St Michael's Church, Tremain, is a redundant church in the hamlet of Tremain (or Tremaen), Ceredigion, Wales. It has been 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, and is under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches.

History

The church was built in 1846–48 on the site of an earlier church. The architect was John Jones, who had trained in London with

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

and

William Moffatt William Bonython Moffatt (1812 – 24 May 1887) was an architect, who for many years was a partner with Sir George Gilbert Scott at Spring Gardens, London. Moffatt was the son of a small builder and pupil of James Edmeston. He was originally take ...

. Jones was also a poet, known by his

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who m ...

Talhaiarn John Jones (19 January 1810 – October 1869), known by his bardic name of Talhaiarn, was a Wales, Welsh poet and architect. Life and reputation Jones was born at the ''Harp Inn'' (now known as ''Hafod y Gân'') in Llanfair Talhaearn, Denbig ...

. Jones is acknowledged as the first architect in Wales to have received a formal training, and this is the only building to have been designed exclusively by him. In 2008 the local rector applied to have the church closed. At that time it was listed at Grade II, but in August 2009 Cadw raised its Grade to II*, and in 2012 it was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Friends of Friendless Churches.

Architecture

St Michael's is constructed in Pwntan sandstone quarried locally at Tan-y-Groes, and has

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. ...

roofs. Its plan consists of a nave, a north aisle, a south porch, and a chancel. At the west end is a stepped single bellcote with a coped gable, and at the northwest is a small octagonal

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

. The windows are all lancets, with a three-light east window and a two narrow lancets at the west end of the nave. On the gables are cross

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. Inside the church the walls are rendered, and support five oil lamps, three on the north walls and two on the south. The grey stone

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 ...

dates from the 13th century, and was originally in the earlier church. It is square and stands on a thick cylindrical shaft and a square base with steps. The pews and

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 ...

are in stained pine. Between the nave and the north aisle is a pine screen, and the aisle contains pews that are smaller than those in the nave. In the chancel the choir stalls are also in stained pine, and have large poppyheads.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremain, St Michael's Church Grade II* listed churches in Ceredigion Former churches in Wales Gothic Revival church buildings in Wales Churches completed in 1848 Tremain Tremain Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches