The Parish of Llyn Safaddan has six churches, scattered around Llangorse Lake, although only five of these are active places of worship. The abandoned church is St Michael’s at Cathedine. The other four active churches are well worth a visit: they are All Saints, in Bwlch, St Mary the Virgin, in Llanywern, St Michael’s, at Llanfihangel Talyllyn, and St Paulinus, in Llangorse. The parish welcomes visitors to its churches, whether their interest is religious or secular, and the vicar and parish council have both approved and encouraged the placing of caches. It is the aim of the parish to have its churches open during the day, but this depends on voluntary key holders so cannot be guaranteed. Take the opportunity, while in the area, to explore Llangorse Lake, the second largest natural lake in Wales and the site of a crannog. If you are feeling more energetic, a climb to the viewpoint at the summit of Allt yr Esgair is well rewarded. Llangorse is derived from Llan yn y gors, the church in the marsh. At the beginning of the 5th century, it is believed that King Brychan established a court here and sent his children to be educated by St Gastyn, who may have been Constantius, son of the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus, or Macsen Wledig, who is sometimes regarded as the founder of the Welsh nation. An 8th century charter indicates that King Awst of Brycheiniog gave the parish to Bishop Euddogwy and also records that Awst gave his own and his sons bodies to the church for burial, so there could be a royal burial ground here. Another charter tells of a meeting at a monastery in Llangorse in 925 AD between King Tewdwr of Brycheiniog and Bishop Libiau and helps confirm that the crannog in the lake was a royal residence.
St Gastyn’s Church is built on the site of an ancient Celtic church founded around AD 420. St Gastyn acted as tutor and adviser to the family of Brychan, whose numerous progeny grew up to play a leading part in the spread of Christianity throughout south east Wales. It was in this church, in 1735, that Howell Harris experienced the spiritual struggle that set him on the path that led to the foundation of the Welsh Methodist Movement. The church was rebuilt between 1848 and 1851 and is a remarkably intact survivor of the Oxford Movement's ideas on liturgical arrangements. The church has four bells, the heaviest weighing 9 cwt.
To find the coordinates for this cache, convert the two words that tell you who the church at Bwlch is dedicated to into a set of numbers, using the corresponding digits on the keys of a phone keypad (e.g. a, b or c become 2).
The cache is at N 51o 5A.BC5 W 003o 1A.DE2, where:
A = the second number of the set derived above
B = the seventh number of the set
C = the fourth number minus the ninth number
D = the sum of the first and third numbers
E = the fifth number