St Illtud's Galilee Chapel, St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major

On Thursday 3^rd February 2011 at St. Illtud’s Church a historic event took place when a large audience gathered to listen to a Benedictine Abbot.

When Robert Fitzhamon led the Norman conquest of the Vale of Glamorgan, he gave the living of Llantwit Major to Tewkesbury Abbey, a Benedictine foundation. On the hill above the church was a large farm or grange, which worked the monastic land between the church and St. Donat’s. The monks and priests (who were Roman Catholic), worshipped in the East Church while the smaller West Church became the Parish Church.

Following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII the Benedictine link was lost.

On the evening of 3^rd February, Dom Aidan Bellenger (Abbot of Downside and a noted Christian historian) lectured on “Light in a Dark Age, the Celtic Church in the Age of Illtud”. He reminded a packed Church that St. Illtud and St. Benedict were contemporaries and showed that the origins of the Benedictine Rule had similarities with the teachings of the Celtic Church in South Wales.

Both Illtud and Benedict lived in a time of upheaval as the Roman Empire was collapsing. Italy was subject to invasions from the heathen north, while the Romano-Britons were clinging on to the teachings of Roman times. Christians found their haven in the monasteries in remote lands.

The monks based their faith on prayer and communal worship under the oversight of an Abbot. According to the Welsh Triads, Llantwit Major was one of only three monasteries in Britain where prayers were said for twenty four hours every day of the year.

In December 2010, the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the second phase of its grant to the Galilee Chapel Project at St. Illtud’s Church, raising the total to nearly £300,000.  The plans can now go ahead to restore the chapel and transform it into a centre of learning and research into the Celtic Christianity of the Vale.

The next phase of the programme will be for the architect, Michael Davies, with CADW, academics, conservationists and the church in planning the exhibition space.

Mr. Dan Clayton Jones, chair of the HLF in Wales, said, “St. Illtud’s is  hugely important in the development of early Christianity, and we are delighted to play a part in ensuring it is properly interpreted and conserved.”

Moving the stones out of the West Church opens out a new facility which will be available for wider use, for the church and the community.  A project for young people, “Carved in Stone,” is already under way, involving “young historians” and the Llantwit Major Youth Team.

Please follow this link to see an excerpt from the DAC Booklet prepared by Davies Sutton Associates for the Diocese Advisory Committee outlining the proposed development.

Excerpt from DAC Booklet – Proposals

Please note that the full DAC Booklet could not be uploaded onto this website owing to its size, but if you would like to see the entire document, please ask through the Contact Us section of this website. The DAC Booklet contains the following Sections:

1 INTRODUCTION

2 BACKGROUND

3 DESCRIPTION AND HISTORICAL SUMMARY

4 CELTIC STONES

5 THE GALILEE CHAPEL

6 PROJECT AIMS

7 PROPOSALS

8 SERVICES

9 APPENDIX

10 CONSULTATION LIST

1 INTRODUCTION
2 BACKGROUND
3 DESCRIPTION AND HISTORICAL SUMMARY
4 CELTIC STONES
5 THE GALILEE CHAPEL
6 PROJECT AIMS
7 PROPOSALS
8 SERVICES
9 APPENDIX
10 CONSULTATION LIST

Over the last few months the Galilee Chapel Project Committee have been meeting monthly to progress the planning approval process, the activity plan for the building and other matters relating to the project. Here is a brief update:

To-date, an initial round of Heritage Lottery Funding has enabled architects drawings to be created, which can be seen in the DAC Booklet available from this site. The proposed scheme strives to retain the character of the current ruin – as it has been for some 450 years – in the finished building. Besides the exhibition space, the building will also house accessible toilets and tea-making facilities.

Because the building is situated on church-owned land, the planning approval process is handled by the Diocesan Advisory Committee rather than the Council’s Planning Department, although the local council is represented and has been fully consulted in the planning process.

It’s hoped that planning approval will be secured by July 2010, at which point a full application will start with the Heritage Lottery Fund. If the application is successful, the building work is currently expected to take place in the first half of 2011.

The primary ‘physical’ function of the building is to provide a display space for the Celtic Crosses which are currently squashed into the rear end of the West Church. However, the stones, although of great historical significance in themselves, will also serve as a focal point for several other beneficial activities central to this project.

Besides promoting the story of St Illtud and Llantwit Major’s status of the first centre of Christian learning in Britain, it will provide opportunities for a variety of community and educational projects that should benefit local residents, visitors and schools alike. There are 10 activities under development as part of the project which include self-guided trails for tourists and pilgrims, a youth project (to be called ‘Carved in Stone’), a PR campaign, community events and school activities.

A major ‘spin-off’ benefit of the project is that it will make the West Church more accessible for use by local community groups, due to the provision of fold-away seating and the installation of toilets and tea-making facilities in the adjacent Galilee Chapel.

Activity Plans for each of the 10 activities will be posted on this website as they become available.

O’r braidd y gall unrhyw eglwys blwyf gynnig mwy i’r ymwelydd nag Eglwys Illtud Sant yn Llanilltud Fawr. Mae gan yr eglwys hon lle mae addoli Crist wedi parhau am dros 1500 o flynyddoedd yn ddi-baid, hanes nodedig nad yw eto wedi’i orffen.

