St Mary's Church or its full name St Mary and St Bodfan Church is a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
located in the village of
Llanaber
Llanaber is a linear coastal village in north west Wales, about north of Barmouth on the A496 road. The Irish Sea lies directly to the west and the Rhiniog mountains directly to the east.
Facilities
Its main attraction is the large beach whic ...
in
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 ...
. St Mary and Bodfan is a Grade I listed building, which despite substantial restoration work in 1860, is a well-preserved 13th-century building with lancet windows and arch-braced collar beams (16th-century) to the chancel roof.
Ancient maps refer to the church as
St Bodfan's and an association with the saint is preserved in the name of the nearby Bodfan Farm, but the church is more popularly known as St Mary's.
[History of St Mary's]
from ''Church in Wales Barmouth'' retrieved 8 June 2013
The current building
The present church dates from the early thirteenth century. One of its great benefactors was Hywel ap Meredydd ap Cynan, the Lord of Ardudwy, the
commot which has given its name to the Rural Deanery of Ardudwy in which the Parish of Llanaber is situated.
[ Hywel was a great grandson of ]Owain Gwynedd
Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...
and a near relative of Llewelyn the Great
Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually "List of rulers of Wales, Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wal ...
.[
]
The plan of the church consists of a nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, with north and south aisles, and a long narrow chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
. Entering the church by the south porch, rebuilt in the nineteenth century, is the south doorway, a still-standing example of Early English architecture. This doorway, built of yellow sandstone, is deeply recessed and is composed of six shafts on either side. The north door opposite is much narrower and of simple design.[
The nave is divided on either side into five arcades. They show the transition from Norman architecture to the Early English Style. The piers are Norman in character with foliated capitals from which spring pointed arches. The four ]clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
windows on either side of the nave are examples of Early English lancets, whilst the two long lancets of the west wall are part of the nineteenth-century restoration.[
The chancel, which is separated from the nave by an Early English arch, is approached by a flight of steps, necessitated by the sloping nature of the site on which the church is built. The east window is an example of a single Early English lancet with very wide splays and shafts in the inner arch.][
The main roof timbers, both in the Nave and Chancel, date from the sixteenth century, whilst the ceiling above the sanctuary is panelled and its bosses and carvings picked out in gilt and colour.
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 ...
is octagonal in shape. The bowl is modern and it stands on a very much older shaft.
The Calixtus Stones
In the north west corner of the church will be found two ancient stones. One is the Calixtus Stone, placed in the Church in the 19th century and having been previously used as a footbridge on a neighbouring farm. The inscription has been read as: CAELIXTUS MONEDO REGI, and is thought to mean Calixtus King of Mona.[
]
Parish Registers
The parish registers date back to the year 1750. There are recorded relics in the church which comprise two wooden collection boxes with handles and dated 1756 and 1774 respectively, whilst near the south entrance may be seen an old church warden's chest, cut out of a single log of wood.[
]
Extensions
In 1860, extensive work of restoration was carried out. The bell turret was rebuilt as well as most of the west wall with its heavy buttresses. The small vestry adjoining the north side of the chancel was also constructed at the same time on the site of a previous building.
The glass in the windows dates from the latter part of the nineteenth century and is on the whole good with the design in the clerestory windows depicting angels with musical instruments. Most of the monuments date from the nineteenth century.[
In 1969, the church was again extensively restored. The timbers of the roofs were treated against woodworm and new timbers inserted where necessary. The seating of the church was also renewed with surplus pews from St John's Church, Barmouth. The Compton Two Manual and Pedal Organ, a memorial gift, was dedicated by the ]Bishop of Bangor
The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol.
The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...
on 1 June 1969 (the eve of the feast of St Bodfan) at the time of the re-hallowing of the church after the restoration.[
]
Churchyard
The churchyard contains twelve Commonwealth war graves
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...
; from the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, six Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
seamen (four of them unidentified), three Mercantile Marine seamen, a Royal Welsh Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers ( cy, Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, that was founded in 1689; shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated ...
officer and a Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
soldier, and from the Second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
, a Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
soldier.
CWGC Cemetery report, details from casualty record.
Gallery
File:St Mary and St Bodfan Church, Llanaber interior.JPG, Church interior
File:St Mary and St Bodfan Church, Llanaber chancel.JPG, Church chancel
See also
* Llanaber
Llanaber is a linear coastal village in north west Wales, about north of Barmouth on the A496 road. The Irish Sea lies directly to the west and the Rhiniog mountains directly to the east.
Facilities
Its main attraction is the large beach whic ...
* Barmouth
Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...
* St John's Church, Barmouth
St John's Church, Barmouth, Gwynedd, Wales was built between 1889 and 1895 and designed by the Chester architects Douglas and Fordham. The foundation stone was laid by Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. The bulk of the cost of constructio ...
* St David's Church, Barmouth
St David's Church is a Church in Wales church by the harbour of Barmouth, Gwynedd, west Wales. It is part of the Bro Ardudwy Ministry Area.
Sources
References
External links
Barmouth Parish site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llanaber, Mary Bodfan, Saint, Church
Barmouth
Grade I listed churches in Gwynedd