St Mary and St Bodfan Church

St Mary and St Bodfan Church is a church located in the village of Llanaber in Wales. Despite substantial restoration work in 1860 it is a well-preserved 13th-century building with lancet windows and arch-braced collar beams (16th-century) to the chancel roof.

The plan of the church consists of a nave, with north and south aisles, and a long narrow chancel. Entering the church by the south porch, rebuilt in the nineteenth century, is the south doorway, a still-standing example of Early English architecture. This doorway, built of yellow sandstone, is deeply recessed and is composed of six shafts on either side. The north door opposite is much narrower and of simple design.

The nave is divided on either side into five arcades. They show the transition from Norman architecture to the Early English Style. The piers are Norman in character with foliated capitals from which spring pointed arches. The four clerestory windows on either side of the nave are examples of Early English lancets, whilst the two long lancets of the west wall are part of the nineteenth-century restoration.

The chancel, which is separated from the nave by an Early English arch, is approached by a flight of steps, necessitated by the sloping nature of the site on which the church is built. The east window is an example of a single Early English lancet with very wide splays and shafts in the inner arch.[4]

The main roof timbers, both in the Nave and Chancel, date from the sixteenth century, whilst the ceiling above the sanctuary is panelled and its bosses and carvings picked out in gilt and colour.

The font is octagonal in shape. The bowl is modern and it stands on a very much older shaft.

Calixtus Stones

In the north west corner of the church will be found two ancient stones. One is the Calixtus Stone, placed in the Church in the 19th century and having been previously used as a footbridge on a neighbouring farm. The inscription has been read as: CAELIXTUS MONEDO REGI, and is thought to mean Calixtus King of Mona.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains twelve Commonwealth war graves; from the First World War, six Royal Navy seamen (four of them unidentified), three Mercantile Marine seamen, a Royal Welsh Fusiliers officer and a Royal Engineers soldier, and from the Second, a Royal Artillery soldier.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

A496, Llanaber, United Kingdom

Details

Founded: 13th century
Category: Religious sites in United Kingdom