Capel-y-ffin
Encyclopedia
Capel-y-ffin is a hamlet near the English-Welsh border in Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, in the Black Mountains
Black Mountains, Wales
The Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the national border into Herefordshire, England. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently...
within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye , often described as "the town of books", is a small market town and community in Powys, Wales.-Location:The town lies on the east bank of the River Wye and is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains...
, some 8 miles (13 km) to the north-west.
The Chapel
Capel-y-ffin means "chapel of the boundary", since it lies in the valley of the River HondduRiver Honddu
The River Honddu is a river in the Black Mountains within the Brecon Beacons National Park, southeast Wales.It rises within the county of Powys near the Gospel Pass at the head of the Vale of Ewyas down which it flows, passing southwards into Monmouthshire to Llanvihangel Crucorney before turning...
close to the borders with Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
in Wales and Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
in England, as well as the borders of the Anglican dioceses of Hereford
Diocese of Hereford
The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England; and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales....
, St David's, and Llandaff
Diocese of Llandaff
The Diocese of Llandaff is a Church in Wales diocese. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Llandaff, a suburb of Cardiff...
. The chapel itself is dedicated to St Mary and was built in 1762, replacing an earlier 15th century structure. It originally served as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
for the parish church at Llanigon
Llanigon
Llanigon is a village in Powys, Wales on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of the Black Mountains, Wales. The village has approximately 280 inhabitants . The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye, some 1.5 miles to the east.-History:...
, but is now within its own ecclesiastical parish. With an interior of just 26 by 13 feet (8 by 4 metres), the chapel is one of the smallest in Wales and reminded diarist Francis Kilvert
Francis Kilvert
Robert Francis Kilvert , always known as Francis, or Frank, was born at The Rectory, Hardenhuish Lane, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, to the Rev. Robert Kilvert, Rector of Langley Burrell, Wiltshire, and Thermuthis, daughter of Walter Coleman and Thermuthis Ashe...
of an owl.
On the other side of the River Honddu
River Honddu
The River Honddu is a river in the Black Mountains within the Brecon Beacons National Park, southeast Wales.It rises within the county of Powys near the Gospel Pass at the head of the Vale of Ewyas down which it flows, passing southwards into Monmouthshire to Llanvihangel Crucorney before turning...
is a small, whitewashed Baptist chapel built by the two brothers, William and David Prosser. A wall plaque commemorates their work in bringing The Ministry of the Gospel to their house in the year 1737. And Secured this Place for That Sacred Use for the Time Being. Both died near the End of the Year 1780.
The hamlet was the last Welsh-speaking community in this part of Wales.
The Monastery
In 1869, Joseph Leycester LyneJoseph Leycester Lyne
Joseph Leycester Lyne, known by his religious name, Father Ignatius was an Anglican Benedictine preacher....
, self-styled "Father Ignatius", purchased 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) of land at Capel-y-ffin in order to build an Anglican monastery near the ruins of Llanthony Priory
Llanthony Priory
Llanthony Priory is a partly ruined former Augustinian priory in the secluded Vale of Ewyas, a steep sided once glaciated valley within the Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It lies seven miles north of Abergavenny on an old road to Hay...
. With the help of fellow monks and local masons, he succeeded in building 'Llanthony Tertia', where an eccentric version of monastic life - witnessed by Francis Kilvert - continued till his death in 1908. Lyne is buried in the monastery church which, being poorly built and subsequently neglected, is now partly ruined. A memorial trust exists to restore the church and an annual pilgrimage is held between Llanthony Priory and Capel-y-ffin.
In 1880, Lyne's religious convictions were confirmed by visions of the Virgin Mary seen in the monastery and nearby fields by monks and local farm boys. The Vision Farm, to the south-east of the hamlet, was so renamed as a result of these apparitions. The farm (at least in name) features in the novel On the Black Hill
On The Black Hill
On the Black Hill is a novel by Bruce Chatwin published in 1982 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for that year. In 1987 it was made into a film, directed by Andrew Grieve.- Plot summary :...
by Bruce Chatwin
Bruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
, though the author changed its location.
From August 1924 to October 1928, artist Eric Gill
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement...
and his followers lived in some notoriety in the former monastery at Capel-y-ffin. It was here that he designed the typefaces Perpetua
Perpetua (typeface)
Perpetua is a typeface that was designed by English sculptor and typeface designer Eric Gill .Though not designed in the historical period of transitional type , Perpetua can be classified with transitional typefaces because of characteristics such as high stroke...
and Gill Sans
Gill Sans
Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill.The original design appeared in 1926 when Douglas Cleverdon opened a bookshop in his home town of Bristol, where Eric Gill painted the fascia over the window in sans-serif capitals that would later be known as Gill Sans...
. With him was poet and artist David Jones
David Jones (poet)
David Jones CH was both a painter and one of the first generation British modernist poets. As a painter he worked chiefly in watercolor, painting portraits and animal, landscape, legendary and religious subjects. He was also a wood-engraver and designer of inscriptions. As a writer he was...
, who painted the local scenery. Jones features as a character in the novel Resistance
Resistance (Owen Sheers novel)
Resistance is a novel by Welsh poet and author Owen Sheers. The plot centres around the inhabitants of a valley near Abergavenny in Wales in 1944–45, shortly after the failure of Operation Overlord and a successful German counter-invasion of Britain , and a group of German Wehrmacht soldiers who...
by Owen Sheers
Owen Sheers
Owen Sheers is a Welsh poet, author, playwright, actor and TV presenter.-Biography:Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974 and brought up in Abergavenny, South Wales...
, set close by in the Olchon Valley.