Church of St. Cyngar, Llangefni, Isle of Anglesey

Entry Name: Church of St. Cyngar

Listing Date: 7 August 1952

Last Amended: 16 October 1998

Grade: II

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 5410

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: St Cyngar's Church, Llangefni

ID on this website: 300005410

Location: Set back from the NW side of the B5111 Lon Las at the N end of Llangefni. The church is in an elevated location within grounds to the N of the Afon Cefni.

County: Isle of Anglesey

Town: Llangefni

Community: Llangefni

Built-Up Area: Llangefni

Traditional County: Anglesey

Tagged with: Church building Medieval architecture

History

The present church was built in 1824, to replace the old church demolished in the same year. The N vestry was added and the church renovated in 1858, and the chancel added in 1889 (the entrance gates and arch built the following year).

Exterior

Simple Gothic style nave, N vestry and W tower with Perpendicular chancel added at E end. Built of local, roughly dressed, coursed masonry with sandstone dressings; slate roof with stone gable apex crosses. The nave is of 3 bays, each with pointed-arched windows with hoodmoulds; the easternmost window of the S wall of the nave with Y-tracery. The nave and W tower have a continuous plinth, the angles of the nave and chancel have offset, diagonal buttresses; offset, angle buttresses to tower. The W tower is of 4 stages with entrance to the church in the W wall and belfry housed in the upper stage, the other stages are illuminated by rectangular openings with hoodmoulds, the 3rd stage has ornate wrought-ironwork clock face on the S wall. The entrance is through a pointed-arched doorway of 3 orders and hoodmould; modern plank door has a pointed-arched fanlight with radiating glazing bars. Belfry has pointed-arched, louvred openings with Y-tracery and hoodmoulds to each face; there is a continuous narrow dripcourse to the top of the tower above which there is an embattled parapet with pyramidal pinnacle at each corner. The chancel has pointed-arched Perpendicular windows with panel tracery in the S and E faces, each with hoodmoulds. The N vestry has a pointed-arched doorway in the N wall.

Interior

The main entrance leads into the porch in the lower stage of the W tower; a 4-centred arched doorway in the opposite wall leads into the nave. Above the inner porch doorway is a brass plaque which reads: This church was erected by Parish rates with the aid of the following subscriptions (in £ S D). The Society for promoting the enlargement and building of churches and chapels 250 0 0 / The late Lord Bulkeley 300 0 0 / The Marquis of Anglesea 30 0 0 / The Bishop of Bangor 25 0 0 / Owen Williams Esq. 40 0 0 / The late O A Poole Esq. 30 0 0 / The Revd Edward Standly 12 0 0 / The Revd Henry Hughes 20 0 0 / The Rector 100 0 0. June 29th 1824. Evan Williams Rector. Wm P Poole / Rice Roberts Churchwardens. The porch also contains some of the fittings from the old church; there is a water stoup in the S wall, a C 12 font with tapering cylinderical bowl decorated by a band of irregular chevrons around the rim, and a C5 inscribed stone set up to the right (S) of the inner doorway. The inscription reads: CVLIDOR / IACIT / ET ORVVITE / MVLIERI / SECVNDI / (FILIVS) (the last word is scratched) and there is a band of chevrons at its head.

The wide nave has an organ gallery at the W end; set on tapering octagonal piers with cusped tracery brackets, the front of the gallery has stick balusters supporting a moulded rail. The nave has an enclosed, cambered, plastered ceiling of 7 roof bays, articulated by plain on shaped corbels; the easternmost of these has delicate cusped tracery detailing and a central pendant, and diagonally set wallposts on shaped corbels. The chancel has a similarly detailed ceiling with cusped braces and wallposts down to shaped corbels, the faces decorated with quatrefoils. The chancel is raised by 2 steps, with a 4-centred, broach-chamfered chancel arch. The sanctuary is also raised by 2 steps, with moulded chancel rail on paired, widely spaced, moulded balusters; both chancel and sanctuary have encaustic tiles. The reredos is of recessed timber panels, some with cusped tracery at the heads. Stained glass in chancel window: Jesus as the good shepherd flanked by the Apostles, James and John. In the N wall of the nave is a pointed-arched, chamfered doorway to the N vestry; close to this doorway is the octagonal pulpit; recessed facing panels with cusped tracery at the heads under an advanced moulded cornice. The C19 font is to the W end of the nave (beneath the organ gallery); octagonal with a cross carved in a rectagular recess in the N face, set on an octagonal shaft with chamfered angles and a roll-moulded base.

The church contains a number of C19 and C20 memorials, as well as C18 and C19 memorials from the its predecessor. On the N wall of the nave there are 3 marble memorial plaques to members of the Poole family; the westernmost to Anne, widow of Richard Poole of Pencraig, d.1815 (by Francis & Spence of Liverpool); the central memorial to Richard Poole Esq. d.1799, his wife Mary d.1771, and his children Jane d.1763, Richard d.1768 and Robert d.1771, also Martha (widow of Anthony Poole) d.1794; the easternmost of the three memorials is to Owen Anthony Poole d.1823 (by W Spence of Liverpool). On the S wall of the nave is a brass plaque to Owen Owen of Glyn Afon, gent., d.1760, and a marble memorial to Rev. Evan Williams (Rector of the church when it was erected) d.1861.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a unusual example of an early (pre-archaeological) gothic revival church with characteristic wide-naved plan, and Gothic detail used decoratively to picturesque effect.

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.