St Simon & St Jude, Llanddeusant
St Simon and St Jude, Llanddeusant
The Church of St Simon and St Jude at Llanddeusant, Carmarthenshire (historic county Dyfed), is a Grade II* Church in Wales church in the Diocese of St Davids, on a ridge above the upper Sawdde valley on the road toward Llyn y Fan Fach.
- Location
- Llanddeusant, Dyfed
- Country
- Wales
- County
- Dyfed
- City / town
- Llanddeusant
- Address
- Llanddeusant, Dyfed, SA19 9UL
- Postcode
- SA19 9UL
- Built
- Probably C14 origins; south aisle C15; west tower later; repaired 1850; restored 1883–85; repairs 1913
- Architect
- Possibly John Norton (1883–85 restoration for Howel Gwyn)
- Denomination
- Church in Wales
- Dedication
- Simon and Jude
- Diocese
- St Davids
- Parish
- Llanddeusant
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Late medieval, double-nave
- Materials
- Limestone rubble with some Old Red Sandstone
- Grid reference
- SN 776 245
- Opening hours
- Open 365 days a year from 9am to 5pm.
Overview
Cadw lists the church (reference 10914, designated 8 July 1966) as a largely late-medieval building, notable for fine panelled roofs and an arcade. The list suggests fourteenth-century origins, a fifteenth-century south aisle added to an existing nave, and a later, unusually broad west tower, now gable-roofed only a little higher than the church. The fifteenth-century panelled roofs are rare in the county. The church was repaired in 1850 and restored in 1883–85 for Howel Gwyn of Neath, who owned the Blaensawdde estate; Cadw notes that John Norton, Gwyn’s favoured architect, may have been employed. The rounded churchyard suggests an early site. Cadw records that the two saints of the parish name were probably Potolius and Notolius rather than Simon and Jude. Coflein notes a first mention in 1282 and an octagonal font bowl thought to be fourteenth-century. The postcode SA19 9UL is the Carmarthenshire Llanddeusant, not the Anglesey parish of the same name.