Church of St Mary, Llanfair-yn-Cwmwd, Rhosyr, Isle of Anglesey

Entry Name: Church of St Mary, Llanfair-yn-Cwmwd

Listing Date: 30 January 1968

Last Amended: 19 October 1998

Grade: II*

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 5513

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: Church of St Mary, Llanfair-yn-y-cwmwd
St Mary's Church, Llanfair-yn-y-Cwmwd

ID on this website: 300005513

Location: Set within an enclosed churchyard, set back from the NW side of a country lane running NE from the A4080; c1.2km NE of the Church of St Ceinwen and c1km N of Dwyran.

County: Isle of Anglesey

Community: Rhosyr

Locality: Dwyran

Tagged with: Church building Medieval architecture

History

Probably C15: Medieval walls with C16 mullions inserted in nave windows and late C16 or early C17 roof trusses. The interior was refitted, probably in the mid C19, at a time when many of the old churches of the island were being renovated or rebuilt.

Exterior

A simple rectangular Medieval church, with chancel and nave structurally undivided. Walls of local rubble with sandstone dressings. Slate roof with single rubble-built bellcote with slate capping at W gable end. N wall has entrance through round-headed arched doorway at W end, and paired segmental-headed leaded lights towards the centre. S wall has 2 windows of paired leaded lights, that to W end with round heads, that to E with segmental heads. Chancel window is of paired trefoil headed lights.

Interior

The church has a roof of 7 bays with exposed rafters and collared trusses; arched collars with chamfered soffits. Chancel is raised by one step and divided from the nave by a C19 tall wooden screen of 3 bays; lower part with central wrought-iron gates flanked by tongued and grooved panels under a quatrefoil-pierced frieze and moulded rail. The upper part is raised by plain wooden piers; a plain frieze painted with the word SANCT to each bay under a moulded rail, chamfered brackets below with pierced spandrels. The sanctuary is raised by one step and altar base by a further step, both with encaustic tiling. Hung on the N chancel wall is a mid C13 coffin lid, adorned by a cross carved in low relief with richly floriate head and stem. At the rear of the church is a C12 font with an irregular oval bowl rising from a roughly rectangular base. The bowl has a flattened rim decorated with a rough zig-zag pattern and 3 sides are decorated with an expanded arm cross (4th side defaced). The base has a human head in relief at each corner and another in the centre of one side, flanked by crosses. On E and S faces is a serpent, the latter face with incised chevron below. Cable moulding running round the top of the base which continues on S side as a zig-zag band. Nave has C19 and C20 memorials; S wall with slate memorial plaque to Elizabeth, wife of William Humphreys of Sychant, co. Caernarvon, d.1780. Bell with inscription THIS BEL WAS CAST IN THE YER OF OWER LORD GOD WDLXXXII and above 4 stamps, a fleur de lys and the letters AMN repeated 3 times.

Reasons for Listing

The church is a good example of a simple, substantially unaltered, late Medieval church. During the C19 twenty seven of the old churches on Anglesey were re-built and most of rest were restored and refitted, therefore the Church of St Mary can be considered an important survival.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.