Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Date of Designation
07/06/1963
Date of Amendment
01/12/1995
Name of Property
Berse Drelincourt Church
Unitary Authority
Wrexham
Locality
Berse Drelincourt
Location
Alongside the road, 400m approx. W of the Wrexham by-pass.
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
History
The church was founded and endowed in 1742 by Mary Drelincourt, widow of a Dean of Armagh, as a chapel in connection with a girls charity school which had been founded in 1719 and was subsequently endowed by Mrs Drelincourt, and her daughter, Lady Primerose. The church was extended by a bay to the W in 1828, to accommodate family pews for Thomas Hayes of Gatewen Hall, and Thomas Fitzhugh of Plas Power; the original entrance, which had previously been in the centre of the S wall, was later blocked, probably when the SW porch was added in 1930. The church was re-seated in 1862 - the present pews may possibly be of this date.
Exterior
Roughcast render over brick with stone plinth, angle quoins and moulded stone eaves cornice. Slate roof with louvred bellcote over W gable. Round-arched SW door in gabled porch; original round-arched doorway now blocked, but with keystone and capitals to arch, between the 2 easternmost windows. Above this original entrance a stone is inscribed, 'This Chapel was built and endowed by Mary Drelincourt 1742'. Heavy buttresses to E and W ends. Round-arched windows divided by 2 simple mullions throughout.
Interior
Undivided nave and chancel. Flat plastered ceiling with narrow central tunnel vault, and moulded plaster cornice. Simple ceiling roses, one of which incorporates a dove in low relief, indicating the original site of the font (aligned with the now-blocked original doorway). Shell motif in relief over the site of this early doorway. Over the E window is a low relief of an open book with cable-work and cherubs in the frame. Fittings: 2 globe chandeliers - one apparently original to the church, the other of late C17 date, introduced from Wrexham Parish Church c1830. Pews are late C19. Pulpit with fine filigree panel-work was originally in All Saints Church, Southsea, but was moved to Berse when All Saints was demolished, c1985. It is probably the work of Cecil Hare. Wall memorial tablet to Mary Drelincourt: 2 simplified Corinthian pilasters flank the inscription plate. Stained glass in E window, in memory of Meredith Hamer, vicar of the parish between 1881 and 1885.
Reason for designation
A rare example of a C18 church building, which has retained its simple Neo-classical character in subsequent enlargement. The building is also of particular historical interest for its association with the school/orphanage at Berse Drelincourt.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]