Penrhys, Rhondda Cynon Taff

Penrhys Shrine and Holy Well - a thin place

Penrhys is a meadow on the nose of the forest
Mass bread and holy water

So wrote the Welsh poet Gwilym Tew in the fifteenth century. At that time Penrhys was one of the holiest places in Wales. Pilgrims came 'over land and sea' (or so the poets said) to worship at the shrine of the Virgin Mary. The shrine had a miraculous statue of Jesus and his mother. According to tradition, the statue had appeared in an oak tree and a team of oxen had been unable to drag it from the site. So a chapel was built there, and a hostel for the pilgrims.

The land belonged to the monks of Llantarnam. It was they who provided hospitality for pilgrims and maintained roads and bridges to the shrine. As well as the chapel, there was a holy well. This may have predated the shrine as so many holy wells are in fact pre-Christian holy places.

The Reformation

Penrhys's popularity was its downfall. The shrine was targeted for destruction at the Reformation. In spite of local opposition, the statue was taken away and burnt in London. But local people continued to use the well - its water was said to be particularly good for churning butter in hot weather. There were stories, too, of miraculous apparitions. Even in the nineteenth century, when the Welsh valleys were so strongly non conformist. There were tales of travellers lost in the mountain mist who were guided to safety at Penrhys by the tall figure of a woman carrying a light.

There is today a replacement statue of the Virgin Mary with Jesus.

Penrhys Housing Estate

In the middle of the twentieth century, Penrhys was chosen as the site for an overspill housing estate for the Rhondda valleys. At first, it looked idyllic but the estate was badly designed and built and dogged by problems from the beginning. At one point it was regarded as a dumping ground for people who had nowhere else to go.

Positive Changes

The regeneration of the community began with the work of John and Norah Morgans, who established a church community on the estate in the 1980s. Llanfair Uniting Church was opened in February 1992. A series of community projects were developed and there was the encouragement of a team of local volunteers, education workers and students who supported the projects.

This work continues today with a dedicated staff at the central church hub in the estate who provide so much for the residents, from spiritual support to after school clubs, second hand clothes, tools and a large caring community. It is still a challenging place to live but it is made easier by the support that the Uniting Church provides at the core of the estate.

At the same time as the growth of the church, changes were made to the infrastructure of the site with a number of blocks of accommodation being demolished to provide more open space and facilities such as heating being decentralised.

More Information

More about Penrhys can be found on the Llanfair Uniting Church website.

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