St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo is a medieval church in

Llanbabo Llanbabo ''(Welsh: Church of Pabo'') is a small village two miles north west of Llannerch-y-medd in Anglesey, Wales. It lies within the community of Tref Alaw. The ancient church of St Pabo, Llanbabo is dedicated to Saint Pabo: possibly Pabo Po ...

, in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

. Much of the church dates to the 12th century, and it is regarded as a good example of a church of its period that has retained many aspects of its original fabric. The church houses a tombstone slab from the 14th century, depicting a king with crown and sceptre, bearing the name of

Pabo Post Prydain Pabo Post Prydain (''supp. fl.'' before 500) was a king from the Hen Ogledd or ''Old North'' of sub-Roman Britain. According to tradition Pabo "the Pillar of Britain" was driven out of the North in 460 and settled in Anglesey. He is said to have ...

, the reputed founder of the church. However, there is no evidence that Pabo, a 5th-century prince, lived in the area and the tradition that he founded the church has little supporting basis. The church is still in use, as part of the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The p ...

, although services are only held here occasionally. It is 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 Ir ...

, a designation given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest", because it is a medieval church that has been little altered.

History and location

The date of foundation of the church in

, is unknown, but it is known that there was a church here before 1254 as it is recorded in the Norwich Valuation of that year. According to tradition, it was founded by

(Pabo the "Pillar of Britain"), a 5th-century prince from North Britain who was driven out in 460 and settled thereafter in Anglesey. He is also said to have been buried in the area. A stone slab gravestone dating from the late 14th century, made from

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

sandstone, was found in about 1680: according to the 17th-century Welsh historian Lewis Morris, it was unearthed by a sexton digging a grave in the churchyard. The rectangular slab (from the same workshop as one at Bangor Cathedral and one of St Iestyn at St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn, given the similarities between them) has a shallowly engraved full-length image of a bearded man wearing a crown and a loose, pleated tunic over a garment reaching to his wrists. He holds a sceptre in his right hand; his head is on a cushion underneath an arch, and the background is decorated with flowers. The effect is somewhat like a monumental brass in stone; the slab is now displayed vertically inside the church. The inscription, which is incomplete, reads "'" (or "''Prud''") – "Here lies Pabo the Pillar of Britain". Additional letters have been interpreted as denoting the name of the donor of the monument. Apart from this, the tradition linking Pabo to the church is not recorded in writing until the Welsh antiquarian Henry Rowlands in the 18th century, nor is there evidence that Pabo devoted himself to religion or died in Anglesey; accordingly, modern writers suggest that there is no link between him and the church. The church stands alongside a minor road between Llanddeusant and

Rhosgoch Rhosgoch (; meaning: ''Red Moor'') is a small village in the north of the island of Anglesey, Wales, about to the south-west of Amlwch. It is in the community of Rhosybol. A short distance to the west of the village is the small lake Llyn Ha ...

, near the

Llyn Alaw Llyn Alaw (meaning: ''Lily Lake'') is a man-made reservoir on Anglesey, North Wales managed by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. It is a shallow lake and was built in 1966. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a destination for over-wintering ...

reservoir. It is part of the

, although it is only used for services occasionally. It is one of nine churches in the combined parish of Bodedern with Llanfaethlu, and forms part of the deanery of Llifon and Talybolion, within the

archdeaconry An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of mo ...

of Bangor in the

Diocese of Bangor The Diocese of Bangor is a diocese of the Church in Wales in North West Wales. The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and the western part of Montgomeryshire. History The diocese in the Welsh kingd ...

. As of 2012, there has been no incumbent priest since September 2009. The village of Llanbabo takes its name from the church: the prefix ' originally meant "enclosure" and then came to mean "church", and "-babo" is a modified form of the saint's name.

Architecture and fittings

The church is built from

rubble masonry Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an i ...

, dressed with freestone. It measures 45 feet by 14 feet 6 inches (14 by 4.4 metres). The building is largely 12th-century in construction, with the walls and a narrow lancet window in the south wall dating from that time; another window at the east end of the south wall is rectangular and dates from the late 14th or early 15th centuries, with a more modern window in between. The east wall and window, with stone

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

and an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

-topped light in a pointed arch, are from the 14th century. Some of the windows use atypical green glass, and some have frames made out of wood. Chevron-carved

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s (wedges) and three stone human heads, weathered by time and also probably from the 12th century, have been repositioned over the doorway, which is at the west end of the south side of the church. The wedges probably come from a former chancel arch and apse, removed (as in other churches in Anglesey) to make the chancel larger. The doorway has been enlarged at some point, most likely during the early part of the 19th century. On the north side, a doorway was added in the 18th century, but it was subsequently blocked and a window inserted instead. One writer has speculated that this might have been a leper niche and window. There are two other modern windows in the north wall, and all three are at different heights. There 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 ...

at the west end, housing a bell (probably from the 18th century). The roof has been described as being "clearly one of the earliest on the island". Inside, as well as the Pabo monument on the north wall, there are medieval arched

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es and two 18th-century marble memorials. The font, which is probably 12th-century in date, is a circular bowl about in height. There is no division between the

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 ...

and

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. Ov ...

, and there is one step from the chancel into 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 sa ...

, which is marked with a simple rail. The altar is made of wood. The fittings, including plain pews, were added in 1911. There is a carved head above the doorway inside the church, in similar style to those on the outside. "The Llanbabo Devil" ('), a stone previously set in the wall of the churchyard and thought to represent a Celtic deity, is now kept inside the church.

Assessment

The church is 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 second-highest (of three) grade of listing, designating "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". It was given this status on 12 May 1970, and has been listed because it is "a good, scarcely altered simple Medieval church which retains a great deal of the Medieval fabric, including decorate fragments of probable 12th century date, and a fine later Medieval roof." According to Cadw (the

Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

body responsible for the built heritage of Wales), St Pabo's Church "can be considered an important survivor", as many other old churches on Anglesey were either rebuilt or restored during the 19th century. Some restoration work, including replacement of some of the timbers in the roof, was carried out in 1909 under the architect Harold Hughes, but overall "the church has not suffered from excessive restoration."

References

External links

Photographs of the church (including the Pabo memorial stone)

St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo
listing on Coflein website {{DEFAULTSORT:Llanbabo, Saint Pabos Grade II* listed churches in Anglesey Church in Wales church buildings 12th-century church buildings in Wales Tref Alaw