Llangadwaladr Church

The Cadfan Stone is a 7th-century inscribed stone at Llangadwaladr Church — one of the most historically significant early medieval inscriptions in Wales. The stone bears a Latin inscription that reads (in translation): "Catamanus rex sapientissimus opinatissimus omnium regum" — "King Cadfan, the wisest and most renowned of all kings." Cadfan was King of Gwynedd c.616–625 AD, grandfather of Cadwaladr (the saint after whom the church is named and who died in 664 AD), and father of Cadwallon (who defeated and killed King Edwin of Northumbria at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633 AD — the only time in the 7th century that a Welsh king led an army to a decisive victory over an English kingdom). The inscription is among the earliest surviving Latin royal monuments in Britain and a primary historical source for the Age of Saints and the early medieval kingdom of Gwynedd. The stone is now inside the church, protected from the elements.

Llangadwaladr ("Cadwaladr's Village" or "Cadwaladr's Church") takes its name from St Cadwaladr — the last recognised king of Gwynedd in the direct descent from the 5th-century founder Cunedda, who died in 664 AD (traditionally of plague in Rome, where he had gone on pilgrimage, following the advice of an angel). Cadwaladr was later venerated as a saint and his church at Llangadwaladr on the ancestral heartland of Anglesey (Mona — the island was the core of Gwynedd) became the royal church of the dynasty. Several members of the Gwynedd royal dynasty are associated with burial at Llangadwaladr. The site's connection to the ruling dynasty made it the most prestigious ecclesiastical site on Anglesey outside the monastic foundations at Penmon. Anglesey was, throughout the early medieval period, the agricultural heartland of Gwynedd — the granary that fed the kingdom — and its ecclesiastical sites reflect this importance.

Cadwaladr (died 664 AD) was the son of Cadwallon of Gwynedd (the king who defeated and killed Edwin of Northumbria in 633 AD) and is traditionally regarded as the last king of the original Gwynedd dynasty — the line descended from Cunedda Wledig, the 5th-century leader brought from southern Scotland to north Wales to drive out Irish settlers. After Cadwaladr's death, Gwynedd passed to a collateral line. Cadwaladr acquired a posthumous reputation as a legendary figure in Welsh tradition: Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (12th century) makes Cadwaladr one of the last British kings before the final Anglo-Saxon conquest of the island, and Merlin's prophecy (as recorded by Geoffrey) predicts that the Welsh (as descendants of the original Britons) will one day reclaim the whole island of Britain under a leader in Cadwaladr's line — a prophecy that was cited by Welsh dynasties for centuries and by Henry Tudor's supporters before the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 (Henry VII flew the red dragon of Cadwaladr as his standard).

The church itself is worth exploring for its medieval fabric — 12th-century nave, 15th-century north aisle, and the Cadfan Stone inside. The churchyard has ancient yew trees typical of a site with pre-Christian origins. The village of Llangadwaladr is a small, quiet settlement in the agricultural interior of south-west Anglesey. The nearest major attraction is Newborough (2 miles) — Newborough Warren NNR (red squirrels, orchids, natterjack toads) and Newborough Beach (accessed through the forest, with the 3-mile walk to Llanddwyn Island). For those interested in early medieval Welsh history, Llangadwaladr is best combined with Beaumaris (for the castle) and Penmon Priory (another early ecclesiastical site of Gwynedd, on Anglesey's north-east coast). The combination of prehistoric, Roman, early medieval, and medieval monuments on Anglesey makes the island one of the richest archaeological landscapes in Wales.

Llangadwaladr's significance lies in its connection to Gwynedd at the peak of its early medieval power — the period between approximately 550 and 700 AD when the Welsh kingdoms were fighting to maintain their identity against Anglo-Saxon expansion. Cadfan (commemorated by the Cadfan Stone) was king during the period of maximum pressure on the Welsh kingdoms: the Northumbrian kingdom of Edwin was expanding westward and northward with aggressive power. Cadfan's son Cadwallon reversed this by defeating and killing Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633 AD — a military triumph that briefly reversed the direction of power. Cadwallon was subsequently killed by Oswald of Northumbria in 634 AD at the Battle of Heavenfield; his son Cadwaladr (after whom the church is named) held Gwynedd until his death in 664 AD. This sequence of events — preserved in the Cadfan Stone inscription and the church's dedication — makes Llangadwaladr a remarkably direct physical link to the most dramatic century of early medieval Welsh history.