St Peulan's Church, Llanbeulan
Encyclopedia
St Peulan's Church, Llanbeulan is a disused medieval church in Llanbeulan, in Anglesey
, north Wales. The nave, which is the oldest part of the building, dates from the 12th century, with a chancel and side chapel added in the 14th century. The church has a font of early date, possibly from the first half of the 11th century: one historian has said that it would initially have been used as an altar and that "as an altar of the pre-Norman period it is a unique survivor in Wales and, indeed, in Britain".
The church is now redundant
and has been in the care of the charity
, the Friends of Friendless Churches
since 2005. 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 of "typical Anglesey type" that has retained its simple character despite 19th-century alterations.
. He was a disciple of the Anglesey
saint Cybi. The earliest parts of the building date from the 12th century. It was the parish church of the area, and had a chapel of ease
at St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn
(now also closed). In November 1349, records of an inquisition in Beaumaris show that the priest serving St Peulan's was one of a number of Anglesey clergymen to have died about that time, which was when the Black Death
was affecting Anglesey. During the 19th century, a significant amount of church rebuilding and restoration work
took place throughout Anglesey, and St Peulan's was given a new roof and new internal fittings at this time. It is now a redundant church
and has been in the hands of the Friends of Friendless Churches
since 2004; it is one of four churches on Anglesey for which the charity has responsibility. The charity holds a 999-year lease
with effect from 10 June 2005.
The church gave its name to the parish of Llanbeulan: the Welsh word originally meant "enclosure" and then "church", and "‑beulan" is a modified form of the saint's name. It is in a thinly populated part of rural Anglesey, about 1.75 kilometres (1.1 mi) to the south-west of the village of Gwalchmai
, and about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the south-east of Bryngwran
. A grassed track runs from the road to the church.
, dressed with gritstone
. The nave measures 27 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches (8.4 by 4.7 m), the chancel is 15 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 9 inches (4.7 by 3.6 m), and the south chapel is 11 feet 3 inches by 16 feet (3.4 by 4.9 m). The building has a slate
roof with coping
s of stone. At the west end, there is a gabled bellcote with one bell; crosses made of iron are fixed to the roofs of the chancel and south chapel. The nave
of the church, which has two bays, was probably built in the 12th century. An entrance at the west end of the nave has been blocked up and plastered over on the outside. The chancel
, which is smaller than the nave, and a chapel (on the south side of the building attached to the nave) were added in the 14th century, and the arches dividing the nave from the chapel and the chancel are of this date. The entrance door, from the 19th century, is positioned on the east side of the chapel and has a pointed archway. Alongside the doorway is a stone inscribed with the year 1637, and next to that is a round-headed small window dating from the 12th century, reset in the chapel wall of later date. It has been suggested that this window may been reused from the blocked nave entrance.
The east window of the chancel, from the 15th century, has two lights topped with trefoil
s and decorated with carved heads. There is also a blocked 14th-century window in the chancel's north wall and an early 16th century window in the south wall. Other windows in the church date from the 17th century (chapel south window) and 19th century (nave). The pews date from the 17th century: one stall in the chancel bears an inscribed panel of wood, dated 1664, recording that it is the seat of William Bold of Treyrddol. There are a number of memorials inside the church from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. The church's 19th-century fittings, such as the pulpit and altar rail, are plain.
The most notable feature of the church is its font, which dates from the late 12th century, or possibly even the first part of the 11th century. It measures 2 in 1 in (63.5 cm) by 2 in 11 in (88.9 cm) (external measurements) and is 11 inches (27.9 cm) deep. It is rectangular and decorated on three sides. One of the shorter sides has a cross with four arms of equal length imposed on a ring; at the base are two small hemispheres, and the design is framed with bands (some plain, some decorated with chevrons or a twisted rope pattern). It has been suggested that the hemispheres are bee skeps
. One of the longer sides has a row of arches forming an arcade above a pattern of lozenges. The other shorter side has a chequerwork pattern. The archeologist David Petts has noted that it is one of a number of fonts on Anglesey that has an area with little or no carving, perhaps because it was never anticipated that the plain side of the font would be seen or because the font was carved after being put in its position in the church. Although similar in style to other Anglesey fonts, its rectangular shape is "unique", according to Petts, and the cross on one side "finds no parallels among fonts of this period."
