Church of St Dyfrig
Llanvaches, Monmouthshire
Diocese: Mynwy/Monmouth (Former diocese: Llandaf/Llandaff)
OS Grid Ref.: ST43409175
Lat/Lng: 51.621710282,-2.81897069719
Church dedicated to Dyfrig, although some sources give Maches, who appears to be found in the place-name.
A.W. Wade-Evans gives the dedication of the church to Maches, and this was the dedication on the first edition of the six-inch OS map. Browne Willis gives Dubritius (Dyfrig) in the Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum, and this dedication appears to be in use today.The earliest form of the place-name is as a merthyr- place-name, merthir maches. According to the Latin Life of Tatheus, the shepherd girl Machuta (Maches) was killed by thieves, and a church was established in her honour. If, as seems likely, the church mentioned in the Life was the one on this site, the claim of Maches to the church would seem to be greater than Dyfrig's.
More information
National Monuments RecordChurch Heritage Cymru
John Newman, The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire (London: 2000), 360–1
David N. Parsons, Martyrs and Memorials: Merthyr Place-names and the Church in Early Wales (Aberystwyth: University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2013), 88–9
Richard Morgan, Place-Names of Gwent (Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2005), 123
Jonathan Baron Coe, The Place-Names of the Book of Llandaff (University of Wales, Aberystwyth: 2001), 592 View online
Sources
John Ecton, Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum (London: 1754), 512
Ordnance Survey 6 inch map (1880s)
A.W. Wade-Evans, 'Parochiale Wallicanum' in Y Cymmrodor (1910), 79
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