St Mary's Church, Pentraeth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Mary's Church, Pentraeth |
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The south side of the church, showing the porch (left) and chapel (right)
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| OS grid reference | SH 524 785 |
| Location | Pentraeth, Anglesey |
| Country | Wales, United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church in Wales |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Founded | Earliest parts of present building date from between 12th and 14th centuries |
| Dedication | St Mary |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 30 January 1968 |
| Architect(s) | Henry Kennedy (1882 rebuilding) |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 50 ft 3 in (15.3 m) (nave) |
| Nave width | 17 ft 3 in (5.3 m) |
| Materials | Rubble masonry |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf with Llanbedrgoch with Pentraeth |
| Deanery | Tindaethwy and Menai |
| Archdeaconry | Bangor |
| Diocese | Diocese of Bangor |
| Province | Province of Wales |
St Mary's Church, Pentraeth is an old parish church found in the village of Pentraeth, in Anglesey, north Wales. We don't know exactly when it was built. It was likely sometime between the 12th and 14th centuries. A church named after St Mary was first mentioned here in 1254. However, some people believe there was an even older church dedicated to St Geraint, an early British saint.
Parts of the original medieval stone walls are still visible today. A small chapel was added to the south side of the church in the 16th or 17th century. The church was updated and repaired in the 1800s. A big part of this work was done by Henry Kennedy, an architect for the Diocese of Bangor, in 1882. St Mary's is still an active church today, used by the Church in Wales. It is one of three churches in its local area.
St Mary's is a special building known as a Grade II listed building. This means it's important to protect it because of its history. It's special because it still has medieval parts even though it was mostly rebuilt in the 1800s. It also has some beautiful memorials inside. The church is built from rough stone with a slate roof. An old stone basin, possibly from the 12th century, is used in the porch. The church has many memorials from the 1700s and 1800s. Some of these remember people who lived in a nearby manor house.
Contents
History of St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church is located in the middle of Pentraeth, Anglesey. It's about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town of Menai Bridge. The church sits where the A5025 and B5109 roads meet. We don't know the exact date when the first church was built here. Some stories say there was an earlier church dedicated to St Geraint. This is because the old name for the village was Llanfair-Bettws-Geraint.
However, a church in Pentraeth dedicated to St Mary was officially recorded in 1254. The church building you see today probably dates from the 12th to 14th centuries. Its main parts, the nave (the main area) and chancel (the area around the altar), are from medieval times.
Changes Over Time
A chapel was added to the south side of the church in the late 1500s or early 1600s. The inside of the church was repaired in 1821, with more changes in 1839. In 1882, Henry Kennedy, the architect for the Diocese of Bangor, led a major rebuilding project. This included rebuilding the east wall and adding the porch on the south side. He also added an arch inside to mark the special sanctuary area. Some new church fittings were added in the early 1900s.
St Mary's Church is still used for worship today. It is part of the Church in Wales. It is one of three churches in the area, along with Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf and Llanbedrgoch. The church is part of the Diocese of Bangor. As of 2012, the main priest, called the rector, was the Venerable R P Davies.
A charity called the Tyrer Charitable Trust helps to look after St Mary's. This charity is based in Chester. Its goals include protecting and improving the church. St Mary's is the only church specifically mentioned in the charity's aims.
Church Design and Features
The church is built from stones that are not perfectly shaped. These are called rubble masonry. When Henry Kennedy worked on the church in 1882, he added red sandstone details. The main part of the church, the nave, is about 50 feet 3 inches (15.3 meters) long and 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 meters) wide. The chancel is about 7 feet (2.1 meters) long and the same width. The chapel is about 17 feet (5.2 meters) by 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 meters).
Some of the original medieval stone walls are still there. These include the west wall and the lower parts of the north and south walls. The roof is made of slate. There is a stone bellcote (a small tower for a bell) at the west end, holding one bell. Inside, you can see the wooden beams, called trusses, that support the roof. These beams were reused when the roof was rebuilt.
