St Mary's Church, Cilcain, is in the village of

Cilcain Cilcain is a village and community, near Mold, in Flintshire, north-east Wales. The village has an industrial history and includes the Millennium Woods, a post office, a public house, a parish church, a primary school (Ysgol y Foel) and a villa ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, Wales. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in the Bro Famau group of parishes, in the Mold Mission Area, in the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church 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 ...

as a Grade I listed building.

History

The earliest documentary record of the church is in the Lincoln Taxation of 1291 although it is believed that its origin was in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period. In the 15th century the south nave and tower were added. As a result of a fire in 1532 the north nave was burnt down and it remained without a roof until it was rebuilt in 1746. It is thought that at this time the ornate timber roof was added to the south nave. The tradition is that this came from

Basingwerk Abbey Basingwerk Abbey () is a Grade I listed ruined abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. The abbey, which was founded in the 12th century, belonged to the Order of Cistercians. It maintained significant lands in the English county of Derbyshir ...

but there is no evidence to support this. Also at this time a priest's door in the south wall was blocked and it is possible that a west gallery was constructed. In 1845–46 restoration work took place under the direction of

Ambrose Poynter Ambrose Poynter (16 May 1796 – 20 November 1886) was a British architect. He was one of the founding members of the Institute of British Architects in 1834. Early life Born in London on 16 May 1796, he was second son of Ambrose Lyon Poynter ...

. A more substantial restoration was carried out by the Chester architect John Douglas between 1888 and 1889 which was paid for by William Barber Buddicom, a railway engineer. During this restoration, plaster was removed from the walls, a screen was placed between the naves and the pews were replaced. The south porch was rebuilt,

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es were added to the tower, the brickwork on the top of the tower was removed and replaced by stone, and a new window was inserted into the west face of the tower. Windows were renewed on the east, west and south sides of the church, and the organ loft and west gallery were removed. A partition was added to the east end of the north nave to form a vestry and to include the organ. A cellar was built at the west end of the north nave to accommodate heating apparatus. In 1935–37 repairs to the roof were carried out under the direction of F. H. Crossley.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in stone of a variety of types, with a slate roof. Some of the fabric from the 13th century church survives in the north nave. The plan consists of a double nave with a tower at the west end of the north nave, and a south porch. The tower has stepped diagonal buttresses at the west corners and a clasping buttress at the northeast angle. On its north wall is a door under a round-headed arch. The tower is surmounted by a

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

, a low pyramidal roof and a

weathercock A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , me ...

Interior

The roof of the south nave has alternating arch-braced and

hammerbeam A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams proj ...

trusses. It is decorated with angels, shields,

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

s and other secular subjects. Furnishings designed by Douglas include the pews, the stalls and the screens in the

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

. The east window contains stained glass which is said to be dated 1546; it depicts the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

. In the church are boards painted with the

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

, dated 1809. Of the monuments, one is dated 1731, and another 1832.

External features

The churchyard is oval in shape and contains the base of an old cross and the stone

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

of a former

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

. To the east of the church is a

lych gate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

, adjoining which is a hearse house dating from about 1810. The hearse house, together with the churchyard walls and the lych gate were designated as a Grade II listed building on 16 October 1995.

References