfortunately the Inn is now closed as are many country inns around the country.

The wedding tradition.

Within living memory, before a wedding could take place of a girl from the area of Beulah and Llanafan in the church the bride to be would have to ride sidesaddle across the fields with the groom giving chase, the wedding could not take place until the groom caught the bride.

The Llanafan Henge or Castle

On the opposite side of the road to the church but in close proximity there is a modest ringwork surrounded by a double ditch. There is no recorded history of a castle here but it could be a Norman castle associated with Builth.

It has never been excavated and until it is it will remain somewhat of a mystery, but lying so close to a Bronze Age burial mound a 2300 year old Yew tree it just goes to show how important this little hamlet has been in the past.

If you want to discover more of these hidden gems, the places that tourists usually drive by without realising what they are missing the places coaches don’t stop at then you need to hire a guide from the Wales Official Tourist Guide Association who will be more than happy to show you what Wales is all about.