Yn wreiddiol sylfaen Celtaidd yr oedd mewn llecyn ar Nant yr Ogni lle sefydlodd Illtud tua‘r flwyddyn 500 OC. Roedd Illtud yn un o’r saint Cymreig a deithiai ar hyd yr arfordiroedd gorllewinol gan gadw’r Efengyl yn fyw ar ô l i’r Rhufeiniaid encilio o’r wlad. Mae’r ysgol a sylfaenodd yn Llanilltud Fawr yn cael ei hadnabod fel y ganolfan dysg hynaf ym Mhrydain. Oddi yma sefydlodd ei hoffeiriaid eglwysi yn ei enw trwy Dde Cymru gyfan a Llydaw.

Daeth y Normaniaid yma ac adeiladu’r eglwys gerrig gyntaf, yna ychwanegwyd ati yn y drydedd ganrif ar ddeg, cyfnod mawr o adeiladu eglwysi yn y Fro. Gall ymwelwyr weld rhes o drysorau canoloesol a diweddarach – cornelyn Jesse prin o’r drydedd ganrif ar ddeg wedi’i gerfio o garreg, peintiadau mur o Gristopher Sant a Mair Magdalen, allor canoloesol a oedd unwaith yn garreg fedd, delwau canoloesol ac o oes Elizabeth, sgrin addurnol ryfeddol wedi’i gwneud o gerrig wedi’u cludo o Portland a’r Mendips.

Does dim rhyfedd i John Wesley pan fu’n pregethu yma yn 1777 ddisgrifio eglwys Illtud Sant fel yr harddaf yng Nghymru.

Trysor mwyaf yr eglwys yw ei chasgliad o gerrig a chroesau Celtaidd, o’r nawfed ganrif yn bennaf. Mae un groes wedi’i disgrifio fel y groes harddaf ym Morgannwg, tra bod dwy garreg yn gofiannau i frenhinoedd lleol.

Y problem yw fod y cerrig yn cael eu cadw mewn eglwys brysur fywiog ac er mwyn eu gweld yn agosach mae’n angenrheidiol i neidio dros fynach canoloesol, yna dringo dros bentwr o gadeiriau gan beryglu aelod o’r corff os nad bywyd.

Yn ffodus mae pethau ar fin newid. Mae’r eglwys wedi derbyn grant treftadaeth oddi wrth y Loteri i ddechrau datblygiad i ail-adeladu Capel Galilee adfeiliol di-do ar derfyn gorllewinol Illtud Sant. Y cynllun yw i leoli strwythur modern y tu mewn a thros y muriau sy’n bodoli – dehongliad o’r unfed ganrif ar hugain i hen problem. Fe gaiff y cerrig a’r delweddau eu symud i mewn fel y cam cyntaf i sefydlu canolfan addysgiadol a fydd yn adrodd hanes Cristnogaeth Gymreig a Cheltaidd. Bydd adnoddau ymchwil mynediad i’r anabl gyda thoiledau a chegin mewn festri gyfagos.

Mae llawer o’r gronfa ar gael yn barod, ond cyn diwedd y flwyddyn bydd rhaglen o weithgareddau i godi arian.

There can hardly be a parish church that can offer more to a visitor than St Illtud’s Church Llantwit Major. This church, on a site where Christ has been worshipped for over 1,500 years without a break, has a remarkable story, which is not yet finished.

It was originally a Celtic foundation, at a spot on the Ogney Brook where Illtud settled about the year 500. Illtud was one of the Welsh saints who travelled by the western seaways, keeping the Gospel alive after the retreat of the Romans. The school which he founded at Llantwit has been identified as the oldest centre of learning in Britain. From here, its priests set up churches in his name all through South Wales and Brittany.

The Normans came here and built the first stone church, then added to it in the 13^th century, a great period of church building in the Vale. Visitors can see a range of medieval and later treasures – a rare 13^th century Jesse niche carved in stone, wall paintings of St Christopher and Mary Magdelene, a medieval alter that was once a gravestone, medieval and Elizabethan effigies, and a remarkable reredos, made of stone brought from Portland and the Mendips.

It was no wonder that when John Wesley preached here in 1777 he described St Illtud’s in his journal as the most beautiful church in Wales.

The greatest treasure of the church is its collection of Celtic crosses and stones, mainly from the 9^th century. One cross has been described as the finest Celtic carved cross in Glamorgan, while two stones are memorials to local kings.

The stones are kept in a busy, active church, and unfortunately are not currently easily accessible. However this is about to change. The church has received a Heritage Lottery grant to begin development on rebuilding a roofless ruined Galilee Chapel on the west end of St Illtud’s. The plan is to place a modern structure inside and over the existing walls – a 21^st century solution to an old problem. The stones and effigies will be moved in as the first stage in establishing an educational centre which will tell the story of Celtic and Welsh Christianity. There will facilities for research and disabled access, with toilets and a tea station in an adjoining sacristy.

Much of the funding is already in place, but before the end of the year there will be a programme of fund raising activities.

The Project Launch will take place in at St Illtud’s on 7th November 2009, from 11.30am to 12.30pm. All welcome. Details to follow …