St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo
Encyclopedia
St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo is a medieval church in Llanbabo
, in Anglesey
, North Wales
. Much of the church dates to the 12th century, and it is regarded as a good example of a church of its period that has retained many aspects of its original fabric. The church houses a tombstone slab from the 14th century, depicting a king with crown and sceptre, bearing the name of Pabo Post Prydain
, the reputed founder of the church. However, there is no evidence that Pabo, a 5th-century prince, lived in the area and the tradition that he founded the church has little supporting basis.
The church is still in use, as part of the Church in Wales
, although services are only held here occasionally. It is a Grade II* listed building, a designation given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest", because it is a medieval church that has been little altered.
, Anglesey
, is unknown, but it is known that there was a church here before 1254 as it is recorded in the Norwich Valuation of that year. According to tradition, it was founded by Pabo Post Prydain
(Pabo the "Pillar of Britain"), a 5th-century prince from North Britain who was driven out in 460 and settled thereafter in Anglesey. He is also said to have been buried in the area. A stone slab gravestone dating from the late 14th century, made from Flintshire
sandstone, was found in about 1680: according to the 17th-century Welsh historian Lewis Morris, it was unearthed by a sexton
digging a grave in the churchyard. The rectangular slab (from the same workshop as one at Bangor Cathedral
and one of St Iestyn
at St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn
, given the similarities between them) has a shallowly engraved full-length image of a bearded man wearing a crown and a loose, pleated tunic over a garment reaching to his wrists. He hold a sceptre in his right hand; his head is on a cushion underneath an arch, and the background is decorated with flowers. The effect is somewhat like a monumental brass
in stone; the slab is now displayed vertically inside the church. The inscription, which is incomplete, reads "" (or "Prud") – "Here lies Pabo the Pillar of Britain". Additional letters have been interpreted as denoting the name of the donor of the monument. Apart from this, the tradition linking Pabo to the church is not recorded in writing until the Welsh antiquarian Henry Rowlands
in the 18th century, nor is there evidence that Pabo devoted himself to religion or died in Anglesey; accordingly, modern writers suggest that there is no link between him and the church.
The church stands alongside a minor road between Llanddeusant
and Rhosgoch, near the Llyn Alaw
reservoir. It is part of the Church in Wales
, although it is only used for services occasionally. It is one of nine churches in the combined parish of Bodedern
with Llanfaethlu
, and forms part of the deanery
of Llifon and Talybolion, within the archdeaconry of Bangor
in the Diocese of Bangor. As of October 2011, there has been no incumbent priest since September 2009. The village of Llanbabo takes its name from the church: the prefix originally meant "enclosure" and then came to mean "church", and "‑babo" is a modified form of the saint's name.
, dressed with freestone. It measures 45 feet by 14 feet 6 inches (14 by 4.4 metres). The building is largely 12th-century in construction, with the walls and a narrow lancet window
in the south wall dating from that time; another window at the east end of the south wall is rectangular and dates from the late 14th or early 15th centuries, with a more modern window in between. The east wall and window, with stone tracery
and an ogee
-topped light in a pointed arch, are from the 14th century. Some of the windows use atypical green glass, and some have frames made out of wood.
Chevron-carved voussoir
s (wedges) and three stone human heads, weathered by time and also probably from the 12th century, have been repositioned over the doorway, which is at the west end of the south side of the church. The wedges probably come from a former chancel arch and apse, removed (as in other churches in Anglesey) to make the chancel larger. The doorway has been enlarged at some point, most likely during the early part of the 19th century. On the north side, a doorway was added in the 18th century, but it was subsequently blocked and a window inserted instead. One writer has speculated that this might have been a leper niche and window. There are two other modern windows in the north wall, and all three are at different heights. There is a bellcote at the west end, housing a bell (probably from the 18th century). The roof has been described as being "clearly one of the earliest on the island".
Inside, as well as the Pabo monument on the north wall, there are medieval arched truss
es and two 18th-century marble memorials. The font, which is probably 12th-century in date, is a circular bowl about 1 feet (30.5 cm) in height. There is no division between the nave
and chancel
, and there is one step from the chancel into the sanctuary
, which is marked with a simple rail. The altar is made of wood. The fittings, including plain pews, were added in 1911. There is a carved head above the doorway inside the church, in similar style to those on the outside. "The Llanbabo Devil" (), a stone previously set in the wall of the churchyard and thought to represent a Celtic deity, is now kept inside the church.
