St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo
Encyclopedia
St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo is a small church near the village of Llanallgo
, on the east coast of Anglesey
, north Wales. The chancel
and transept
s, which are the oldest features of the present building, date from the late 15th century, but there has been a church on the site since the 6th or early 7th century, making it one of the oldest Christian sites in Anglesey. Some restoration and enlargement took place during the 19th century. The church is associated with the 1859 wreck of the Royal Charter
off Anglesey; it was used as a temporary mortuary, and 140 of the victims are buried in the churchyard. Charles Dickens
, who wrote about the loss of the ship, noted the care taken by the rector, Stephen Roose Hughes, for the victims and their families. Hughes died a few years later following the strain of the events and is also buried in the churchyard.
The church is still used for worship by the Church in Wales
, as one of four churches in a combined parish. There is a regular pattern of services in English and in Welsh. St Gallgo's is a Grade II listed building, a national designation given to "buildings of special interest, which warrant every effort being made to preserve them", as a "rural church with strong Perpendicular character", retaining some features from the late 15th century. The church contains a late 13th-century bell, with an impression of a coin of King Edward I, some memorials from the 17th to 19th centuries, and some church furniture from the early 20th century in an Arts and Craft
style.
, near the eastern coast of Anglesey
, north Wales. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) from Llangefni
, the county town. According to the 19th-century writer Samuel Lewis, St Gallgo established the first church here in the early 7th century; Angharad Llwyd
, a 19th-century historian of Anglesey, gives the foundation year as 605. Another writer, Geraint Jones, puts it earlier, and says in his 2006 guide to the churches of Anglesey that Gallgo established the church in the early 6th century; Jones says that it is "one of the oldest Christian sites in Anglesey." Gallgo was one of the sons of St Caw, a king from northern Britain, and a brother of St Gildas and St Eugrad (the latter establishing the nearby church of St Eugrad's
in about 605 as well. Llwyd also recorded that there was a well near the church named after Gallgo, and said that "miraculous cures" had been ascribed to the waters, which were "strongly impregnated with sulphate of lime".
The village takes its name from the church; the Welsh word originally meant "enclosure" and then "church", and "-allgo" is a modified form of the saint's name. The presence of a church here was recorded in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, but the oldest parts of the structure of the present building (the chancel
and transept
s) date from the late 15th century. It was formerly used as a chapel of ease
for St Eugrad's Church. Repair work was carried out in 1831, which included adding a west window, and extensive restoration in 1892 (under Henry Kennedy, the architect of the Diocese of Bangor) included rebuilding the west walls of the transepts and lengthening the nave
. In 1934, the sanctuary
was restored in memory of a former rector
, Stephen Roose Hughes. The vestry was badly damaged by fire in 2004, but has since been repaired.
The churchyard contains 140 victims of the sinking of the Royal Charter
off Anglesey in October 1859, and an obelisk commemorates the loss. Over 440 passengers and crew died. Stephen Roose Hughes was the rector at the time of the accident. St Gallgo's was used as a temporary mortuary as bodies were recovered from the sea. Hughes and his brother Hugh, who was rector of an adjoining parish, conducted many of the funeral services. Hughes wrote over 1,000 letters to people enquiring for news of relatives and friends, and comforted many who visited Anglesey. Charles Dickens
stayed with Hughes when he visited Anglesey to write about the sinking; his experiences were published in The Uncommercial Traveller
. He recorded the care that Hughes took to try and identify victims from their possessions and physical characteristics. Hughes died three years later; the strain of the events was noted on his gravestone in the churchyard as one of the reasons for his early death. He is remembered in St Gallgo's on the anniversary of his death, 4 February.
St Gallgo's is still used for worship by the Church in Wales
. It is one of four churches in the combined benefice
of Llaneugrad and Llanallgo with Penrhosllugwy with Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd. It is within the deanery
of Twrcelyn, the archdeaconry of Bangor
and the Diocese of Bangor. As of October 2011, there is a vacancy for the position of rector. The pattern of services in 2011 is for a service every Sunday morning, either a communion service or morning prayer, alternating between Welsh and English; there is also a twice-monthly evening service (in English) and a midweek communion service in the church hall in Moelfre
. Services are led by retired clergy and lay reader
s.
The poet Dafydd Trefor is recorded in a list of clergy for the Bangor diocese of 1504 as being rector of St Gallgo's and St Eugrad's, and signed himself as such in a deed of 1524; he was buried in the churchyard. The poet and historian John Williams (better known by his bardic name
"Glanmor") was rector of the two churches from 1883 until his death in 1891; he too is buried at Llanallgo.
