St Mark's Church, Connah's Quay is in the town of Connah's Quay, Flintshire,

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 ...

. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the mission area of Borderlands, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

for Connah's Quay and the mother church of St David's Church, Connah's Quay. It is designated as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage s ...

. The new Vicar, Rev'd Alexier Mayes, was licensed in April 2018.

History

St Mark's was built in 1836–37 to a design by John Lloyd. The church then consisted of a nave with a small

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

and a tower at the west end. Between 1876 and 1878 the

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

architect John Douglas added the chancel and refitted the church. The choir vestry was built in 1933 with stone from the former Kelsterton Brewery. The

lych gate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

s had been built in 1917 but in 1974–75 they were moved towards the church when a lay-by was constructed. At this time a memorial garden was laid out and gravestones were moved. It is believed that the clock by J. Benson of London was installed in 1837. This was repaired and refurbished in 1991 by JB Joyce & Co of Whitchurch. The bells which had been donated in 1891 were removed in the 1990s because they had become unsafe.

Fittings and furniture

The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

at the front of the church dates from 1876. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is made from carved Caen stone and dates from the same period, as does the lectern. There is a portable Nave Altar used at most services, which is moved for weddings and funerals. The original reredos dating from 1878 was covered up - the current reredos was painted in 1924 and installed as a gift from the Choir in memory of the Fallen from Connah's Quay following the Great War. The organ was built by Whiteley Brothers of Chester in 1879. It was renovated in 1974 and restored in 2000. The Memorial Doors in the gallery were given in 2000 in memory of the deceased of the parish. In the church is a monument dated 1839 by William Spence.

External features

In 1917 a

was built in

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style in memory of a previous vicar of the church. It is in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

with a timber superstructure. The lych gate is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.

Services

The Parish Church holds an 8:00am Said Holy Eucharist, an 11:00am Parish Eucharist, at which the choir are present, and a 6:00pm service run by Golftyn Chapel. There is also a Holy Eucharist service every Thursday morning at 10:00am.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connah's Quay, St Mark's Church Grade II listed churches in Flintshire 19th-century Church in Wales church buildings Connah's Quay Gothic Revival church buildings in Wales John Douglas buildings Churches completed in 1933

History

Fittings and furniture

External features

Services

See also

References