5564

 

II*  

Designated  

30/01/1968  

03/09/1998  

Church of St. Beuno (Eglwys Beuno Sant)  

 

Isle of Anglesey  

Bodorgan  

 

Trefdraeth  

240861  

370394  

 

Located in the centre of the small hamlet of Trefdraeth; set back from the N side of the road leading E from Bethel.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The nave and chancel date from C13; the dividing chancel arch now reset in the S transept, built late C13 or early C14; the roof mainly dating to C17. The bellcote was added C14, and the S porch added c. 1500 (roof dated 1725). The N doorway is late C15 or early C16, now leading to an early C19 vestry, built when renovations to the church took place.  

Decorated style church; nave and chancel structurally undivided, with S transept and porch and N vestry. Built predominantly of rubble masonry; the S wall of the nave and the lower part of the W wall with squared stone, laid to approximate courses. Roof of hexagonal slates with stone copings, crosses at gable apexes, tall ashlar stack to N vestry and bellcote at W end of nave. The nave and chancel are 3-bays, with offset angle buttresses at W end and diagonal buttresses at E; S transept has angle buttresses and S porch has diagonal. Entry is through a pointed arched doorway in the S porch, the S wall of the nave has 2 early C19 cinquefoil-headed windows (one single, and one paired light) in square frames; there are similarly detailed windows in the N wall, including a reset window of c.1500 with moulded jambs and hoodmould with carved human head stops (originally in S wall). The W wall has a rectangular window with chamfered jambs, of c.1500, and the E chancel window is late C14 or early C15; a pointed-arched, traceried window of 3-lights, with a moulded label with scroll stops. The S transept has a C19, pointed-arched, traceried window of 2-lights, with hoodmould, in the S wall; and a late C13 or early C14, pointed-arched doorway with roll-moulded jambs in the W wall.  

Entry to the church is through an inner, pointed-arched doorway set into a segmental-headed, chamfered surround in the S porch; there are slate plaques mounted on the walls to either side of the doorway, these list benefactors to the poor of the parish; the right hand plaque dates back to 1761, the left hand plaque to 1766. The doorway leads into the nave of 8 roof bays; with exposed rafters and collared trusses with chamfered soffits, curved braces carried down to wall posts on shaped corbels. The chancel is raised by one step, the early C18 chancel rail is moulded and on turned balusters and newel posts with chamfered angles. The ceiling of the sanctuary is a wagon barrel of ornate, painted, recessed panels. The altar table is faced with slate with a decorative cross carved in the centre. The S chapel is down one step, with a reset late C13 or early C14 2-centred arch of a single roll-moulded order; probably the original chancel arch. The roof is of 2 bays with a single C17 collared truss and there is a late C13 or early C14 segmental-arched doorway in the W wall, with roll-moulded jambs (another (C15) doorway, with depressed, pointed head is set in the N wall of the nave, leading to the N vestry). The C12 font is at the W end of the nave; a cylindrical bowl, the surface of which is divided into 6 panels; 4 of the panels contain saltires, another a cross of Celtic knotwork with an intersecting ring, the sixth panel is blank. On the N wall of the nave is a slate C17 memorial plaque to Hugh ap Richard Lewis of Marian Gent. d.1660 and his wife Jane d.1661, and Owen Williams of Marian Gent. d.1723; the memorial has an achievement at the base. The only ancient stained glass is reset in the S chancel window; fragments of a C15 crucifixion window. The E chancel crucifixion window is by Charles Eames Kemp, 1907; to Thomas Owen of Trefeiler d.1904. The sill of the window carries a slate slab which bears a latin inscription and is dedicated to Sidney Parry c.1766.  

Included at II* as an important example of a late Medieval rural church, with its simple design remaining unaltered during the extensive programme of church re-building and restoration on Anglesey in the C19.