; the roof is made of slate with a stone bellcote at the west end and stone cross finial
s. The church is built in a cross shape
, with transepts to the north and south of the chancel. Entrance is through a porch on the north side of the nave, where the doorway has been built reusing older stones. The interior walls of the nave and transepts are lined with painted bricks. The supporting timber braces of the nave roof can be seen from inside the church; the roof trusses in the chancel and transepts are covered by barrel-shaped boarded ceilings. The chancel floor is made from local limestone. The east window of the chancel dates from the 15th century, although the tracery
is more recent. It has stained glass portraying Christ walking on the water giving a blessing and the word "It is I, be not afraid". The east windows in both the north and south transepts are each topped with a cinquefoil. The nave windows date from the late 19th century.
The bell is one of the oldest in the diocese, dating from the late 13th century. It bears the imprint of a penny from the reign of King Edward I
(reigned 1272–1307) and the Latin inscription ("Hail Mary full of grace"). Restoration of the bell in 2000 cost £3,000. The reredos
, altar, communion rail, pulpit and reading desk (all from the early 20th century) are made from limed oak in an Arts and Crafts
style, with floral decorations. The north transept has a stone memorial on the north wall to a former rector, Lewis Owen, and his grandson, who both died in 1771. The font is modern. A 1937 survey by the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire noted a 1726 communion table and a number of memorials from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.
The chancel measures 12 by 12 feet 6 inches (3.65 by 3.8m); the north transept is 17 by 14 feet 6 inches (5.2 by 4.4m); the south transept is slightly smaller, at 17 by 14 feet (5.2 by 4.25m); and the nave after its 1892 extension is now twice as long as the chancel, at 24 by.
(the Welsh Assembly Government
body responsible for the built heritage of Wales and the inclusion of Welsh buildings on the statutory lists) also notes that it retains some features from the late 15th century.
Angharad Llwyd, writing shortly after the 1831 restoration, described the church as "a small and handsome structure", and she recorded the presence of some "ancient" stained glass in the east window. Writing in 1859, the clergyman and antiquarian Harry Longueville Jones
said that the church, although small, was one of the "better kind" in Anglesey. He thought that the walls had been lowered after being built, because the top of the east window was too close to the roof, which in his view could not have been the original intention. At the time he wrote there were the remains of a screen between the nave and the chancel, but it is no longer present. Overall, he commented, "the workmanship of this church is more careful than usual, and shows that it was erected by some person of munificent disposition".
The Welsh politician and church historian Sir Stephen Glynne
visited the church in 1868, and noted that the church had been altered less than most of the other churches in Anglesey. He thought that the west window was "modern and bad", but that the east window of the chancel was "very good". He added that the church needed repair, as the interior was "very rough".
Llanallgo
Llanallgo is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales....
, on the east coast of Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, north Wales. The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
and transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s, which are the oldest features of the present building, date from the late 15th century, but there has been a church on the site since the 6th or early 7th century, making it one of the oldest Christian sites in Anglesey. Some restoration and enlargement took place during the 19th century. The church is associated with the 1859 wreck of the Royal Charter
Royal Charter (ship)
The Royal Charter was a steam clipper which was wrecked off the beach of Porth Alerth in Dulas Bay on the north-east coast of Anglesey on 26 October 1859. The precise number of dead is uncertain as the passenger list was lost in the wreck but about 459 lives were lost, the highest death toll of any...
off Anglesey; it was used as a temporary mortuary, and 140 of the victims are buried in the churchyard. Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, who wrote about the loss of the ship, noted the care taken by the rector, Stephen Roose Hughes, for the victims and their families. Hughes died a few years later following the strain of the events and is also buried in the churchyard.
The church is still used for worship by the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
, as one of four churches in a combined parish. There is a regular pattern of services in English and in Welsh. St Gallgo's is a Grade II listed building, a national designation given to "buildings of special interest, which warrant every effort being made to preserve them", as a "rural church with strong Perpendicular character", retaining some features from the late 15th century. The church contains a late 13th-century bell, with an impression of a coin of King Edward I, some memorials from the 17th to 19th centuries, and some church furniture from the early 20th century in an Arts and Craft
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
style.
History and location
St Gallgo's Church stands to the southwest of the village of LlanallgoLlanallgo
Llanallgo is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales....
