St Llawddog’s Well and Church, Cenarth

A pretty little wellhouse pays homage to this ancient pilgrimage site, housing the holy source that St Llawddog blessed, now visited by the Teifi River Pilgrimage

Highlights

• Holy well on riverbank

St Llawddog’s riverside well has been beautifully restored in recent years, with a neat stone wellhouse and slate roof. This structure prevents direct access to the wellspring, but the water trickles out of a pipe at one end. It is beautifully sited downstream from Cenarth’s ancient stone bridge, on the opposite side of which is the village’s much-photographed waterfall.

St Llawddog came here in the 6th century. He was a wandering missionary in the region, famed for healing miracles often involving water. The church guide says he once turned the water in a well into milk. There are other wells dedicated to him in western Wales. The village church dates from 1872 but is on the site of a much older structure, possibly founded by St Llawddog. It was the seat of a local bishop in medieval times. An ancient stone in the graveyard is a 6th-century Celtic monument, at the western end of the church, but is not local, having been found in Pembrokeshire and moved here.

Directions‍

Well is beside B4332, Cenarth SA38 9JL

W3W: decent.fruits.brains

GPS: 52.0450N 4.5261W (well)

W3W: dumps.light.icon

GPS: 52.0448N 4.5237W (church)

You can park by the well for free, or in the main car park by Cenarth’s famous waterfall for £2.50. To find the well, walk over the bridge from the car park, with the waterfall on your left. Then 40m after the bridge, turn right, walking carefully along a road with no pavement, and the well is beside the river after the last building, 100m from the bridge in total. To find the church, walk back towards Cenarth but turn right, rather than left for the bridge, and the church is 70m away uphill.