St Melangell’s Church, Pennant Melangell

The road ends at St Melangell’s enchanting enclave of Celtic spirituality, a place beyond which no pilgrimage route can ever reach

‍Highlights

• Relics of St Melangell
• Rebuilt shrine
• Site of early church

The relics of St Melangell, a 7th-century nun, lie here in their medieval shrine. Pilgrims come from all over the world to pray with her and to seek solace from her church and its peaceful valley setting.

There are only a few other female British saints whose graves survived the Reformation, such as St Wite in Dorset (see page 244). We know only a little about St Wite or St Melangell, but both of them continue to have an impact on the lives of believers.

To many, perhaps most, of the world’s Christians, the presence of the saint’s body is of primary importance for a shrine. St Melangell’s relics were lost at the Reformation, but ancient bones were discovered in the former apse of the church during a 1958 restoration project. There is a strong likelihood that these belong to St Melangell. A surgeon who examined the bones reckoned they came from a five-foot woman.

The relics were then sealed in a lead casket and placed in the restored medieval shrine. This stone structure is once again the focus of pilgrimage to Pennant Melangell.

Of the shrine itself, there is no doubt. It was demolished at the Reformation and the stones reused as masonry in the church and churchyard walls. In 1958, these carved pieces were recovered and the magnificent shrine reconstructed. It stands to an impressive height and dominates the chancel. The design is said to be Europe’s oldest Romanesque shrine, although it incorporates Celtic elements too. Some pieces are missing and have been replaced with concrete casts, allowing the visitor to discern the original fragments.

The daughter of an Irish prince, St Melangell fled to this remote valley to avoid an arranged marriage. To begin with, she lived a hermit’s lonely existence, in harmony with nature like a true Celtic saint. Her fortunes changed when King Brochwel came to the valley for a spot of hare coursing. One of the frightened animals ran to her while she was praying in a thicket and hid under her cloak. The hunt leader tried to use his horn to summon the dogs back, but it froze to his lips.

Suitably impressed, King Brochwel gave her this valley as a place of sanctuary, and she founded a convent here. All this took place in the 7th or 8th century, but it is only recorded in a 15th-century manuscript. Such late written records are no match for the wealth of historical artefacts to be found at St Melangell’s church.

Although the relics and shrine had to be destroyed under the strict edicts of the Reformation, local people refused to get rid of all images of their beloved saint. They preserved both a stone effigy and the wooden rood screen, which has carvings of her life story. Such dangerous acts of defiance make it likely that someone did indeed faithfully re-inter her bones in the apse, for later discovery.

The stone effigy lies next to the shrine, a primitive sculpture with a square-cut fringe, thought to date from the 14th century. The shapes on either side of the saint’s waist, now worn smooth, represent two of her beloved hares. The effigy was left outside in the churchyard until the 19th century, at the mercy of the elements. The 15th-century rood screen also depicts the famous hunting scene. The images are contained in a narrow strip along the top, quite hard to make out above the carved arches. The church guidebook has a drawing showing the figures clearly.

A notice in the church makes the alarming claim that there was talk of letting this church fall into ruin during the 20th century. If the suggestion was meant to motivate people it certainly worked, Prince Charles himself getting involved in launching the restoration. The apse where St Melangell’s likely relics were found was rebuilt in 1989, returning the church to its original Norman appearance.

This apse is a particularly sacred part of the church. An arched doorway leads from the chancel into the semi-circular stone structure. On the floor to the right as you enter is a large stone slab. This lay on top of St Melangell’s original burial site, a stone-lined tomb dating from the 8th century. Her relics were moved to the larger shrine next door during the 12th century.

The yew trees around the church are remnants of a grove that dates from before the Christian era. The trees are about 2,000 years old, presumably marking a sacred space adopted by the new faith. The place name element ‘Llan-’ refers to the enclosure of land around a church, rather than the building itself. A patch of land set aside from human exploitation, ‘llan’ is also the etymology behind the word ‘lawn’, a green place of retreat from the affairs and business of everyday life, a configuration that continues to provide a place of refuge in a more secular age.

This church has no parish, if one discounts the congregation of local wildlife that St Melangell loved so dearly. It is instead a pilgrim church, visited by two routes, the 15-mile Pererindod Melangell Walk and the St Melangell Way. The local parish church is at Llangynog two miles away. Pennant, incidentally, means ‘head of the river’, and the church is indeed at the end of a valley. There are springs in the surrounding hills, although none is linked to St Melangell. Her saint’s day is 27 May.

Pennant Melangell is one of the holiest places in Britain, perhaps the holiest. As I stood looking at the collection of prayer requests in the saint’s shrine, it became clearer than ever what holy places can and can’t offer. Praying for this saint’s help will not guarantee a physical cure. But time spent in her presence – in this most peaceful of valleys – has the potential to restore any soul.‍

The Saint Melangell Centre, Pennant Melangell, Llangynog SY10 0HQ‍

www.st-melangell.org.uk‍

W3W: rear.sheep.interlude

GPS: 52.8276N 3.4498W

The church is at the end of a narrow lane, 2 miles west of Llangynog. The turning for this lane is in the centre of Llangynog, off the B4391 main road. It is signposted for Pennant Melangell. The St Melangell Centre alongside provides a contemplative space, details online.