, near the eastern coast of Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, north Wales. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) from Llangefni
Llangefni
Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llangefni was 4,662 people and it is the second largest settlement on the island...
, the county town. According to the 19th-century writer Samuel Lewis, St Gallgo established the first church here in the early 7th century; Angharad Llwyd
Angharad Llwyd
Angharad Llwyd was a Welsh antiquary and a prizewinner at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.She was born at Caerwys in Flintshire, the daughter of Rev. John Lloyd, himself a noted antiquary. Her essay entitled Catalogue of Welsh Manuscripts, etc. in North Wales won a prize at the Welshpool...
, a 19th-century historian of Anglesey, gives the foundation year as 605. Another writer, Geraint Jones, puts it earlier, and says in his 2006 guide to the churches of Anglesey that Gallgo established the church in the early 6th century; Jones says that it is "one of the oldest Christian sites in Anglesey." Gallgo was one of the sons of St Caw, a king from northern Britain, and a brother of St Gildas and St Eugrad (the latter establishing the nearby church of St Eugrad's
St Eugrad's Church, Llaneugrad
St Eugrad's Church, Llaneugrad is an isolated church near the village of Marian-glas, in Anglesey, north Wales. A church was supposedly founded here by St Eugrad in about 605, although the earliest parts of the present structure are the nave, chancel and chancel arch, which date from the 12th century...
in about 605 as well. Llwyd also recorded that there was a well near the church named after Gallgo, and said that "miraculous cures" had been ascribed to the waters, which were "strongly impregnated with sulphate of lime".
The village takes its name from the church; the Welsh word originally meant "enclosure" and then "church", and "-allgo" is a modified form of the saint's name. The presence of a church here was recorded in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, but the oldest parts of the structure of the present building (the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
and transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s) date from the late 15th century. It was formerly used as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
for St Eugrad's Church. Repair work was carried out in 1831, which included adding a west window, and extensive restoration in 1892 (under Henry Kennedy, the architect of the Diocese of Bangor) included rebuilding the west walls of the transepts and lengthening the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
. In 1934, the sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
was restored in memory of a former rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
, Stephen Roose Hughes. The vestry was badly damaged by fire in 2004, but has since been repaired.
The churchyard contains 140 victims of the sinking of the Royal Charter
Royal Charter (ship)
The Royal Charter was a steam clipper which was wrecked off the beach of Porth Alerth in Dulas Bay on the north-east coast of Anglesey on 26 October 1859. The precise number of dead is uncertain as the passenger list was lost in the wreck but about 459 lives were lost, the highest death toll of any...
off Anglesey in October 1859, and an obelisk commemorates the loss. Over 440 passengers and crew died. Stephen Roose Hughes was the rector at the time of the accident. St Gallgo's was used as a temporary mortuary as bodies were recovered from the sea. Hughes and his brother Hugh, who was rector of an adjoining parish, conducted many of the funeral services. Hughes wrote over 1,000 letters to people enquiring for news of relatives and friends, and comforted many who visited Anglesey. Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
stayed with Hughes when he visited Anglesey to write about the sinking; his experiences were published in The Uncommercial Traveller
The Uncommercial Traveller
The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of literary sketches and reminiscences written by Charles Dickens.In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round and the Uncommercial Traveller articles would be among his main contributions...
. He recorded the care that Hughes took to try and identify victims from their possessions and physical characteristics. Hughes died three years later; the strain of the events was noted on his gravestone in the churchyard as one of the reasons for his early death. He is remembered in St Gallgo's on the anniversary of his death, 4 February.
St Gallgo's is still used for worship by the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
. It is one of four churches in the combined benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
of Llaneugrad and Llanallgo with Penrhosllugwy with Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd. It is within the deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
of Twrcelyn, the archdeaconry of Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
and the Diocese of Bangor. As of October 2011, there is a vacancy for the position of rector. The pattern of services in 2011 is for a service every Sunday morning, either a communion service or morning prayer, alternating between Welsh and English; there is also a twice-monthly evening service (in English) and a midweek communion service in the church hall in Moelfre
Moelfre
Moelfre is a village and community on the east coast of Isle of Anglesey in Wales, and on the Anglesey Coastal Path. It has a population of 1,129.The Royal Mail postcode begins LL72....
. Services are led by retired clergy and lay reader
Lay Reader
A lay reader is a layperson authorized by a bishop of the Anglican Church to read some parts of a service of worship. They are members of the congregation called to preach or lead services, but not called to full-time ministry.Anglican lay readers are licensed by the bishop to a particular parish...
s.
