Gower
St John the Baptist, Penmaen
Hospitaller
A Gothic parish church on the south Gower road, dedicated to St John the Baptist — the patron saint of the Hospitallers, who held the earlier sand-buried church on the Burrows below.
The original medieval church at Penmaen stood on the Burrows above Three Cliffs Bay, close to the ringwork of Penmaen Old Castle. It was overwhelmed by wind-blown sand in the storms of the early 14th century and its foundations still lie beneath the dunes.
The living had been held by the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, and when the parish was rebuilt further inland along what is now the main south Gower road, the new church was dedicated to St John the Baptist — the Hospitallers' own patron saint, a deliberate reminder of who had cared for the parish through the medieval centuries.
The present church is largely 14th-century in origin with later restoration. Its dedication is the clearest surviving marker of the Hospitaller presence at this end of Gower.
Visiting
Penmaen is on the A4118 west of Parkmill. The church is beside the main road; the buried remains of the old church can be reached by walking down onto Penmaen Burrows above Three Cliffs Bay.
Coordinates: 51.5772°N, 4.1108°W
