St Twrog

‘Llan’ is the Celtic name for enclosure or church settlement and ‘Darog’ the name of a high ranking official to Hywel Dda or he could have been a holy man or local Celtic chief, thus Llanddarog.

The church is dedicate to St Twrog, a Celtic saint who was more active in north Wales. The earliest register dates from 1736. It is believed to have been built in 1854 on the site of a previous wooden building to a design by RK Pensan (1816-1886) who was the Carmarthenshire County Surveyor.

Iolo Morganwg came to Llanddarog in 1796 and described it as a ‘village with a large but rudely built church, that has a school in it, a common thing in Wales'. This could have been the wooden building later destroyed by fire.

The church has benefited from many donations over the years that have resulted in new stained glass windows, candle holder, pipe organ, brass lectern. One proud possession is a silver communion cup, made by a Carmarthen silversmith and believed to be a gift from Elizabeth I in thanksgiving to those parishes that had given military help to her grandfather Henry VII, to win the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. It bears the inscription ‘Poculum ecclesie de Llanddaarog’. Llanddarog parish had given considerable help to Sir Rhys Ap Thomas, who placed the crown on Henry’s head on the field, thus making him the first Tudor monarch.

High above the font, the west window depicts Llanddarog life. The extreme right hand lancet window shows the past importance of the mining industry to the village. The centre lancet windows show the living church with its spiritual influence as well as the many facts of its work.

The Puxley Chapel has an old cast iron coal stove on the right as you pass through the wooden screen, which heated this chapel in the winter. The Puxley family were the local land owners, buying the estate in 1825. Supporters of the Temperance Society, Girls Friendly and patrons of Llanddarog Church, they came from Dunboy Castle, County Cork. The Puxley vaults beneath the aisle are entered from outside the church.