- Llanddewi Brefi
Llanddewi Brefi (IPA| [ɬan'ðɛwi 'brɛvi] ) is a
village of approximately 500 people inCeredigion ,Wales .In the
6th century Saint David (in Welsh, "Dewi Sant"), thepatron saint ofWales , held theSynod of Brefi here and it has borne his name since; "Llan" referring in Welsh place names to a church or holy place. Theparish church is dedicated to St. David and contains a modern statue of him.History and description
Llanddewi Brefi (Welsh meaning 'Church of David on the stream' ) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4732993.stm] is one of the largest
parish es inWales . Its parish church dates from the12th century , on a site associated with religious worship since the7th century . Fragments of much older buildings are incorporated into theNorman architecture church. The church holds a collection of Normancross es, some of the oldest religious artefacts in theUnited Kingdom . When theSynod of Brefi was held in the village in the sixth century, it is said that the small hill upon which the church stands marks the spot where the ground was miraculously raised up under St David so that he could be heard better at this Synod.In addition to the
Anglican Church, there is anon-conformist chapel , twopub s and onevillage shop . The village and the surrounding area are largelyWelsh language speaking and the local economy is dominated bysheep anddairy farming .In
1977 the village was the scene of one of the world's biggest ever raids involving the drugLSD . Over 6 million tabs of the drug were seized as part ofOperation Julie onMarch 26 of that year.Little Britain
Llanddewi Brefi is now arguably more famous as the home of Daffyd Thomas, a character in the "
Little Britain " comedy show, played byMatt Lucas (though in the show the village is actually called "Llandewi Breffi")Fact|date=May 2008. Daffyd is ahomosexual man, who believes himself to be "the only gay in the village". However, in the show, Llanddewi Breffi appears to have a fairly large gay population, despite its small size, and many of its inhabitants are either gay or have had gay experiences. The fictional view of the village also sees a very tolerant attitude to homosexuality, with gay nights at the pub and lesbian pottery lessons on offer. Dafydd's encounters with homosexuality and reluctance to believe the acceptance and existence of other gay men and women form the background to the comedy sketches. However, inhabitants of the real village report that, as of2004 , there were no known homosexuals living there.Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/3737126.stm|title=Village's last laugh at TV comedy|accessdate=2007-01-03|publisher=BBC News|year=2004|author=Carl Yapp]There have been a number of attempts to steal road signs showing the village's name, since
Little Britain has been broadcast. [Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/4622520.stm|title=Dafydd village sign theft foiled|accessdate=2007-01-03|publisher=BBC News|year=2006]References
External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/llanddewibrefi/pages/moelwynmerchant.shtml 20 minute BBC film about the village]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/tregaron/pages/julie_lyn.shtml Operation Julie on BBC Online]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2750288 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llanddewi Brefi and surrounding area]
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