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About Our Lady of Penrhys

An ancient shrine surrounded in legend

The shrine of Penrhys has a rich religious history dating back to medieval times.  On Penrhys Hill stood acres of Oak forest, farmland and a medieval Cistercian grange attatched to the abbey at Llantarnam.  Monks would spend time at the grange cultivating the land and praying in their chapel.  

The devotion to Our Lady of Penhrys is somewhat shrouded in mystery.  Legend speaks of a miraculous statue of the Virgin with Child that appeared carved into one of the trees close to a nearby spring - now the holy well of Ffynnon Fair. The well itself was said to have healing properties and is particularly good for rheumatism and eye complaints.  Thus the shrine of Our Lady was built at the holy spring of Ffynon Mair and became one of the most visited sites in Wales.

Legend and tradition state that it was impossible to move the statue from the tree until a shrine in the grange chapel had been prepared for it. In the chapel the fair lady of Penrhys remained for more than two centuries.

Darkness descends

But alas, the Reformation came to these shores and all things Catholic became deplored.  Devotion to the Blesses Lady was abrogated as superstitious practice and shrines were targeted. Penrhys was not overlooked following the dissolution of the monasteries.  Latimer singled out Penrhys fearing its influence upon the spiritual life of Wales.  He brought attention of the shrine to Cromwell and the statue was hailed to be the work of the devil, and so the Lady of Penrhys was removed on September 14th  1538, taken to London and burned at Cromwell's House in Chelsea on September 26th of the same year.  The land once owned by the monks at Penrhys was given into the hands of Cromwell's nephew. Penrhys disappeared into obscurity.

Faith burns brightly

Despite the desecration of the shrine, people continued to visit the site to offer their prayers.  The legend survived and excavations began at the beginning of the twentieth century.  In 1912 the late Miss M. M. Davies of Llantrisant out of devotion to Our Lady of Penrhys, had a memorial church built in nearby Ferndale and placed within it an oak statute of Our Lady of Penrhys.  The statute was designed according to descriptions in ancient writings.  In 1936 the Rhondda Urban District Council restored the small building containing the holy well and is now clearly marked as St Mary's Well.

In 1939, the site of the grange chapel became the property of the Archdiocese of Cardiff. In 1947 a 4,000 strong pilgrimage visited the site in reparation for the destruction of the shrine.  Then in 1953 he Archdiocese brought Our Lady back to Penrhys in the form of a representation of the original statue made out of portland stone, paid for through various contributions, the greater part of which was from the Union of Catholic Mothers.

The Shrine today

Pilgrims still visit the shrine to today.  They brave the elements on top of the Penrhys hill to visit the fair lady who touched the spiritual life of Wales.  An annual ecumenical pilgrimage of reparation takes place in the summer each year.

Opposite the statue a housing estate was developed in the 1960s.  The people of the estate have begun to take Our Lady of Penrhys into their hearts.  The Penrhys Pilgrims project was established by the residents.  The project holds concerts and festivals at the shrine.

If the Lady of Penrhys reaches out to you, then please visit the statue and the well.  If you wish to organise a formal visit to the church dedicated to Our Lady of Penrhys with your pilgrimage, please contact us.  The church has a hall underneath it which you are very welcome to use.

*History taken from "Our Lady of Penrhys" by Rev. Paul Chidgey, Cardiff: Catholic Truth Society, 1962.