While at St David's, Ben performed ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ by Bach on the old church organ. To watch Ben’s full YouTube video, please follow the link below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOj0...
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At St Helen's, Barmby on the Marsh in Yorkshire, the cooling towers of Drax power-station bellow plumes of vapour into the sky. Meanwhile, at St Beuno's, Penmorfa in Gwynedd, skeletal pylons carry electricity down to the valley below.
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A veritable city of concrete and metal, the refinery looms over the medieval church of St Decumanus.
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Perhaps the most notable instance of the unforgettable presence of the modern world at one of our remote medieval churches is the oil refinery at Rhoscrowther in Pembrokeshire.
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As, in addition to bustling main roads, many of our churches have other striking reminders of modernity on the bounds of their churchyards.
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Ben’s description was very apt and encapsulates a very real tension between antiquity and modernity in the localities of many of our churches.
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📷 © Lily Watts
These were words of Ben Maton, the Salisbury Organist, while he stood in the churchyard of St David's, Llangeview (Llangyfiw) in Monmouthshire.
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📷 © Lily Watts
“St David’s church in all its splendour occupies a strange juncture between the old and the new; the peaceful and serene, and the chaotic. Behind us, just fields and farm buildings and, in front, the mayhem of this busy road between Newport and Monmouth.”
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📷 © Lily Watts
Carrying forth the mantle of Rev’d Edgar Jones, we are only able to preserve this virtually untouched late Georgian church for future generations thanks to the generous support of our members and donors.
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In 2007, St Bigail’s came into our care and then we carried out further repairs to the building. Rev’d Edgar Jones died in 2009 and is buried in the churchyard.
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However, Rev’d Edgar Jones, a local retired vicar and school teacher, took St Bigail's under his wing and did his best to maintain this historic church.
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Although the church thankfully avoided a heavy handed late Victorian restoration, by the second half of the 20th century, it had unfortunately become redundant and decay seemed imminent.
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Inside, the church has panelled box pews, open benches, a double-decker pulpit, and three different types of font.
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However, all of the architectural features and most of the interior furnishings date from the early 19th century, when the church was comprehensively rebuilt by a local squire called William Morris.
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This is St Bigail's, Llanfigael on Anglesey and the fabric of this simple single-celled structure dates back to the 14th century.
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Thanks to the efforts of one dedicated Reverend, this unassuming little late Georgian church survived against the odds, overcoming the very real possibility of decay and dereliction.
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That’s a very good suggestion! It could be.
Instead our responsibility concerns the maintenance and upkeep of this Denbighshire church, with its 15th-century Gothic carved rood screen and its rare rood loft.
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Although we have cared for St Mary’s since 2002, the churchyard, with its cross and lychgate, are still the responsibility of the parish and are not owned by the Friends of Friendless Churches.
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The lychgate’s archway was blocked up when the building became the village school. It’s also said to have served as a parish room and church vestry.
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On the southern edge of the churchyard is the former lychgate, which probably dates from the 17th century.
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Standing 14ft tall - if you count its stone pedestal - this preaching cross is amongst the best preserved medieval crosses in this part of Wales.
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These carvings depict the coronation of the Virgin, the Crucifixion, the Virgin and the Child, and an angel with scales, which is assumed to be St Michael.
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Just outside the church, there is a 15th-century churchyard preaching cross, which has intricate carvings on its four-sided box-shaped head.
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In the churchyard of St Mary's, Derwen, there are two intriguing structures.
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Finally, hanging on either side of the chancel arch, there are two medieval wooden bosses. One is simply decorated with foliage and the other has the head of a well groomed man.
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These carvings appear on the roof’s wooden bosses. Again, there is a depiction of a lion. However, the most whimsical of these bosses is perhaps the ghoulish little demon, whose aged face contrast with his child-like pose.
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There are more fascinating figurative carvings on the 19th century chancel roof.
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However, most unusual is the north-western corbel, which depicts a squatting woman who grits her teeth under the weight of the respond above.
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These corbels are decorated with a variety of fascinating figurative carvings. The south-western corbel depicts a mighty lion, with a thick mane and bulging eyes.
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