The present church of St Bledrws, in the village of

Betws Bledrws Betws Bledrws, is a village between Lampeter and Llangybi, Ceredigion, Wales that was also known as Derry Ormond when under the influence of Derry Ormond Mansion. Situated on the on the valley floor of the River Dulas, approximately north of Lam ...

(sometimes spelt Bettws Bledrws), near

Lampeter Lampeter (; cy, Llanbedr Pont Steffan (formal); ''Llambed'' (colloquial)) is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, is a 19th-century building. However, the same site is believed to have been previously used for other places of worship since much earlier times. The Coflein website states that the older church was in mediaeval times dedicated to St Michael, although the dedication had been changed to St Bledrws by 1833. According to recently issued ''Notes on the History of Betws Bledrws Church'' (for distribution within the building), the spire and tower of the present church were built in 1830 – the date being on the weather-vane – and were possibly designed by the architect

Charles Robert Cockerell Charles Robert Cockerell (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting seven years, mainly spent in Greece. H ...

. He built nearby

Derry Ormond Derry Ormond is a farm and a small village in the community of Llangybi, Ceredigion, Wales, which is 60.1 miles (96.7 km) from Cardiff and 173.8 miles (279.7 km) from London. Derry Ormond is represented in the Senedd by Elin Jones (Pla ...

House (demolished in 1952) for a certain John Jones. Alternatively, the authors of ''The Buildings of Wales: Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion'' suggest that the conical square tower might have been by Rees Davies. The church was for many years associated with the Inglis-Jones family, being the descendants of the said John Jones of Derry Ormond House, and they are commemorated in several internal memorials. John's grandchildren Herbert and Wilmot Inglis-Jones rebuilt the church in 1886, Wilmot, who succeeded his brother to the Derry Ormond estate in the following year, also served as organist for many years, besides being the father of the writer

Elisabeth Inglis-Jones Portrait of Inglis-Jones taken from a painting by Cecil Jameson Elisabeth Inglis-Jones (1900–1994) was a Welsh historical novelist, local historian and biographer. ''Starved Fields'' (1929) was the first of six historical novels she published. ...

. The font was re-erected on a modern pedestal, although the actual bowl is of particular interest, as it has a band of decoration of shallow incised lines around the upper part, which has been described as Romanesque. It is thought to be not much later than A.D. 1200. The church has some unusual and particularly special stained-glass windows, designed by

Carl Almquist Carl Almquist (1848 – 1924) was a Swedish-born stained-glass artist whose professional life was spent entirely in Britain. He was a pupil of Henry Holiday and became one of the two chief designers for the well-known Lancaster firm of Shrig ...

, a Swedish designer with the firm of

Shrigley and Hunt Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles. History The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire. In 1868, control of Shrigley's ...

of Lancaster. The organ was given by the Inglis-Jones family and was built by Cassons of London in 1900. The surviving church registers date from 1813. A transcript of monumental inscriptions in the churchyard was published by the local family history society in 2018.Cardiganshire Family History Society website
retrieved 9 April 2018 By the 21st century, Betws Bledrws formed part of a group ministry which also included the churches at

, Maestir,

Silian Silian, originally Sulien, is a village in the valley of the River Teifi, Ceredigion, Wales. It is located approximately two miles north-west of Lampeter, on a minor road connecting Pont Creuddun on the A482, and Glan Denys on the A485. In Ja ...

and Llangybi.

Derry Ormond Tower Derry Ormond Tower is a Grade II*-listed folly situated above Betws Bledrws, north of Lampeter in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. It was built in the early nineteenth century as an unemployment relief project. The tower forms an eyecatcher withi ...

, a high column erected by John Jones, the squire of Derry Ormond, can be seen from the churchyard path.

References

{{Authority control Churches in Ceredigion 19th-century Church in Wales church buildings