St Michael the Archangel is a Grade I listed church in

Llanyblodwel Llanyblodwel is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England; the spelling "Llanyblodwell" was commonly used in the past, and the village was sometimes simply referred to as "Blodwel". The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census ...

, in Shropshire, England. It has a spire of unusual shape and was designed in 1847–1856 by the vicar, John Parker.

John Parker

The Grade I listed church was designed and rebuilt from a medieval church in stages between 1847 and 1853 by the vicar, John Parker (vicar 1845–60). He designed the porches, ceilings, windows and reredos. The idiosyncratic almost detached steeple was designed and added 1855-6 by the same vicar, who also designed and built the two nearby listed buildings comprising the school house and schoolmaster's house (at one time used as the post office).

Interior

The 15th century rood screen is carved with vines and animals. Parker covered the walls with large scripture quotations. A double-decker pulpit was installed. St Michael the Archangel, Llanyblodwel interior 70

The church contains a memorial to

Elias Owen Elias Owen may refer to: * Elias Owen (footballer) (1863–1888), Welsh amateur footballer * Elias Owen (priest) Rev. Elias Owen MA, F.S.A. (2 December 1833 – 19 May 1899) was a Welsh cleric and antiquarian whose works include ''The Old Ston ...

(1833–1899), the Welsh antiquarian and author of "''Welsh Folklore''", published in 1887, who was incumbent at the church from 1892 until his death, and a number of monuments to the Tanat and Bridgeman families. There is also a First World War memorial in the form of a stained glass window, depicting a soldier presenting his sword to Christ, by William Pearce Ltd of Birmingham, with an associated brass plaque below.

South porch

Hare gravestone in Llanyblodwel church porch closeup

Two fragments of a 14th-century grave stone are attached to the inner wall of the porch depicting a coursing

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

and Lombardic lettering possibly relating to the legend of

Melangell Saint Melangell ( la, Monacella) was an Irish nun who died in 590. Her feast day is celebrated on 27 May. The daughter of an Irish king, she went to Powys in central Wales to become a hermit. The prince of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, granted her l ...

, which some antiquaries have tried to connect with the hare iconography seen at

Pennant Melangell St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell is a small church located on a minor road which joins the B4391 near the village of Llangynog, Powys, Wales. It houses the restored shrine of Saint Melangell, reputed to be the oldest Romanesque shrine in G ...

, which once received the tithes of the township of Bryn.Pevsner and Newman, ''Shropshire'', ''The Buildings of England'' series, p.337

Steeple

The steeple was built after and slightly apart from the church and linked to it by, effectively, a corridor. It is of octagonal cross section with a spire of curved circular arc outline to the apex – a

domical vault In architecture, a cloister vault (also called a pavilion vault) is a vault with four concave surfaces (patches of cylinders) meeting at a point above the center of the vault. It can be thought of as formed by two barrel vaults that cross at ...

– a shape that Parker was convinced would be stronger than the usual hollow spire construction where the thickness of the straight sides diminishes towards the apex. The height is 104 ft (tower 57 ft and spire 47 ft). The radius of the arc forming the curved spire is 247 ft.

Later Victorian obliteration

Later in the

Victorian period In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

Parker's decorations were obliterated with wall wash and the double-decker pulpit removed.

Restoration

In 1960 the late Victorian restoration was partly reversed, revealing some of the old decoration and restoring much of the rest.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains the war graves of three British soldiers of World War I.CWGC Cemetery Report.
Details obtained from casualty record. In addition to the former vicars John Parker and Elias Owen, the Victorian composer and conductor Henry David Leslie (1822-1896)Holmstrom, John, rev. Anne Pimlott Baker.
"Leslie, Henry David (1822–1896)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 November 2008 is also buried in the churchyard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Llanyblodwel Churches in Shropshire Grade I listed churches in Shropshire Victorian architecture in England Church of England church buildings in Shropshire