St Mary and St Nicholas Church, Beaumaris, an Anglican church, is a fourteenth century

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Beaumaris Beaumaris (; ) is a town and community (Wales), community on the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey fro ...

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

History

The church was founded around 1330, initially as a chapel of ease to Llandegfan, to serve the new town.

Description

It retains a 14th-century decorated

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 four-bay arcades, although the chancel was rebuilt around 1500 in Perpendicular style. The west tower is of four stages, with a battlemented parapet. The upper section was remodelled in the early 19th century. The north vestry and south porch are probably nineteenth century. The exterior is mainly Perpendicular. There are sixteenth century chancel stalls, and also the coffin and lid of Joan, wife of

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (, – 11 April 1240), also known as Llywelyn the Great (, ; ), was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominate ...

, married at the age of 15, and illegitimate daughter of King John. There are late fifteenth to early sixteenth century

misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a p ...

s, although with eight 1902 replacements. It is likely the old misericords came from the friary at Llan-faes. The church also contains the tomb of William Bulkeley, (died c. 1490), deputy constable of the castle, and of his wife. This is made of Midlands alabaster. A number of monuments to leading sixteenth and seventeenth century Establishment figures (notably Sir

Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586) was an English soldier, politician and Lord Deputy of Ireland. Background He was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst (1482 – 11 February 1553) and Anne Pakenham (1511 – 22 Oc ...

, Lord President of Wales and Lord Deputy of Ireland, a parson son of Sir Julius Caesar and a niece of George Herbert) adorn the chancel east wall. The chancel north wall contains a medieval brass plaque and a monument to an eighteenth century

Viscount Bulkeley Viscount Bulkeley, of Cashel in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 19 January 1644 for Thomas Bulkeley, the son of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris and a supporter of King Charles I of England. The ...

. The clock tower has a ring of bells and the four clock faces and their mechanism are maintained by Beaumaris borough. St Mary's and St Nicholas's is located in a large churchyard, with Church Street to the east and Steeple Lane to the west.Loomis, Richard, ''New House & Guto'r Glyn in 1492'' (Richard Loomis, 2005) p. 118. A number of slate tombstones line the north wall of the churchyard providing detail of sociological interest (occupations etc.). A large tomb of a local polymath stands near the south porch; other slate tombstones have been destroyed near the south path due to the use of mechanical appliances.

References

External links

Artworks at St Mary's and St Nicholas's Church, Beaumaris
14th-century church buildings in Wales Church in Wales church buildings in Anglesey Grade I listed churches in Anglesey Saints Mary and Nicholas {{Wales-Anglican-church-stub

History

Description

See also

References

External links