Church of St Clydawg, Clodock
We stumbled across this one by complete accident on our way to Longtown Castle, somewhere which we also hadn't intended on going. However, when the holiday takes a pleasant detour, you do too! Now this church has been standing here with, what is to us, a very unusual dedication since at least 500AD. It was built as a shrine to St Clydawg, King of Ewais who was murdered by a rival. Now the rival was only a rival because they both were after the same lady, and for some reason this other man thought she'd pick him if he eliminated the competition, a kingly competition no less. We don't know if that worked. What we do know is that at Clydawg's funeral the oxen pulling the cart refused to cross the River Monmow so they opted to bury the man where they stopped. That very night someone was said to have seen a column of fire rising from his grave which the community took to mean that an oratory should be built there. From that point the current church can actually be dated ba...
