Cwmyoy

Cwmyoy
Welsh: Cwm-iou

Cwmyoy, on the slope of Hatterrall Hill
Cwmyoy
 Cwmyoy shown within Monmouthshire
OS grid referenceSO299232
Principal areaMonmouthshire
Ceremonial countyGwent
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town ABERGAVENNY
Postcode district NP7
Dialling code 01600
Police Gwent
Fire South Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK ParliamentMonmouth
List of places
UK
Wales
Monmouthshire

Coordinates: 51°54′10″N 3°01′13″W / 51.90291°N 3.02030°W / 51.90291; -3.02030

Cwmyoy (Welsh: Cwm-iou) is an extensive rural parish in Monmouthshire, Wales. Alternate spellings include Cwm Iau, the name translating from the Welsh as "valley of the yoke"

The village of Cwmyoy is located 7 miles north of Abergavenny and 4 miles south of Llanthony in the Vale of Ewyas in the Black Mountains. It is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, in an upland location just below the broad ridge of Hatterrall Hill, which carries the Wales-England border along which runs Offa's Dyke Path.

The parish

The parish is nearly 8 miles long and 1 mile broad, and includes Llanthony as well as Cwmyoy itself. In 1893, an area in the neighbouring valley of the Grwyne Fawr, known in Welsh as Ffwddog and in English as the Fothock, which had been an exclave of Herefordshire, was transferred into the parish.[1]

Local amenities

The Cwmyoy area is very popular for hillwalking and pony trekking. Llanthony Priory, Capel-y-ffin and Gospel Pass are all accessed by passing below Cwmyoy village.

Cwmyoy also has a small village hall which is run as a registered charity.[2]

St Martin's Church

St Martin's Church

Cwmyoy is best known for St Martin's Church which has been called the "most crooked church in Great Britain."[3] St Martin's Church is a stone parish church standing on a steep hillside on the east side of the valley and subject to slippage. The church chancel has been described as a remarkable example of a "weeping chancel", where the nave represents Christ's body and the deflected chancel his head fallen sideways in death. At Cwmyoy not only the axis but the whole chancel slews sideways. Hando calls it "the Church below the Landslide".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire, 1901
  2. ↑ "Cwmyoy Memorial Hall". OpenCharities. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Toronto SUN". M.torontosun.com. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  4. ↑ Hando, F.J., (1958) "Out and About in Monmouthshire", R. H. Johns, Newport.
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