History in Structure

Church of St Mary

A Grade II* Listed Building in Botwnnog, Gwynedd

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Coordinates

Latitude: 52.8515 / 52°51'5"N

Longitude: -4.6357 / 4°38'8"W

OS Eastings: 222622

OS Northings: 331481

OS Grid: SH226314

Mapcode National: GBR 51.SGC2

Mapcode Global: WH33G.RLQ9

Plus Code: 9C4QV927+JP

Entry Name: Church of St Mary

Listing Date: 19 October 1971

Last Amended: 11 February 1998

Grade: II*

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 4254

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: St Mary's Church, Bryncroes

ID on this website: 300004254

Location: In a raised churchyard on the N side of the minor road leading NW from the centre of Bryncroes village to the B 4413.

County: Gwynedd

Town: Pwllheli

Community: Botwnnog

Community: Botwnnog

Locality: Bryncroes

Traditional County: Caernarfonshire

Tagged with: Church building

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Bryncroes

History

The C16 church was extensively restored in 1906 by architect Harold Hughes who added a porch and a vestry. C16 trusses were patched and re-used in the nave roof.

Exterior

Small church; rectangular plan with nave and chancel under one roof. Granite blocks, uncoursed, with very big stone quoins. Slate roof, stone gable coping with kneelers. W front has small bellcote with stone cross. Below, neo-Romanesque porch has semi-circular arch with stone voussoirs. Inner porch has plain boarded roof, small round-headed lights to left and right and C16 round-arched doorway to nave. Double-doors are decorated with ogee banded moulding; wrought-iron strap hinges, iron stirrup handle with moulded backplate. S Elevation has six small round-headed lights; plain stone dressings with chamfered sills, small diamond-shaped panes. N Elevation has five similar windows. Attached to NW nave is a small lean-to vestry with round-headed windows in N and W walls and a round-headed external doorway to E. The E gable has round-headed centre light flanked by two smaller ones; plain bargeboard.

Interior

Very unusual Arts and Crafts neo-Romanesque interior. Walls inlaid with numerous flat stone pieces like a mosaic, creating an unusual grotto-like effect. Six-and-a-half bays, comprising 5 re-used C16 collar trusses, plus a newer arch-braced truss at E end and another simple unbraced collar truss to W. The C16 trusses have struts above the collar, with multifoil cusping. Purlins are supported by C20 cusped wind-braces, with C20 ashlar pieces to walls. Windows have large semi-circular stone voussoirs and are set in deep, splayed recesses; chamfered sills. Side walls have boarded dado. Close-boarded pews with shaped ends. Low red sandstone wall with moulded cap separates nave from chancel and runs into the base of the pulpit. Pulpit in Arts and Crafts Gothic style; red sandstone, square with canted angles, upper panels decorated with curvilinear blind tracery. Small red-sandstone piscina set into S chancel wall. C20 oak lectern, cylindrical shaft and moulded octagonal base. Font formed by large rectangular block of roughly worked stone, set on battered rectangular stone base. Moulded oak communion rail with thin iron supports and decorated wrought-iron panels. Stained glass; E Window (early C20) crucifixion scene in memory of Claude Henry Lloyd Edwards of Nanhoron. Framed and painted wooden memorial boards on N chancel wall to (1) Richard Trygarn (gent), died 1666 and (2) Gruffyth Trygarn, died 1687, (who married the daughter of Richard Edwards of Nanhoron).

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a late medieval church especially notable for the unusual character of its early C20 neo-Romanesque restoration, including an interior of exceptional quality.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

Other nearby listed buildings

  • II Letty
    In a walled garden with cobbled flooring on the S side of the minor road which runs S of the churchyard of St Mary, Bryncroes.
  • II Ffynnon Fair and Bridge
    Beside water meadows, some 50m S of the cross-roads in the centre of Bryncroes village.
  • II Capel Ty Mawr
    Reached along a minor road which runs N of the B4413 some 4 km W of Sarn Meyllteyrn: sited next to the road in a small grassed enclosure, bounded by a low stone wall with ornate wrought-iron gate.
  • II Salem Chapel
    In the village of Sarn Meyllteyrn, in an elevated position facing E, set back from the road in a sloping grassed enclosure bounded at the front by a low wall with cast iron gate and railings.
  • II Trygarn
    Approximately 1.27km S of Sarn Meyllteyrn, approached along a narrow track which runs some 400m SE from the minor road. A barn and possible former chapel are associated with the house.
  • II Pencruga
    Situated about 750m S of Penygroeslon crossroads on E side of road to Rhiw.

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