Written Sources

Sometimes documents can tell us about churches when we have no archaeological evidence.

Christianity was introduced into Herefordshire during the Roman occupation. After the Romans left, the south-western part of the county came under the influence of the Welsh church. There is a 12th century church document which speaks of the church at Llangunville in the parish of Llanrothal. According to this record in the Book of Llandaff, there was a church at Llangunville in the time of King Meurig ab Arhfael of Gwent (848-874) (Historic Environment Record reference no. 31892). Historians now consider much of the information provided by this source to be biased, because the motive for many of the events recorded was to show how far the influence of the diocese of Llandaff had reached, during a period when the diocese of Hereford was competing with Llandaff for territory.

The Hereford Cathedral Library and the Herefordshire Record Office, both of which are open to the public, hold an impressive array of original sources relating to all aspects of the history of the Church in Herefordshire. Unfortunately, during Gruffydd's attack on Hereford and the Cathedral in 1055 many early documents were destroyed.

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]