St Cynhaearn's Church is a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused churc ...

standing in an isolated position on Ynyscynhaearna, a former island in Llyn (Lake) Ystumllyn, south of the village of Pentrefelin, near

Criccieth Criccieth ( cy, Criccieth ) is a town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The town lies west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It had a population of 1,826 in 2001, reducing ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, Wales. It is designated by

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 ...

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 ...

. The church is approached from the village by an ancient

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

, and is in the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As of April ...

History

The church is dedicated to

Cynhaiarn Cynhaiarn was a 5th-century Pre-Congregational saint of Wales, and the brother of Aelhaiarn.Baring-Gould, Sabine & al. The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain, Vol. I, ...

, a 5th-century saint. It was originally 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

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

. Its

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 ...

dates from the 12th century, and the north

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

was added in the 16th century. The south transept was built in 1622. Most of the interior fittings are

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

in style and date from 1832. It came into the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches in 2003, since when repair work has been undertaken.

Architecture

Structure

It is constructed in stone

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

, with the walls of the nave and the east side of the

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 ...

being

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

. The roofs are of modern

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

s. Its plan consists of a short nave, north and south transepts, and a short

. At the west end is a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. The entrance is through a west door. The windows in the nave and transepts have two lights, and at the east end are three

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s. The interior is plastered above a timber dado. The floor of the body of the church is stone-flagged, and there is a painted floor in the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

. At the west end is a gallery.

Fittings and furniture

Dating from 1832, 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 a three-decker, approached by nine steps, below which is a

lectern A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of support. ...

with a reading shelf, and under this is the reader's desk. On each side of the altar are

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...

s. The gallery is supported on slender columns. The chamber organ by Flight and Robson dates from 1834 and was given by a Mrs Walker; it cost £30 (). It has a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style case. On each side of it are six steeply raked pews and many carry the names of the families who used them.Befriend a church
BBC North Wales, accessed 5 August 2010 One of the pews is curtained off for mothers to feed their babies. 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 ...

stands on an octagonal pillar of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and was erected in 1900. There are also a number of memorials. The stained glass includes windows by

James Powell and Sons The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were London-based English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained glass window manufacturers. As ''Whitefriars Glass'', the company existed from the 17th century, but became well ...

dated 1899 and 1906.

Memorials

An earlier grave records the early passing of

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 t ...

(1712–1741), a local blind composer and

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

who was known as "

Dafydd y Garreg Wen Dafydd y Garreg Wen is a traditional Welsh musical air and folk song. There is a tradition that the tune was composed by David Owen (1712–1741), a harpist and composer who lived near Porthmadog in Caernarfonshire. He was known locally as ''D ...

" or David of the White Rock, as he came from Garreg Wen (White Rock) Farm. Owen wrote a tune called

allegedly on his deathbed after calling for his harp. Amongst the memorials is one to John Ystumllyn (d. 1786), also known as Jack Black."Jack Ystumllyn or Jack Black"
(pdf), by

Alltud Eifion Robert Isaac Jones (1813 – 7 March 1905), also known under his bardic name Alltud Eifion, was a Welsh pharmacist, writer, and printer. Biography Jones was born at Tyddyn Iolyn, Pentrefelin, Ceredigion in 1813. Here he was educated and, ...

, Tremadoc, 1888. He was a black man brought back from Africa by a member of the Wynne family who lived at Ystumllyn, which can be seen from the church. It was fashionable at the time to have a black servant, and he was eventually given his own house. He had seven children and died at the end of the 18th century. Local people claim him as their ancestor. There is a memorial to

James Spooner James Spooner is an American tattoo artist and graphic novelist from New York City, living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his seminal documentary film ''Afro-Punk'' (2003), exploring the African American experience in the punk and alternat ...

(1790–1856), the surveyor who built the

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park. The railway is roughly long an ...

and members of his family in the form of a stone urn surrounded by iron railings. It is located alongside the boundary wall, to the right when facing the church from the gate. There are many children's graves. Daniel Morris, the first

harbourmaster A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct operat ...

of Porthmadog, is buried there, together with three of his young daughters. There are also the graves of ropemakers,

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, ships'

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

s and many young sailors drowned at sea, as well as that of Captain Thomas Jones, an ancestor of

Lord Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', ''Vanity Fai ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ynyscynhaearn, Saint Cynhaearns 12th-century church buildings in Wales Religious buildings and structures completed in 1622 17th-century churches in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed churches in Gwynedd Former churches in Wales Georgian architecture in Wales Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches Churchyards in Wales Dolbenmaen