(the Welsh Assembly Government
body responsible for the built heritage of Wales), St Pabo's Church "can be considered an important survivor", as many other old churches on Anglesey were either rebuilt or restored during the 19th century. Some restoration work, including replacement of some of the timbers in the roof, was carried out in 1909 under the architect Harold Hughes, but overall "the church has not suffered from excessive restoration."
Llanbabo
Llanbabo is a small village two miles north west of Llannerch-y-medd in Anglesey, Wales.The ancient church of St Pabo, Llanbabo is dedicated to Saint Pabo: possibly Pabo Post Prydain, one of the leaders among the Britons of the Hen Ogledd following the withdrawal of the Roman legions...
, in 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
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. Much of the church dates to the 12th century, and it is regarded as a good example of a church of its period that has retained many aspects of its original fabric. The church houses a tombstone slab from the 14th century, depicting a king with crown and sceptre, bearing the name of Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain was a king somewhere in the Hen Ogledd or Old North of sub-Roman Britain.According to the Old Welsh genealogies of British Library, Harleian MS 3859, he was a son of Cenau ap Coel Hen...
, the reputed founder of the church. However, there is no evidence that Pabo, a 5th-century prince, lived in the area and the tradition that he founded the church has little supporting basis.
The church is still in use, as part of 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...
, although services are only held here occasionally. It is a Grade II* listed building, a designation given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest", because it is a medieval church that has been little altered.
History and location
The date of foundation of the church in LlanbaboLlanbabo
Llanbabo is a small village two miles north west of Llannerch-y-medd in Anglesey, Wales.The ancient church of St Pabo, Llanbabo is dedicated to Saint Pabo: possibly Pabo Post Prydain, one of the leaders among the Britons of the Hen Ogledd following the withdrawal of the Roman legions...
, 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...
, is unknown, but it is known that there was a church here before 1254 as it is recorded in the Norwich Valuation of that year. According to tradition, it was founded by Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain
Pabo Post Prydain was a king somewhere in the Hen Ogledd or Old North of sub-Roman Britain.According to the Old Welsh genealogies of British Library, Harleian MS 3859, he was a son of Cenau ap Coel Hen...
(Pabo the "Pillar of Britain"), a 5th-century prince from North Britain who was driven out in 460 and settled thereafter in Anglesey. He is also said to have been buried in the area. A stone slab gravestone dating from the late 14th century, made from Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
sandstone, was found in about 1680: according to the 17th-century Welsh historian Lewis Morris, it was unearthed by a sexton
Sexton (office)
A sexton is a church, congregation or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger...
digging a grave in the churchyard. The rectangular slab (from the same workshop as one at Bangor Cathedral
Bangor Cathedral
Bangor Cathedral is an ancient place of Christian worship situated in Bangor, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol....
and one of St Iestyn
Iestyn (saint)
Iestyn was a Welsh hermit and confessor in the 6th or 7th century who is venerated as a saint. He was the founder of two churches, one in Gwynedd and another in Anglesey, both in north Wales.-Life and commemoration:Iestyn's dates of birth and death are not recorded...
at St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn
St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn
St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn is a medieval church in Llaniestyn, Anglesey, in north Wales. A church is said to have been founded here by St Iestyn in the 7th century, with the earliest parts of the present building dating from the 12th century. The church was extended in the 14th century, with...
, given the similarities between them) has a shallowly engraved full-length image of a bearded man wearing a crown and a loose, pleated tunic over a garment reaching to his wrists. He hold a sceptre in his right hand; his head is on a cushion underneath an arch, and the background is decorated with flowers. The effect is somewhat like a monumental brass
Monumental brass
Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...
in stone; the slab is now displayed vertically inside the church. The inscription, which is incomplete, reads "" (or "Prud") – "Here lies Pabo the Pillar of Britain". Additional letters have been interpreted as denoting the name of the donor of the monument. Apart from this, the tradition linking Pabo to the church is not recorded in writing until the Welsh antiquarian Henry Rowlands
Henry Rowlands
Henry Rowlands was the author of Mona Antiqua Restaurata: An Archaeological Discourse on the Antiquities, Natural and Historical, of the Isle of Anglesey, the Antient Seat of the British Druids The Bridestones were among the sites described by Rowlands....
in the 18th century, nor is there evidence that Pabo devoted himself to religion or died in Anglesey; accordingly, modern writers suggest that there is no link between him and the church.
