Gower
St Mary the Virgin, Rhossili
Hospitaller
The clifftop church above Rhossili Bay — given, with Landimore and Llanrhidian, to the Knights Hospitaller of Slebech by William de Turberville in the 12th century.
St Mary's at Rhossili stands high above the long sweep of Rhossili Bay, at the far western end of Gower. Between roughly 1135 and 1230, William de Turberville — the Norman lord of the peninsula — granted the church, together with Landimore and Llanrhidian, to the Knights Hospitaller of St John at Slebech in Pembrokeshire.
The Hospitallers held the right to present the rector until their dissolution in 1540, after which patronage passed to the Crown. The building preserves a Norman doorway and font from the period of Hospitaller patronage, and — inside — a leper squint through which sufferers could watch the mass without entering the nave, a reminder of the order's original hospitaller work.
Its position on the cliff above Worm's Head, on one of the great pilgrim routes along the south Wales coast, made Rhossili an important stop for medieval travellers moving through the Hospitaller estates.
Visiting
Rhossili is at the end of the B4247 on west Gower. Park at the National Trust car park and walk to the church; the coast path to Worm's Head passes just below.
Coordinates: 51.5711°N, 4.2903°W
