St Aelhaearn's Chuch

Heritage listing

Reason for designation: Included as a parish church which still preserves its medieval character externally, and some early detail internally, particularly its good screen and a fine set of early C19 furnishings. History: The church is dedicated to St Aelhaearn, servant to St Beuno of Clynnog, who was torn to pieces by wild animals but reassembled by the saint, his brow, being lost, was replaced by a piece of iron. The church is of medieval origin, possibly C12 and certainly C15, with a C16 north transept, a south transept of 1622, and a chancel rebuilt, extending further E, in 1892. Exterior: The church is cruciform in plan, constructed with flush pointed local stone rubble on large boulder foundations and has slate roofs. The walls are low and it has a round-arched C14 W door replacing an earlier S door, now blocked. The W gable carries a tall plain gabled bellcote with a single bell dated 1749 set in a rectangular opening. Small paired round-headed windows with ashlar heads and chamfered mullions. Both transepts are coped, with similar paired lights, and taller windows in the gable ends. The rebuilt chancel is raised over falling ground, and has reset medieval triple deep-set E lancets under a horizontal drip moulding. Below, a door opens to a graveyard maintenance store beneath the floor. The S transept has a built-in stone reading IT 1622. On the N side, a vestry, also added in 1892, is gabled to the W, and has similar windows. There is a reset standing stone opposite the W end, probably the C7-C9 one recorded earlier as having an incised cross. Interior: The nave is of 2 bays, the roof supported by three medieval heavy arch-braced trusses of almost cruck-like form tapering up from within the walls and carrying 2 tiers of purlins with windbraces. The walls are plas

From Cadw under OGL v3.