Rating
3/5 (based on Google user reviews)
St Donat's Church is a Grade I listed church in Welsh St Donats. Records of 1180 describe the church as a chapel confirmed to the Abbey of Tewkesbury. By 1563 it was known to have served as a parish church for the community. In 1603 it was considered to be a chapel of the church at Llanblethian, but by 1764 it received a stipend from Queen Anne's Bounty and was described as a curacy.
The church was re-plastered in 1996; during this process, the church was stripped of its old coat of plaster, leaving the entire structure bare to stones and mortar. This became an opportunity to do further dating on the building by examining the old mortar. It was thought that the church was constructed some time in the 15th to 16th centuries. but it became apparent that the windows and doors from that time frame were inserted into older walls by examining the mortar. A chancery wall gave evidence of having two lancet windows at one time; this was an indication that at least this portion of the building was constructed in the 13th century.
References:The Aberlemno Sculptured Stones are a series of five Class I and II Early Medieval standing stones found in and around the village of Aberlemno. The stones with Pictish carvings variously date between about AD 500 and 800.
Aberlemno 1, 3 and 5 are located in recesses in the dry stone wall at the side of the road in Aberlemno. Aberlemno 2 is found in the Kirkyard, 300 yards south of the roadside stones. In recent years, bids have been made to move the stones to an indoor location to protect them from weathering, but this has met with local resistance and the stones are currently covered in the winter.
Aberlemno 4, the Flemington Farm Stone was found 30 yards from the church, and is now on display in the McManus Galleries, Dundee.
