Llanyblodwel - Church Among the Flowers

Although the south doorway is Norman and the arcade and screen mediaeval, St Michael the Archangel in Llanyblodwel is essentially the Victorian creation of Rev. John Parker, vicar from 1845 to 1860. Parker designed the porches and dormer, ceilings, reredos, and the decorative scheme, which features scriptural quotations, later white-washed but restored in 1960.

Yet Parker's greatest achievement is the tower and spire. Both are octagonal, as the site could not accommodate a buttressed square tower. The spire, built 1855, has a convex cross-section, which provides increased strength. At 47 feet high, the centre point of the spire's external curve is 10½ inches outside the slanting line between base and apex.

The churchyard is home to two stone coffins, possibly Norman but certainly mediaeval, and a number of fine Victorian monuments. Some of the plots are delineated with chains of unusual design.