All Saints' Church

All Saints' Church is a large, mainly late 15th-century church in a slightly red sandstone, in many ways more typical of nearby Cheshire churches. It has been described as the finest parish church in Wales, and has the most surviving medieval stained glass of any Welsh church.

The bells of the parish church of All Saints are one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales. Not only are the peal of bells of note, listed it is said for the purity of their tone, but the church itself is remarkable for its size, beauty, interior church monuments, and its churchyard yew trees.

Description

Though a church was built in the late 13th century and was possibly not the first building on the site. The present building was very largely constructed at the end of the 15th century. The church is remarkably large and well-fitted out for what was a small settlement, suggesting that there was a profitable place of pilgrimage there, though no evidence for what the attraction was remains - probably a relic or statue, perhaps of the Virgin Mary.

The church has much fine late medieval stained glass of around 1500, now collected at the east end, except for small figures in the top of the tracery of some aisle windows.

There are very fine memorials, mostly for the local Trevalyn Hall branch of the powerful North Welsh Trevor (Trefor) family. The twelve misericords date from the late 15th or early 16th century. 

Romano-British altar

Inside the impressive church, one of the most remarkable finds was discovered in 1907 by workmen, the Gresford Stone. This is a Roman period altar that was hidden for centuries, being used as a stone block in the rebuilding of the medieval church. The altar has four carved sides and a decorative depression at the top, used for the placement of offerings to the goddess Nemesis depicted on one side. The altar was probably part of a Romano British shrine dating back to 100 to 350 AD.

Yews

The church is surrounded by a grove of yews, some of which are equal in size and age to those of Overton listed in the Seven Wonders of Wales. Twenty-five of these were planted in 1726, but one growing near the south gate is older. It was already an ancient tree at the time of Richard II's proclamation that ordered the general planting of yews to support the army and the use of yew in the Longbow.

The churchyard also contains the war graves of six Commonwealth service personnel of World War I.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Church Green, Gresford, United Kingdom

Details

Founded: 15th century
Category: Religious sites in United Kingdom