Give thanks that we have funding to repair the church roof 

We have been awarded grants for £23,110 for repairs and restoration work.
£13,110 from the National Churches Trust and the Wolfson Foundation and
£10,000 from the Vale of Glamorgan Welsh Churches Estate Act fund
to make urgent repairs to the East Church roof which is currently leaking water into the south aisle.

Here is the the article that we sent to the press to publicise this ....

Councillor Dr. David Ellis, Secretary to the Local Church Committee, explained that these are the first grants to be obtained as part of the Church’s long-term Master Plan, which involves major repairs and renovations to the tower, walls and porch, as well as re-imagining the use of the space in the East and West areas of the Church for worship and community use at an estimated cost of £1.25 million.

In addition, the restoration project includes developing the building and the surrounding churchyard as an environmentally friendly ‘Eco Church’. An application to the National Heritage Lottery Fund is now being prepared to contribute to this essential work.

St Illtud’s Church boasts a timeline that reaches back through 15 centuries of history. It was in the late 400s when Illtud, a monk and renowned teacher, gathered together a learning community in the locality. Llanilltud Fawr, therefore, is one of the oldest Christian locations in Britain and is known as the ‘Cradle of Celtic Christianity’. It is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, Britain’s earliest ‘seat of learning’, where many well-known Celtic saints were educated, such as St, Samson and Gildas, and it has been claimed, St. Patrick and St. David.

The pre-Norman building probably stood on, or near, the site of the current West Church, which was built by the Normans around 1100 A.D. although only a few original features of this Church remain.

The East Church was built by the monks from Tewkesbury Abbey in the 13 th century and further modified to include the tower.
In the same century, a Lady Chapel was added and in the 16 th Century it was used by the Raglan family as a Chantry or Galilee Chapel. This was pulled down during the Reformation and only rebuilt 400 years later; its restoration was completed in 2013.

Recently, the Church and its site have featured on the archaeological programme ‘Digging for Britain’, and in her latest book entitled ‘Domination’, Professor Alice Roberts emphasises the Church’s great historical and spiritual significance.

St Illtud’s Church is a Grade I listed building “…of exceptional national interest” according to Cadw, and, when John Wesley visited in 1777, he described it as, “abundantly the most beautiful as well as the most spacious church in Wales”.
The architecture reflects a rare complete history of Welsh Christianity, and contains a highly significant collection of Celtic crosses, dating back to the 8th to 10th centuries.

Today, the church is a thriving hub of activity with a busy schedule of events that serve the local and wider community.  Prayer, worship and pastoral care for a community sit comfortably alongside music and art, while there is a constant flow of visitors and pilgrims. It is imperative, therefore, that this ancient and historically significant church is maintained and restored fit for the 21 st century.

You can read more about the Restoration Project here

If you require any more information or wish to contribute to the restoration fund, please contact the Ministry Area office on 01446792439 or office@ghcp.church