The cemetery affiliated with the Parish Church of St. Bridget, in the village of St. Bride's-super-Ely, surrounds the Norman church on the north, south, and west sides.

Local tradition indicates that village men who died in the Battle of St. Fagan's, in 1648, are buried beneath the church's floor.  The earliest marked burials are dated in the 18^th Century, but burials have probably occurred in the yard since the church was built in the 13^th Century.  The yard is still in use.

It is highly possible that much earlier burials occurred here, since local tradition indicates the church was built on a pagan religious site.  Just a couple of miles from the church, archaeologists have excavated burial cairns used by the Beaker people in Wales' prehistory.  Details of this work is on the Archaeology page of this Web site.  Local tradition also has it that several men of the parish, killed at the nearby Battle of St. Fagan's in 1648, lie buried beneath the chancel floor.

Monumental Inscriptions in the yard were transcribed and graves mapped by the Glamorgan Family History Society in 1984.  This information was published in both hardcopy and microfiche formats.  Contact GFHS for ordering details. [See Bookmarks section of this Web site.]

The earliest extant burial marker at the church dates to 1690, surname Perkins.  A few burials are from the late 18^th Century, but most marked graves are from the 19^th and 20^th Centuries.  The diaries of David Jones, of Wallington (held by the Cardiff Library in 1984) contain this notation:  Edward Davies, Rector of St. Bride's-super-Ely and Michaelston-super-Ely, Prevend of Llandaff, M. A., died 26th December 1672 at the age of 108 and was buried at St. Bride's-super-Ely.

There is nothing more spiritually moving for a family historian than to make a pilgrimage to the grave of a recently discovered ancestor.  The Webmistress of this site had just that experience in St. Bride's parish cemetery.  After spending 25 years searching for the ancestry of her great-great-grandmother, Ms. McNamara learned that Catherine Evans' St. Bride's birthplace in 1856 was St. Bride's-super-Ely.  With just a short time available to visit the church, Ms. McNamara walked around quickly and took photographs.  She then stood in the southwest corner of the cemetery and whispered a prayer for guidance to find Evans graves among the stones.  When she opened her eyes and read the name on the disintegrating stone at her feet, Ms. McNamara was overcome with emotion.  She was standing at the grave of Richard Evan -- an individual whose stone was marked as nearly "illegible" by transcribers -- and who was Catherine Evans' grandfather.