The visitors who have turned the seaside hamlet into a staycation destination have been blamed for the closure of a church that has served its community for 1,400 years.
St Madoc of Ferns, a parish near a seaside resort in Pembrokeshire, will close in a few weeks after the parish’s congregation shrank to only two people. It was founded in 583AD.
The church, which has served the area for 1,400 years and is one of Britain’s oldest parishes, has seen an increase of second houses in the vicinity.
Apart from the lack of young people, the remaining two parishioners, who both serve as church wardens, share their vicar with other churches, and have services every few weeks, feel they are too old to continue.
Welsh Government figures show that Pembrokshire has one of the highest rates of second homes in the country with nearly one in 10, a total of 4,072 dwellings, recorded as a second home in the county.
The post-Covid trend to buy holiday lets, second homes and move out of London has priced many young people out of housing market altogether.
There is hope that St Madoc of Ferns can be turned into an arts and history exhibition centre.
A group of volunteers are now looking for funding to clear the damp and pay the bills in the church in Haroldston West.
And if the volunteers fail to transform the building it could fall to ruin or be bought by developers and turned into a home.
Church warden Jane Main, 78, said: ‘We are very sad to have to see it go, it’s going to be declared redundant.
‘I’ve been a warden for most of the 30 years I’ve lived here but now I have trouble getting down the steps, my husband has Parkinson’s so he can’t do it and the other warden, Diana Thomas, who is 80.
‘It used to be we’d have 30-40 people but now it’s declined and young people aren’t coming anymore.
‘There are 55 homes in the parish. A lot of them are holiday homes now though some of them do come to church and help out financially.’
In November Pembrokeshire council voted to double the tax on second homes amid debate that they were contributing to a dwindling housing stock.
The Welsh Government has also taken similar steps and from April 1, 2023, will insist that self-catering properties are let for at least 182 days each year in a move critics say will ‘decimate’ the Welsh tourism industry.
At the moment lets only have to pay the cheaper business rate if they are used for 70 days.
But from next year they need to let them out for at least 182 days or will have to pay more expensive council tax.
Properties near the church went for around £252,171 over the last year, according to Rightmove.
This is up 24% on the previous year and 15% up on the 2007 peak of £220,174.
And replicates the trend throughout the UK with popular seaside areas, the most look at by those looking for a second home or to relocate.
Covid lockdowns and the rise of flexible working saw a surge of Londoners travelling outside of the capital, spending a record £54.9bn on properties outside the city last year – the highest value on record by far.
However, the rush for second homes has brought misery to residents of the most popular towns, with soaring house values pricing young people out of the housing market.
Mrs Main added that when she started as warden there used to be two services every Sunday but the disappearance of agricultural workers in the area has led to a dwindling congregation.
She also said the church’s graveyard will continue to accept ashes and additions to family graves and that St Madoc is currently able to host christenings, funerals and baptisms, but not weddings
At present, services are held every few weeks with a number of churches sharing the same vicar.
Shirley Norman, who runs the Boathouse Gallery in Little Haven, said she received a call in February from Mrs Main who asked her if she would be interested in looking after the church when it closed.
She added: ‘The nearest neighbour is a farm. It is not right next door to people. I’m sure musicians could be in there making a racket without disturbing people but we need to be able to afford the electricity.’
When asked if the prevalence in holiday homes are a problem for the area she said: ‘Yes. We live in Broad Haven and 50 per cent there are second homes.. In Little Haven it’s 80 per cent.’
Ms Norman is worried that if funding can’t be obtained to fix the damp then the church will be sold off to a developer and turned into a home.
The group’s next meeting is on June 11 and in the meantime they are seeking help to keep the lights on.
Ms Norman said: ‘The contract runs out for electricity on June 8. That is going to be our first bill.’
The parish is named after St Madoc, who was born in 558 in Templeport, in Ireland’s County Cavan, before he came to Wales as a disciple of St David, the patron saint of the country.
He became known as one of his three most faithful disciples and had a reputation as a miracle worker.
It is believed he founded the Pembrokeshire church in 583 before returning to Ireland and becoming a Bishop of Ferns in Wexford.
The church, was mostly rebuilt in 1883 on its medieval foundations, with the south wall and medieval font being the only features to have survived, will hold its final service on July 31.
The church’s 20th century stain-glass windows show a very blonde Christ in a carpenter’s workshop and the view of St Bride’s Bay from Haroldston Hill and it also has the grave of an unknown WW2 soldier in its cemetery.
At a community meeting on May 11 a group was formed and various options were discussed, from letting the church deteriorate into a safe ruin to converting it into a forum for art exhibitions, student lectures and rehearsal rooms for musicians.
Ms Norman added: ‘We thought it would be a good site for a history exhibition as long as it was not damp, but it was.
‘Water was just running down the walls when we visited in February but we have been several times since and it has been dry.
‘It’s awful to think it might close after all these years. We thought perhaps we could advertise and form a group and keep it open.’