St Cedwyn's Church, Llangedwyn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Cedwyn, Llangedwyn |
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St Cedwyn, Llangedwyn
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| Location | Llangedwyn, Powys |
| Country | Wales |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 19 June 2001 |
| Architect(s) | Benjamin Ferrey |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Medieval and Romanesque Revival |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Llangedwyn |
| Diocese | St.Asaph |
St Cedwyn's Church is a historic church located in Llangedwyn, a village in Powys, Wales. It used to be part of the old county of Denbighshire. The church is about 7 miles southwest of Oswestry, near the Berwyn Mountains.
St Cedwyn's was once a "chapel of ease." This means it was a smaller church built for people who lived far from the main parish church, making it easier for them to attend services. The main church for Llangedwyn was Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. Saint Cedwyn, the church's namesake, might have been the daughter of Saint Madryn, a princess from the 5th century.
The church was greatly renovated between 1869 and 1870. This work was led by the architect Benjamin Ferrey and paid for by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn of Llangedwyn Hall. Even with these changes, parts of the original medieval walls are still there. The church also has a unique porch from around 1840, built in a style that looks like old Romanesque buildings. This porch was likely designed by Thomas Penson. More restoration work was done before 1907 by Herbert Luck North, who added a special window called a dormer to the roof.
Contents
Exploring the Church's Design
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The church's main hall (nave) and the area around the altar (chancel) look like one continuous space from the outside. The north wall has old stones reused in its lower parts. You can also see two lines of smooth, cut sandstone blocks along the entire wall. Above these are three Gothic-style windows, each with two lights and a quatrefoil (a shape like a four-leaf clover). These windows have decorative carvings above them, called hoodmoulds, with different head shapes at the ends. There are also two buttresses, which are supports built into the wall, with decorated tops.
The east window, in the chancel, has three tall, narrow windows that step up in height. They are under a pointed arch with leaf-like carvings. Above this is another arch made of cut stone. The south wall has three windows: two with pairs of narrow lights and one with three. A single line of cut stone runs along this wall, similar to the north wall. The west wall also has many reused stones. A small room on the south side, called the vestry, has a square-shaped doorway and a similar window on its east side.
The church's porch is covered in a rough plaster finish. It has strong, pillar-like supports at its corners and a decorative window that looks like a series of arches, typical of the Romanesque revival style. The main doorway of the porch is made of terracotta and brick, with matching decorative brickwork under the roof edge. The roof has a dormer window, which was added by Herbert Luck North.
The Romanesque-Revival Porch (c. 1840)
This porch is one of the most interesting parts of St Cedwyn's Church. It is believed to have been designed by Thomas Penson, an architect from Oswestry. Penson was a pioneer in using terracotta (a type of baked clay) in buildings. The detailed terracotta decorations on the porch are exactly like those found on the rebuilt church at Llanymynech.
This porch is likely one of the earliest examples of terracotta being used again for architectural decoration. Penson designed other churches, like Christ Church, Welshpool and St David's in Newtown, in a Norman or Romanesque style. The terracotta used here probably came from the brickyards in nearby Trefonen, which were located on the Oswestry coalfield. This porch might have been an experiment for Penson before he used terracotta more widely in larger church projects.
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Inside the Church: Features and Furnishings
You enter the church through the west porch. Inside the porch, you'll find an old, eight-sided font (a basin for baptisms) from the medieval period. There's also a wooden poor box dated 1741. On the west wall, there are painted boards with the Creed, the decalogue (Ten Commandments), and the Lord's Prayer, all written in English.
On the north side of the porch, there is a small war memorial made of wood and copper. It has beautiful Art Nouveau designs and was created by the Arts and Crafts designer J.H.M. Bonnor. Although Bonnor passed away in 1916, his staff at Chiswick completed the memorial. You can also find Bonnor family tombstones in the churchyard and other family memorials inside the church.
The pulpit, a raised stand for sermons, is on the left and is made of oak panels from the 17th century. To the southwest of the main hall (nave) is another eight-sided Gothic font from 1875. It stands on a group of black supporting pillars.
The church has many monuments, especially for the Williams-Wynn and Bonnor families. To the left of the east window, there's a marble monument dedicated to Edward Vaughan (died 1718). This monument has a triangular top and a family crest. The later Williams-Wynn monument on the south side copies this style. Most of the Bonnor of Brynygwalia family memorials are on the west wall.
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The Churchyard: A Place of History
The churchyard at Llangedwyn has an unusual "butterfly" shape today. This is because it was expanded to the south in 1870 and to the east in 1905 and later. It might have originally been oval-shaped, but its outline has changed over time. The best signs of its original curved shape are on the southeastern side.
The churchyard is on flat ground near the River Tanat, though set back from the river. A small stream flows from the hill to the north nearby. The churchyard is well-kept, and burials still happen in the northwestern part of the original area. A low, wide bank, about 0.3 meters high, with three yew trees on top, marks the old eastern boundary. To the south of the church, there's a natural slope almost 2 meters high, which was almost certainly the earliest boundary on that side.
Gravestones are spread out on the north and west sides but are closer together on the south side and in the newer extensions. Most of the memorials from the 19th century are made of slate. There is also a table tomb from 1734 to the east of the chancel.
The most interesting feature in the churchyard is a cross slab with a ringed head. It is placed against the east wall of the chancel. This cross is believed to have been found in the wall of the old church when it was taken down in 1869. It is thought to be from the 10th century or even earlier.
The churchyard also contains two war graves registered by the CWGC. One is for a soldier from the Devonshire Regiment who died in World War I. The other is for an officer from the 1st Royal Dragoons who died in World War II. This officer was Lieutenant Watkin Williams-Wynn, the son of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 8th Baronet.