You enter the church through a porch on the south side. This porch was added in the 1800s. It has a Tudor arch doorway. Inside the porch, there is a stone basin called a piscina. People believe this basin is part of a font (a bowl for baptisms) from the 12th century. An old entrance in the north wall of the nave is now blocked up.
Two of the three windows in the north wall are from the 1800s. The third window, closer to the east end, is from the early 1600s and has a square shape. The font, which has eight sides, is also from the 1800s. In 1937, a survey noted an old oak box for donations, dated 1740, and a plain silver cup from about 1685.
Inside the Church
The chancel and the south chapel are separated from the nave by arches. The arch leading to the chancel was added by Kennedy in 1882. It has carvings of an eagle on one side and a lamb on the other. Steps lead up from the nave to the chancel, with another step marking the sanctuary.
The east window is from the late 1300s or early 1400s, though it has been rebuilt. It has three vertical sections, called lights, separated by stone bars called mullions. Above these are decorative stone patterns called tracery and a five-leaf design called cinquefoils. This window has stained glass showing St Mary and St John, added in 1890.
The east window in the chapel looks similar to the 17th-century window in the north wall of the nave. It dates from the late 1500s or early 1600s and has been repaired. The south window has a pointed arch with two lights and cinquefoils. There is also a window in the west wall of the chapel.
Memorials and Graves
St Mary's has many memorials from the 1700s and 1800s. Members of the families connected to Plas Gwyn, a nearby manor house, have their memorials in the chapel. John Jones, who was the Dean of Bangor Cathedral from 1689 to 1727, was born at Plas Gwyn. He is remembered with a stone tablet on the south wall of the chancel.
Another person from Pentraeth, the writer Thomas Owen, who died in 1812, also has a tablet in the chancel. Charles Vivian, 2nd Baron Vivian (who died in 1886) and his wife Mary are remembered with a bronze tablet on the east wall of the chapel. Other memorials are on the walls of the chapel and the nave.
The south window of the chapel has stained glass. It remembers Claud Panton Vivian, from Plas Gwyn, who died at age 24 during the Second World War. The churchyard has many graves for the Vivian family. Their plot includes "four beautifully-carved Celtic crosses." The churchyard also has two graves from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These are for a soldier from World War I and a sailor from World War II.
In the past, the church used to be decorated with paper garlands. In the 1700s, one writer thought these garlands celebrated weddings. He said they each had a pair of hands in the middle. But in 1833, another writer said the garlands marked the death of unmarried women. This tradition is no longer practiced.
Why St Mary's Church is Special
St Mary's Church is recognized as a special building. It is a Grade II listed building. This means it's considered important and should be protected. It received this status on January 30, 1968. It was listed because it is "a church mostly from the late 1800s which still has some Medieval parts." Cadw, the Welsh government body that looks after historic buildings, also noted its "fine 18th-century and 19th-century memorials."
An 18th-century writer named Francis Grose included St Mary's in his guide to old buildings in England and Wales. It was one of only two churches in Anglesey that he featured. The other was St Cybi's, Holyhead. Grose said that this "little building is more special for its simple beauty and the lovely countryside around it, than for any old or curious things in its structure."
Two other writers, Angharad Llwyd and Samuel Lewis, both writing in the 1800s before the 1882 changes, described St Mary's as a "small neat building." They especially noticed the memorials inside and outside the church for local families.
In 1847, a clergyman named Harry Longueville Jones wrote that St Mary's was in "one of the sweetest spots in the isle of Anglesey." He said the inside was "very full of pews," but it was in "excellent repair." He also noted the "neatness and comfort" of the church, which he said was unusual for the area. He liked the roof timbers, saying they were "closely set together, light in section, but producing a good effect."
Another church historian, Sir Stephen Glynne, visited in 1849. He described St Mary's as being in a "pretty" location, "surrounded by trees." He mentioned the "fair" east window and the "rough wooden framework" of the roof. In 2006, a guide to Anglesey churches noted that the red sandstone used in the windows and bellcote was showing signs of "severe weathering" in some places.
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