Photograph © Marian Jones

Demi Moore 'Half Light' : Llanbadrig, Wales

Llanbadrig (Llan-Badrig) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
LLANBADRIG (LLAN-BADRIG), a parish, in the hundred of Tâlybolion, union and county of Anglesey, North Wales, 5 miles (W. N. W.) from Amlwch; containing 1295 inhabitants. It is supposed by Mr. Rowlands to derive its name from the dedication of its church to St. Patrick, who, being commissioned by Pope Celestine to preach the doctrines of Christianity to the Irish, is said to have been, on his way thither, detained for some time in the island of Mona, the present Anglesey, and to have founded at this place, in the year 440, the first Christian church built in the district. A recent writer, however, is of opinion that the church was built by Padrig, son of Aelfryd ab Goronwy. The parish, which is situated on the shore of the Irish Sea, is about six miles in length, and is divided into two unequal parts, called Llanbadrig-Clegyrog, and Llanbadrig-Cemmes; the lands are inclosed and in a good state of cultivation, and the soil is productive. The substratum is limestone, and the great limestone formation which stretches from Flintshire through the county of Denbigh, and is continued under the bay of Beaumaris, terminates at the Middle Mouse, a small island about a mile from the main land of this parish, called also "Ynys Badrig," from the circumstance of its having been the place from which St. Patrick, on his supposed departure from Anglesey, embarked for Dublin. In the parish are a strong vein of ochre of various colours, and an extraordinarily fine white clay of the Cimolia kind; copper-ore has also been discovered, though not in sufficient quantity to encourage adventurers to establish any works; and at Cemmes are found blueveined and white-veined grey marble, and the hard primitive rock called serpentine. The small creek of Cemmes affords facility for landing coal and other commodities, and is highly advantageous for the shipping of marble and the other mineral produce of the adjoining parish of Llanvechell.

The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £7. 8. 1½., endowed with £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £380, and the vicarial for £180; the vicar's glebe comprises half an acre, valued at 50s. per annum. The church is inconveniently situated on the shore, and so near to the sea that, during the prevalence of northerly or north-westerly winds, the waves break over it with such violence as occasionally to interrupt the performance of divine service, at which time the church is with some difficulty accessible. There are two places of worship for Calvinistic Methodists, two for Independents, and two for Baptists: a Sunday school is held in each meeting-house. A British school has been built here, and at Llanvechell is a school founded for poor children of Llanbadrig, in the year 1723, by Mr. Richard Gwynne. He also bequeathed a rent-charge of 6s. 8d., which, with other funds of the parish, is distributed in cloth, at Christmas, to the poor; to whom is also given in bread, on Sundays, the amount of two charities, one arising from a bequest by Owen Williams, in 1657, and the other producing £5. 12. per annum, received from the impropriate rector of the parish. The church lands consist of about four and a half acres, yielding a rent of £6, and the minerals they contain have been let on a mining lease for twenty-one years, by which the lessee is bound to pay one-eighth of the metals, stone, fossils, &c., obtained: under this lease many tons of ochre, the only mineral found, have been raised, and the value of one-eighth has been paid to the parish.