The poet Dafydd Trefor is recorded in a list of clergy for the Bangor diocese of 1504 as being rector of St Gallgo's and St Eugrad's, and signed himself as such in a deed of 1524; he was buried in the churchyard. The poet and historian John Williams (better known by his bardic name
Bardic name
A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....
"Glanmor") was rector of the two churches from 1883 until his death in 1891; he too is buried at Llanallgo.
Architecture and fittings
The church is built in the Perpendicular style from rubble masonryRubble masonry
Rubble masonry is rough, unhewn building stone set in mortar, but not laid in regular courses. It may appear as the outer surface of a wall or may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or cut stone....
; the roof is made of slate with a stone bellcote at the west end and stone cross finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s. The church is built in a cross shape
Cruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
, with transepts to the north and south of the chancel. Entrance is through a porch on the north side of the nave, where the doorway has been built reusing older stones. The interior walls of the nave and transepts are lined with painted bricks. The supporting timber braces of the nave roof can be seen from inside the church; the roof trusses in the chancel and transepts are covered by barrel-shaped boarded ceilings. The chancel floor is made from local limestone. The east window of the chancel dates from the 15th century, although the tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
is more recent. It has stained glass portraying Christ walking on the water giving a blessing and the word "It is I, be not afraid". The east windows in both the north and south transepts are each topped with a cinquefoil. The nave windows date from the late 19th century.
The bell is one of the oldest in the diocese, dating from the late 13th century. It bears the imprint of a penny from the reign of King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
(reigned 1272–1307) and the Latin inscription ("Hail Mary full of grace"). Restoration of the bell in 2000 cost £3,000. The reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
, altar, communion rail, pulpit and reading desk (all from the early 20th century) are made from limed oak in an Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
style, with floral decorations. The north transept has a stone memorial on the north wall to a former rector, Lewis Owen, and his grandson, who both died in 1771. The font is modern. A 1937 survey by the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire noted a 1726 communion table and a number of memorials from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.
The chancel measures 12 by 12 feet 6 inches (3.65 by 3.8m); the north transept is 17 by 14 feet 6 inches (5.2 by 4.4m); the south transept is slightly smaller, at 17 by 14 feet (5.2 by 4.25m); and the nave after its 1892 extension is now twice as long as the chancel, at 24 by.
Assessment
The church has national recognition and statutory protection from alteration as it has been designated as a Grade II listed building – the lowest of the three grades of listing, designating "buildings of special interest, which warrant every effort being made to preserve them". It was given this status on 12 May 1970, and has been listed as "a rural church with strong Perpendicular character". CadwCadw
-Conservation and Protection:Many of Wales's great castles and other monuments, such as bishop's palaces, historic houses, and ruined abbeys, are now in Cadw's care. Cadw does not own them but is responsible for their upkeep and for making them accessible to the public...
(the Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...
body responsible for the built heritage of Wales and the inclusion of Welsh buildings on the statutory lists) also notes that it retains some features from the late 15th century.
Angharad Llwyd, writing shortly after the 1831 restoration, described the church as "a small and handsome structure", and she recorded the presence of some "ancient" stained glass in the east window. Writing in 1859, the clergyman and antiquarian Harry Longueville Jones
Harry Longueville Jones
-Life:Jones was the son of Edward Jones by Charlotte Elizabeth Stephens, was born in Piccadilly, London, in 1806. His father was second son of Captain Thomas Jones of Wrexham, who adopted the additional name of Longueville on succeeding to a portion of the Longueville estates in Shropshire. Jones...
said that the church, although small, was one of the "better kind" in Anglesey. He thought that the walls had been lowered after being built, because the top of the east window was too close to the roof, which in his view could not have been the original intention. At the time he wrote there were the remains of a screen between the nave and the chancel, but it is no longer present. Overall, he commented, "the workmanship of this church is more careful than usual, and shows that it was erected by some person of munificent disposition".
The Welsh politician and church historian Sir Stephen Glynne
Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 9th Baronet was a Welsh landowner and Conservative Party politician. He is principally remembered as an assiduous antiquary and student of British church architecture...
visited the church in 1868, and noted that the church had been altered less than most of the other churches in Anglesey. He thought that the west window was "modern and bad", but that the east window of the chancel was "very good". He added that the church needed repair, as the interior was "very rough".