Where do we go this week Karl-James Langford? Now what a great question, a part of the Barry and District which is so often overlooked: Porthkerry.

Porthkerry is a short walk from Westward Rise, and the park that you visit - a donation from the Romilly family - certainly does bring back memories. But, which part of Porthkerry are we overlooking then, one may ask?

Porthkerry village, and moreover it's church is where we visit today.

I sent out my intrepid understudy Kate Phillips out this week to take a photo of the church, and thanks for that. I have visited Porthkerry church numerous times over the years, and often it has been closed, so often you scout out the church graveyard for those names and dates of those who have gone before us.

And you do clamour to see those graves of sailors who have been sadly drowned at sea. Many of those lost at sea have been washed many miles further down the coast; ships lost on the sands of Nash, and the dangerous Tusker. Many of the graves of these sailors, and however many thousands of land lovers have lost their wooden markers; therefore are unmarked in the yard today.

The church of a tower, nave, chancel and porch typical of Vale of Glamorgan architecture; and District yes just like Cadoxton and other places of workshop in the Barry and District still holds a regular service. The church isn’t attributed to St Cadoc, Illtyd or Barruc; this time we have the name St Curig; which has nothing to do with the name Porthkerry. Like many medieval foundation churches locally St Curig is grade II listed.

We can postulate, that with a name like St Curig, the church may date back to the pre-Norman period, but its first mention is at the time of the De Clare family in the 1250s. The Nave and Chancel dates back to the 1250s, and Tower and Porch came to us sometime in the 1500s. There was a lot of wealth flowing around with local families, and it's these that put their money into Porthkerry church for a refurbishment in 1867.

Our church at Porthkerry is now whitewashed in the medieval style, as in the Victorian period it was felt that whitewash was not in fashion, many hundreds of years of history was removed to display the Lias limestone rock of the church. But whitewashed churches are now back on the Barry and District.

Let's visit more of our Barry and District next week.