Devil's door at St Illtyd's These doors, always in the shady…

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  St. Illtyd's, Ilston, Gower
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  Devil's door at St Illtyd's These doors, always in the shady north wall of a church, would be opened at baptisms for the exorcised devil to escape! They were usually blocked up in less superstitious, and more draught-conscious, times.
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  Ilston church Hunkered down in Ilston cwm and reached across a narrow footbridge this chunky little church is essentially a Victorian reconstruction of the original mediaeval version. Apart from its delightful setting the church has an unexpected claim to fame in that it acted as the meeting place for the earliest Baptist congregation, under the leadership of one John Miles/Myles a parliamentarian who took over the living from the royalist incumbent in 1649. "From 1649 until 1660 the Ilston Baptists met in the parish church St Illtyd, of which Miles was rector or minister, though they always referred to the place as their ‘Meeting House’, not their ‘church’ or ‘chapel’. Baptist services and meetings were open only to members. Indeed, Miles was insistent that non-baptised sympathisers should not be allowed to attend. But Miles would also have held more general services for all the parishioners of Ilston, the majority of whom remained non-Baptists. The church had been built by the local de Breos family in the thirteenth century, probably on the site of an earlier Christian cell. It was drastically ‘restored’ inside and out in the mid nineteenth century, and many of the features familiar to Miles and his Baptists have been destroyed or altered beyond recognition." At the Restoration Miles was ejected, the Baptist movement was forced underground and in 1663 he emigrated to America along with many more of his co-religionists, and died there in 1684. The full story, from which the above quotation is abstracted, can be read here http://www.olivercromwell.org/ilston.htm
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  Devil's door at St Illtyd's
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  Ilston church
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  Ilston church, south face
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  Ilston church, south face The tower in this view is partially concealed by a huge yew tree which is said to be as old as the church.
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  St Illtyd's Church
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  Headstones
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  Ilston church tower
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  Ilston church tower St. Illtyd's church probably derives from a 6th century monastic cell. The present church was originally built during the 13th century incorporating the 6th century cell in the base of a massive embattled tower with a transverse saddle-back roof. There was the inevitable Victorian restoration and further work was carried out at the millennium. St Illtud/Illtyd converted from a military career to a life of asceticism. He achieved great fame as a teacher and is also credited with improving agricultural methods in Wales.
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  St Illtyd's Church
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  St. Illtyds Church, Ilston.
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  Wild garlic at St Illtyd The steep churchyard at Ilston was deep in ramsons on this day in mid-May. There is said to be an old well in the upper part that has long since dried up. However, in the past, locals believed the well to be haunted. On one occasion a ghostly white horse called a 'ceffyl dwr' or water horse in Welsh folklore, was seen in the churchyard before it vanished into the waters of the well.
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  Wild garlic at St Illtyd
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  Angel
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  St Illttyd's Church
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  Idyllic Ilston
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  Idyllic Ilston The stream runs through the deep, wooded Ilston cwm and joins Pennard Pill at Parkmill.
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  Ilston