1408

 

II*  

Designated  

16/11/1962  

09/04/2002  

Church of Corpus Christi (Holy Trinity)  

 

Denbighshire  

Tremeirchion  

 

Tremeirchion Village  

308282  

373084  

 

In the village of Tremeirchion. The churchyard (extended 1864) is walled in similar stone without coping; gate to west, lychgate to south; war memorial to west.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

A Capella de Dynmeyrchyawn under St Asaph is mentioned in 1291 and vicars are recorded from c.1350. Dedications to Corpus Christi and to the Holy Trinity are both recorded, that to Corpus Christi being thought the more ancient and now preferred, though most unusual for a mediaeval church. The building appears to date from the C14, that being the probable date of the south and west doorways, as well as the date of a fine canopied tomb in the position of an Easter Sepulchre which is believed to be that of Dafydd Ddu Hiraddug, priest of Tremeirchion, canon of St Asaph and bard. The south porch is a later addition. A drawing dated 1782 shows the outer face of the porch arched in stonework; it now has a timber-framed front, recently restored. The same drawing shows an exterior flight of steps at right-angles to the south wall, leading up to a gallery door which cut through the eaves to the left of the porch. When Dr Johnson visited in 1774 he noted Welsh texts painted in black on the walls. Glynne visited Tremeirchion Church probably in the mid C19, prior to the general restoration of the church but after the addition of a north transept, and he noted the west gallery. Lewis in 1833 noted the unusual fact that the church possessed an organ. Major work was undertaken in c.1858, including the restoration of all but one of the windows and the installation of the dated stained glass of the chancel. It may be at this time that the gallery was removed and the dormer windows installed; the one at south takes the place of the gallery doorway known from the C18 drawing. Further work was carried out in 1915, repairing the walls and porch and taking down ceilings.  

The church is long and low, built in local limestone rubble and axe-dressed masonry and roofed in small slates. Large buttresses to north and west. The porch on the south side and the transept and four large buttresses on the north side are also in axe-dressed masonry, the porch being in a slatey local stone. Gables coped in freestone to north, east and west; bellcote for a single bell to west, finial crosses to north and east. The porch has an open timber-framed front (re-timbered in 1970). There is no exterior differentiation of nave and chancel. A stone in the south elevation dated 1726 probably refers to some repair work. A Perpendicular style window in the south elevation, west of the porch, consists of two trefoil-headed lights under a slightly depressed main arch, slightly lopsided, with the spaces either side of the upper mullion not pierced. A three-light mullioned window in the north elevation is partly encroached upon by a buttress. The other windows in the walls are simple lancets of the C19 restoration, singly or in pairs or threes. Near the west end are mid-roof oak dormer windows in Gothic style. The west door is boarded but not in use, blocked by the organ. The south door is boarded with its frame at the rear, and retains its blacksmith's hinges and overall studding of clenched nails. Fragments of early carved tombstone crosses have been built into the masonry of the porch.  

The main interior differentiation of nave and chancel is in the roof structure, arch braced late-mediaeval collar beam trusses of bay spacing in the nave and similar but much lighter trusses narrowly spaced in the chancel for a lost barrel ceiling. Part of the nave at the south west corner has been screened as a vestry. Plain pews in the nave, transept and choir with decorative finials to the end panels. A choir pew at left is designed to fold forward to reveal the heraldic band of the wall tomb. Octagonal oak pulpit at right. Carved altar in Gothic style with three panel front; panelling on east wall with lower recessed section behind altar. The principal memorial of the church is the C14 canopied tomb at the left of the choir which is taken to be that of Dafydd Ddu Hiraddug. The canopy is cinquefoil, sub-cusped, heavily moulded, and has a label mould with male and female terminal heads. The tonsured and vested effigy lies on a ledger with the inscription 'Hic iacet David f Kovel f Madoc' (the reading of the second name disputed). Below this is an heraldic frieze, with seven shields, some bearing emblems of the Passion. A second effigy is positioned below the transept north window; this is that of a C13 knight, taken to be Sir Robert Pounderling, governor of Dyserth Castle (destroyed 1263). Wall tablets include a plain white marble memorial to Mrs Piozzi (née Hester Lynch Salusbury), 1741-1821, friend of Dr Johnson, put up in 1909 against the north side of the choir. There is mediaeval stained glass in a frame behind the south west window, with most of two figures apparently in tabernacle work. The east window is by Oliphant, 1858, and the chancel side windows and transept north window are by Ballantyne, 1858 and 1865. In the south window east of the porch there are C17 glass miniature portraits of King James, King Charles (unidentified) and Archbishop Williams. The font, beside the south door, is octagonal with Gothic sunk panels.  

A fine parish church of the local type without external differentiation of nave and chancel, retaining interesting monuments and considerable mediaeval fabric.