The church stands alongside a minor road between Llanddeusant
Llanddeusant, Anglesey
Llanddeusant is a small linear village, on Anglesey, North Wales about north east of Holyhead. The village takes it names from its parish church which is dedicated to St. Marcellus and Saint Marcellina....
and Rhosgoch, near the Llyn Alaw
Llyn Alaw
Llyn Alaw is a man-made reservoir on Anglesey, North Wales. It is used to supply drinking water to the northern half of the island and does so at a rate of 35 million litres a day. It was created in 1966 on existing marshland....
reservoir. It is part of 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...
, although it is only used for services occasionally. It is one of nine churches in the combined parish of Bodedern
Bodedern
Bodedern is a village in the west of Anglesey, North Wales, at . The Royal Mail postcode begins LL65. The population was 1,017 in 1991.The village has a fully bilingual secondary school, Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern and a football team, Bodedern Athletic F.C. who play in the Welsh Alliance League...
with Llanfaethlu
Llanfaethlu
Llanfaethlu is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales....
, and forms part of 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 Llifon and Talybolion, within 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...
in the Diocese of Bangor. As of October 2011, there has been no incumbent priest since September 2009. The village of Llanbabo takes its name from the church: the prefix originally meant "enclosure" and then came to mean "church", and "‑babo" is a modified form of the saint's name.
Architecture and fittings
The church is built 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....
, dressed with freestone. It measures 45 feet by 14 feet 6 inches (14 by 4.4 metres). The building is largely 12th-century in construction, with the walls and a narrow lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
in the south wall dating from that time; another window at the east end of the south wall is rectangular and dates from the late 14th or early 15th centuries, with a more modern window in between. The east wall and window, with stone 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:...
and an ogee
Ogee
An ogee is a curve , shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel....
-topped light in a pointed arch, are from the 14th century. Some of the windows use atypical green glass, and some have frames made out of wood.
Chevron-carved voussoir
Voussoir
A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault.Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch. A...
s (wedges) and three stone human heads, weathered by time and also probably from the 12th century, have been repositioned over the doorway, which is at the west end of the south side of the church. The wedges probably come from a former chancel arch and apse, removed (as in other churches in Anglesey) to make the chancel larger. The doorway has been enlarged at some point, most likely during the early part of the 19th century. On the north side, a doorway was added in the 18th century, but it was subsequently blocked and a window inserted instead. One writer has speculated that this might have been a leper niche and window. There are two other modern windows in the north wall, and all three are at different heights. There is a bellcote at the west end, housing a bell (probably from the 18th century). The roof has been described as being "clearly one of the earliest on the island".
Inside, as well as the Pabo monument on the north wall, there are medieval arched truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es and two 18th-century marble memorials. The font, which is probably 12th-century in date, is a circular bowl about 1 feet (30.5 cm) in height. There is no division between 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...
and 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 there is one step from the chancel into 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...
, which is marked with a simple rail. The altar is made of wood. The fittings, including plain pews, were added in 1911. There is a carved head above the doorway inside the church, in similar style to those on the outside. "The Llanbabo Devil" (), a stone previously set in the wall of the churchyard and thought to represent a Celtic deity, is now kept inside the church.
Assessment
The church is a Grade II* listed building – the second-highest (of three) grade of listing, designating "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". It was given this status on 12 May 1970, and has been listed because it is "a good, scarcely altered simple Medieval church which retains a great deal of the Medieval fabric, including decorate fragments of probable 12th century date, and a fine later Medieval roof." According to 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), St Pabo's Church "can be considered an important survivor", as many other old churches on Anglesey were either rebuilt or restored during the 19th century. Some restoration work, including replacement of some of the timbers in the roof, was carried out in 1909 under the architect Harold Hughes, but overall "the church has not suffered from excessive restoration."