St Mary's Church - Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy Mysterious, ancient and secluded A Hidden Gem

St Mary’s Church, Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy (often written Llanfairynghornwy) is a small but nationally important medieval parish church set in a rural churchyard on north-west Anglesey, near to 53°23′16″N , 004°31′02″W, OS grid SH 326 908, What three words ///masts.cringes.enacts, The postal code is LL65 4LH.
Its origins are believed to be ancient: a church on the site is recorded in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, and the oldest fabric of the present building — notably the nave walls and the round arch between the nave and chancel — dates to the 11th or 12th century.
Because of its survival and quality of detail it was designated a Grade I listing on 12 May 1970

The church is built of rubble masonry with freestone dressings and a slate roof. The chancel roof is late 15th century and the south chapel roof early 16th; The tower is a 17th century addition and the bell-cot contains a 17th century bell. Entry to the church is gained through the tower as the original south porch is now used as a vestry. The building was repaired and refurbished in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Inside are exposed timber roofs with decorative painted shields on the nave beams, a plain Norman-period chancel arch, a chapel entered by three arcades on octagonal columns, and evidence that a rood screen once stood across the chancel. Memorials include an early-19th-century monument to a locally famous bonesetter, Evan Thomas (d.1814), which was erected by Thomas Bulkeley,

The nineteenth-century rector James Williams (incumbent 1821–1872) and his wife Frances were prominent in lifesaving work around Anglesey: They founded the Anglesey Association for the Preservation of Lives (Later part of the RNLI) from Shipwreck after a catastrophic shipwreck (The Albert) near West Mouse in 1823 with the loss of 140 lives. A memorial to James and Frances appears on the south wall of the chapel.

The churchyard contains a variety of local memorials and two Commonwealth war graves: A Royal Navy sailor of the First World War and another naval man of the Second World War.

The church remains in use (Church in Wales) and is frequently noted in local guides as a “hidden gem” of north-west Anglesey, with an “impressive lychgate” and a quiet but atmospheric churchyard, this church is very much worth a visit.


References;
Wikipedia
National Churches Trust
Archaeo
Cadw

Thank you to Google Earth for the zoom in map.

00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - Map
01:05 - Main video