Llanpumsaint Church

The church is said to have been built in the 5th or 6th century by the five saints (brothers Gwyn, Gwynno, Gwynoro, Ceitho and Celynin) on the site of an earlier pagan temple.

The oldest surviving artifact within the church is the 10ft by 2.5ft stone mensa top which is now set in the floor of the church under the Communion Table. The font bowl dates from the 13th century. The church is constructed of limestone rubble with some Old Red Sandstone. It consists of seven bayed nave and chancel, south vestry and south porch. The nave is thought to be 13th-14th century and the chancel 14th-15th century. The church was restored in 1874, when the vestry was added. It was restored again in the 20th century, and the seventh west bay and the south porch were added.

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

A sixth century Ogham inscribed stone marked with a Celtic cross is located in the churchyard. Its presence bears testimony to the Irish influence in this part of Wales at that time. The yew tree is estimated to be at least a thousand years old. The graves of Martha Llwyd, a Methodist Revival hymnwriter, and her husband lie close to the yew. A plaque on the outer wall of the churchyard commemorates Jennie Eirian, who stood as a Plaid Cymru candidate in the 1955 and 1957 Parliamentary Elections. She addressed hundreds of meetings around Carmarthenshire during her election campaigns and, as a result, she upped support for the fledgling Plaid Cymru vote, laying firm foundations for Gwynfor Evans’ victory as Plaid Cymru’s first MP in 1966.

We are an A Rocha UK eco Church and our youth group is Peace Mala accredited.