One writer, the historian Peter Lord, has suggested that it was initially used as an altar. Accepting the 11th-century dating, Lord stated that "as an altar of the pre-Norman period it is a unique survivor in Wales and, indeed, in Britain". Petts considers this "unlikely", suggesting that it may originally have been a reliquary
. The Friends of Friendless Churches describes the font as the building's "chief glory". It has also been called "the best of Anglesey's remarkable Romanesque series." It has similarities of design and style with the fonts of two other churches on Anglesey (St Llwydian's Church, Heneglwys and St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn
) and with one of the stone crosses at St Seiriol's Church, Penmon.
(the Welsh Assembly Government
body responsible for the built heritage of Wales) as a church "of typical Anglesey type", where the 19th-century restoration
work has "retained the simplicity of design and construction", and also the church's medieval character.
In the 19th century, the writer Samuel Lewis said that it was "small and of rude workmanship", but had "several curious features" such as the font that made it "valuable". The antiquarian Angharad Llwyd
, writing in 1833, described it as "a small cruciform structure, situated in a little barren valley", with the south transept "bearing evidence of very great antiquity." She stated that there were some windows "in the later English style, of good design, especially the east window of the chancel, which is a very superior composition."
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 nave, which is the oldest part of the building, dates from the 12th century, with a chancel and side chapel added in the 14th century. The church has a font of early date, possibly from the first half of the 11th century: one historian has said that it would initially have been used as an altar and that "as an altar of the pre-Norman period it is a unique survivor in Wales and, indeed, in Britain".
The church is now redundant
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
and has been in the care of the charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, the Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity active in England and Wales. It campaigns for and rescues redundant historic churches threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. To that end, as of August 2010, it owns 43 former churches or chapels, 23 of which...
since 2005. 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 of "typical Anglesey type" that has retained its simple character despite 19th-century alterations.
History and location
The date of foundation of the church in Llanbeulan is not known for certain, although it is said that a church was founded on this site in 630 by St PeulanPeulan
Saint Peulan was a Welsh holy man in the early part of the 6th century, the son of Paulinus, a saint from south Wales who taught Saint David. A follower of Cybi, a saint associated with the island of Anglesey in north Wales, Peulan is commemorated in the dedication of the church he reportedly...
. He was a disciple of the 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...
saint Cybi. The earliest parts of the building date from the 12th century. It was the parish church of the area, and had 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....
at St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn
St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn
St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn is a medieval church near Aberffraw in Anglesey, north Wales. It was originally a chapel of ease for the parish church of St Peulan's, Llanbeulan, but the township that it once served, Tal-y-llyn, no longer exists. It was declared a redundant church in the early 1990s,...
(now also closed). In November 1349, records of an inquisition in Beaumaris show that the priest serving St Peulan's was one of a number of Anglesey clergymen to have died about that time, which was when the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
was affecting Anglesey. During the 19th century, a significant amount of church rebuilding and restoration work
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
took place throughout Anglesey, and St Peulan's was given a new roof and new internal fittings at this time. It is now a redundant church
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
and has been in the hands of the Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches
Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity active in England and Wales. It campaigns for and rescues redundant historic churches threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. To that end, as of August 2010, it owns 43 former churches or chapels, 23 of which...
since 2004; it is one of four churches on Anglesey for which the charity has responsibility. The charity holds a 999-year lease
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
with effect from 10 June 2005.
The church gave its name to the parish of Llanbeulan: the Welsh word originally meant "enclosure" and then "church", and "‑beulan" is a modified form of the saint's name. It is in a thinly populated part of rural Anglesey, about 1.75 kilometres (1.1 mi) to the south-west of the village of Gwalchmai
Gwalchmai, Anglesey
Gwalchmai is a village on Anglesey in north Wales.- Location :Gwalchmai is less than a mile from the A55 and the Anglesey Show Ground and less than two miles from RAF Mona.- Amenities and history :...
, and about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the south-east of Bryngwran
Bryngwran
Bryngwran is a village on the A5 road across Anglesey in North Wales. It lies just east of RAF Valley.- External links :*...
. A grassed track runs from the road to the church.
