Foy Church, Herefordshire

Foy Church, Herefordshire

This beautiful and ancient church is hidden down a no through road. It is an ancient Christian Celtic site dedicated to St Tvyoi ( Ffwy), a disciple of Dubricious (Dyfrig), established in the late 5th century or early 6th. The site is mentioned in the Llandaff Charters in 866AD Aslan Timoi: spellings of names can be confusing some being Welsh, others English and with nonstandard spelling they can appear in different forms for the same person.

Perched on a sandstone cliff promontory, the church overlooks the River Wye. It’s typical of the sites chosen by these adventurous Christians, who liked to be isolated ‘on the edge of the world’. Today the site is beautiful, peaceful and restful. Sadly, the church was locked so we sat under an ancient yew in the churchyard looking across water meadows to the Wye. Sand martins and house-martins were swooping across the meadows readying themselves for migration. A myriad of small birds were twittering around us and in the yew branches overhead. Nature seemed happy here.

As I close my eyes to pray, I immediately can see five pillars of fire near me, which appear to be angels. They are on the edge of the ‘Llan’ enclosure facing the river. They are clustered near us by the yew tree and the path leading to the river. I don’t see them do anything but I sense they are connected to the prayers which have happened on this site and the deposit of ago which remains, and they guard.

I start repeatedly singing, ‘Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come’. It is easy to worship.

My husband senses peace, tranquility, calm and that it is a thin place.

I agree. It is a thin place. I feel a deep peace and a desire to linger. I’m now aware of a figure, perhaps another angel though I’m not too sure, in full armour. It thrusts a shiny sword into the ground three times. I’m expecting the ground to split wide. Instead, a jet of fresh water erupts and shoots upwards. The figure now kneels on one knee, hand on sword, head bent reverently. Water is flowing abundantly.

I hear the Lord speaking, ‘It is the water of my life-giving presence. Pray what you have seen that it may become reality. This was a birthing place, and it still is in my plans- that many moves of my Spirit would flow out from here.

Soon after leaving here, we visited another Celtic church site, Llangarron. Imagine my shock to see my vision depicted exactly in the stained-glass window. However, the figure is human and receiving the crown of reward from Jesus. So, perhaps what I saw was simply representative of the obedient Christian soldier. Whichever, we prayed what God asked us to, trusting he will do the rest.