Tydecho
Tydecho is known as the patron of several churches in Mawddwy, and details of his life are found in a single fifteenth-century poem by Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn.
Feast Day: 17 December
Welsh calendars mostly give the feast of Tydecho as 17 December, or 18 December. However, his feast day was celebrated on Easter Monday at Mallwyd and Garthbeibio, the first Sunday after Lammas Day at Llanymawddwy, and following Michaelmas Day at Cemmaes.More information
Texts
No Life of the saint has survived, but a poem of praise to Tydecho by Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn provides some of the traditions surrounding the life of the saint. This includes his settling in Mawddwy, the unwanted attentions of Maelgwn Gwynedd, and the blindness that he brought upon the men of Cynon after they abducted his sister Tegfedd.Fifteenth-century poem of praise for Tydecho by Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn.
Places
The description of Tydecho as 'Crefyddwr cryf o Fawddwy, | Ceidwad ar eu hollwlad hwy' (a mighty religious from Mawddwy, | guardian of their entire country) is borne out by the concentration of four churches in Merioneth and Montgomeryshire dedicated to Tydecho, all of which are adjacent to one another. Landscape features around Llaethnant, in the hills north-west of his church at Llanymawddwy, suggest that this was the location of his principle cult site.He is described as coming from St Dogmaels (Llandudoch), although other traditions claim that the saint came from Brittany, so this could have been his place of arrival in Wales. A further chapel near Llandegfan may have been dedicated to Tydecho, although there may have been some conflation between Tydecho and Tegfan.
 | Church Dedication |  | Well |  | Placename |  | Landscape feature |  | Modern |  | Text |
2. Church of St Tydecho, Garthbeibio , Montgomeryshire (Dedication)
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3. Church of St Tydecho, Cemmaes , Montgomeryshire (Dedication)
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5. Church of St Tydecho, Llanymawddwy , Merionethshire (Dedication)
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6. Church of St Tydecho, Mallwyd , Merionethshire (Dedication)
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4. Church of St Tydecho, Llanymawddwy , Merionethshire (Text)
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7. St Tydecho's Well, Garthbeibio , Montgomeryshire (Well)
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Further reading
S. Baring-Gould and John Fisher The Lives of the British Saints (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1913), 283–5 View online
Elissa Henken Traditions of the Welsh Saints (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1987), 210–16, 366–7
Images
Images in stained glass were made for the churches dedicated to Tydecho at Llanymawddwy and Mallwyd. A standing figure of Tydecho in found in the east window of 1864 at Llanymawddwy, while a scene in a window at Mallwyd is labelled 'The Persecution of St Tydecho'. The saint is shown kneeling before a royal figure, and a man is stood over him holding a large rock, as if in the act of stoning the saint. The king may be intended to be Maelgwn Gwynedd, although the scene bears no correlation with the details of Maelgwn's harrasment of the saint in the poem by Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn.An image of Tydecho, presumably medieval, was formerly found on the north side Ffynnon Dydecho near Garthbeibio.
View images of Tydecho on the Stained Glass in Wales website