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 gritstone
Gritstone
Gritstone or Grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for paper and for grindstones to sharpen blades. "Grit" is...
. The nave measures 27 feet 6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches (8.4 by 4.7 m), the chancel is 15 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 9 inches (4.7 by 3.6 m), and the south chapel is 11 feet 3 inches by 16 feet (3.4 by 4.9 m). The building has a slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof with coping
Coping (architecture)
Coping , consists of the capping or covering of a wall.A splayed or wedge coping slopes in a single direction; a saddle coping slopes to either side of a central high point....
s of stone. At the west end, there is a gabled bellcote with one bell; crosses made of iron are fixed to the roofs of the chancel and south chapel. 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...
of the church, which has two bays, was probably built in the 12th century. An entrance at the west end of the nave has been blocked up and plastered over on the outside. 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...
, which is smaller than the nave, and a chapel (on the south side of the building attached to the nave) were added in the 14th century, and the arches dividing the nave from the chapel and the chancel are of this date. The entrance door, from the 19th century, is positioned on the east side of the chapel and has a pointed archway. Alongside the doorway is a stone inscribed with the year 1637, and next to that is a round-headed small window dating from the 12th century, reset in the chapel wall of later date. It has been suggested that this window may been reused from the blocked nave entrance.
The east window of the chancel, from the 15th century, has two lights topped with trefoil
Trefoil
Trefoil is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism...
s and decorated with carved heads. There is also a blocked 14th-century window in the chancel's north wall and an early 16th century window in the south wall. Other windows in the church date from the 17th century (chapel south window) and 19th century (nave). The pews date from the 17th century: one stall in the chancel bears an inscribed panel of wood, dated 1664, recording that it is the seat of William Bold of Treyrddol. There are a number of memorials inside the church from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. The church's 19th-century fittings, such as the pulpit and altar rail, are plain.
The most notable feature of the church is its font, which dates from the late 12th century, or possibly even the first part of the 11th century. It measures 2 in 1 in (63.5 cm) by 2 in 11 in (88.9 cm) (external measurements) and is 11 inches (27.9 cm) deep. It is rectangular and decorated on three sides. One of the shorter sides has a cross with four arms of equal length imposed on a ring; at the base are two small hemispheres, and the design is framed with bands (some plain, some decorated with chevrons or a twisted rope pattern). It has been suggested that the hemispheres are bee skeps
Beehive
A beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young.Beehive may also refer to:Buildings and locations:* Bee Hive, Alabama, a neighborhood in Alabama* Beehive , a wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings...
. One of the longer sides has a row of arches forming an arcade above a pattern of lozenges. The other shorter side has a chequerwork pattern. The archeologist David Petts has noted that it is one of a number of fonts on Anglesey that has an area with little or no carving, perhaps because it was never anticipated that the plain side of the font would be seen or because the font was carved after being put in its position in the church. Although similar in style to other Anglesey fonts, its rectangular shape is "unique", according to Petts, and the cross on one side "finds no parallels among fonts of this period."
One writer, the historian Peter Lord, has suggested that it was initially used as an altar. Accepting the 11th-century dating, Lord stated that "as an altar of the pre-Norman period it is a unique survivor in Wales and, indeed, in Britain". Petts considers this "unlikely", suggesting that it may originally have been a reliquary
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
. The Friends of Friendless Churches describes the font as the building's "chief glory". It has also been called "the best of Anglesey's remarkable Romanesque series." It has similarities of design and style with the fonts of two other churches on Anglesey (St Llwydian's Church, Heneglwys and 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...
) and with one of the stone crosses at St Seiriol's Church, Penmon.
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 5 April 1971, and has been listed because it is "a rural Medieval church retaining its simple character." It is described by 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) as a church "of typical Anglesey type", where the 19th-century restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
work has "retained the simplicity of design and construction", and also the church's medieval character.
In the 19th century, the writer Samuel Lewis said that it was "small and of rude workmanship", but had "several curious features" such as the font that made it "valuable". The antiquarian 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...
, writing in 1833, described it as "a small cruciform structure, situated in a little barren valley", with the south transept "bearing evidence of very great antiquity." She stated that there were some windows "in the later English style, of good design, especially the east window of the chancel, which is a very superior composition."