Private car hire in Wales

You may be able to reach it by public transport. Where is the cemetery?

Maybe if you contact the Cardiff Tourist Information Centre someone there could advise.

The cemetery is in Bedwelty, Monmouthshire. I was looking at public transit but it seems as if it will take almost an hour longer to reach than if we took a car.

nLauren -- I did this very thing last year - and for the same reason, I'm not comfortable driving in the UK. My ancestors come from a small village outside Carmarthen. I had to first take a train from Cardiff to Carmarthen, but once there I just hired a taxi at the train station to take me to the churchyard and wait while I prowled around for an hour or so. My driver was a lovely gentleman who actually helped me look through the headstones for my ancestors' graves.

There are many taxis available at the Cardiff Central train station and more than can be booked online. I would start there. The people I interacted with were all friendly and helpful and happy to see an American "come home" to Wales.

Thanks Emma and dchewning_4, and thanks Emma for looking into the rail situation, I hadn't thought about getting a cab from the station to the cemetery. As far as hired taxi's, how would you go about pre-booking one (i know you mentioned google Emma)?
Also if anyone knows some good companies or places to go for one, I would love to hear them!

Bedwellty is a village above the former coal mining valleys. The Church is called St.Sannan's & looking on Google Earth, you will see that it is surrounded by extensive graveyards. If you don't know where to look, you could be searching for hours for your ancestors graves. (The postcode that will zoom you down to the church is NP12 0BD).

Emma has given sound advice. I would also advise to take the train from Cardiff to Bargoed. Every day except *Sunday, the trains appear to run every 15 minutes on this route and the walk on fare is only £7.90 return - pay at the ticket office at Cardiff Central or Cardiff Queen Street stations. (The final destination is usually Rhymney - if not Bargoed). If you did use a taxi from Cardiff, give them the postcode to put into a satnav = NP12 0BD - as most of them will not know where it is. (The 0 = a zero).
* Sunday - it may be hourly. See > www.nationalrail.co.uk

I would contact the church to request help in locating the graves. You may like to do this via the following website. If you explain that you are in search of your ancestors graves, they may be able to pinpoint them for you and thus save a lot of wandering around. You may well find that a church member would come and pick you up at Bargoed station & take you up to Bedwellty. (The church itself may well be locked unless you may prior arrangement that you are visiting). Failing that, they would know of a good local taxi firm that could meet you at Bargoed station and then return you to that station.http://www.valleyschurch.org.uk

On the very same railway that you would take from Cardiff to Bargoed is Wales' largest medieval castle - at Caerphilly. It would be silly to actually go pass this place and not actually see it. So, on the return, leave the train at Caerphilly & take the short walk down the main street to the castle.http://cadw.gov.wales/daysout/caerphilly-castle/?lang=en

PS. I take it that you are also visiting Cardiff Castle & St.Fagans Castle & Museum?
http://www.cardiffcastle.com
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans/
http://www.visitcardiff.com

Thanks James,
I have pictures of the graves, including the section of the cemetery where they are located. The church website has a link to a historical organization that maintains parish records and cemetery records; I have sent an inquiry there just to verify the information I have. We definitely plan on contacting the church about visiting before we plan on going. Thank you for the postal codes and all the advice!

Message read. Hope all goes well.