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Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno is a collection of early medieval inscribed monuments preserved within a church building in the Conwy Valley of North Wales. The stones date to the post-Roman period when Christian communities began marking significant individuals and places with carved inscriptions, often in Latin and the ogham script. These monuments represent a crucial phase in Welsh cultural history, when Romano-British traditions were being absorbed into emerging Celtic Christian practice.
The six stones are now housed within St Tudclud's Church, where they are protected from the weathering that would affect outdoor exposure on the Caradoc Rocks mudstones and siltstones underlying this part of Penmachno. The inscriptions on the stones record names and occasionally genealogical information, offering rare documentary evidence of early medieval Welsh communities and their connections to the wider Christian world. Their preservation in the church indicates the site's long continuity as a place of Christian significance.
The monument is protected by Cadw, the Welsh Historic Monuments organisation, under the reference CN182. This protection recognises the stones' importance as archaeological and epigraphic evidence for understanding post-Roman Wales and the transition to the medieval period. The collection remains one of the most significant assemblages of early inscribed stones in North Wales, providing invaluable insight into early medieval naming patterns, linguistic practices and spiritual belief.
Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN182. View the official record →
Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno is a collection of early medieval inscribed monuments preserved within a church building in the Conwy Valley of North Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference CN182.
Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno dates from the early medieval period, and is classified as a inscribed stone. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is CN182.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Barn N of Pen-y-Bryn (0.4 km), Y Foel Cairns (1.1 km), Pont Rhyd-Llanfair (4.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Six Inscribed Stones in St Tudclud's Church, Penmachno stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.