St Mary Abbey Cwmhir

 

I have been looking to come to this church for a while as it was on my list of Builth Churches visited by the late Phil Jones. My first thought it was a little out of the way but after visiting last weeks church I realised it was not far from where I stay in Wales.

 "The village church of St Mary was rebuilt in the Neo-Byzantine style by Mary Beatrice Philips in 1866. She was a grand daughter of Francis Philips, who purchased the Abbeycwmhir estate in 1837 with money from the cotton trade. It replaced a church built in 1680. Soon after the Victorian church was built, the Francis Kilvert visited."

From the small carpark you look over the wall towards the church

A very nice lychgate leads you in

The church sign on the fence

Inside off the path gives the best view of the church

Walking down the path to the church

Going around the back looking down to the north of the church

Very little space at the east end so this was the best I got

The open spire at on the tower is unusual

And it stands over the entrance porch

It reminds me more of a watch tower

On the left of the path to the church are many headstones from Victorian times

On the right hand side it is no different

The crosses are of differing types

The cast one looks a little lost in them all

Over on the west side of the path

A cast cross along with stone behind

In fact I was impressed with the number of cast crosses and most in very good condition

Looking north towards the far end of the churchyard

On the north side of the church you will find this large walled plot belonging to one family

The main cross the inscription is faded with the weather

Looking north west from the plot you see mostly more modern headstones

Most are from large family's that live around the area

On a bank to the west side of the churchyard are more graves

A cast iron cross and headstone beside each other

There are a couple of Commonwealth war graves in the churchyard on of Welsh Slate belonging to Private L.S.Morgan the other a stone one of J De Costa from Portugal

 

 

 From near the church looking towards the Lychgate

 

Two family headstones

 

Around the outside of the church you can see these relics from the original Abbey Cwmhir which is not far away down the hill from the church

The gated entrance porch

Now this Tympanum I found very interesting and it was only after visiting the Abbey Ruins I found out this was a copy of the one that used to be on the south door of the abbey. I noticed another copy in the Abbey museum. The original still exists in the garden wall of the farm nearby. You can go to see it and had I realised I was that near I would have done so.

In the porch is the notice board and a flyer for the Clerics Trail

Going inside the church this is the first view you see

From the back of the nave

Different perspective

The arch has a verge written on it

In the chancel

The apse at the end of the chancel with the tree stained glass windows

Altar cross and candle holders

The three stained glass windows in the apse

Panoramic shot of the apse

Herr we look back through the arch to the back of the nave

The pulpit with eagle lectern in the foreground

Looking down from the pulpit

Along the nave from the arch

There are a couple of other stained glass windows, this one is in the chancel

The stunning on with the rose window at the back of the nave

Where you can also see Mabli's Tomb Lid

The information nearby tells you  that the lid was found near the altar during the excavations in 1823-27

Some of the memorials and other interesting things to see in the church

Roll of honour to the right of the painting of Christ

The roll list though who fell in WWI

One of the candelabras along the nave

The plain windows with floral displays in them

Even the font has a beautiful display

More things to see in the church

The church banner beside a chair

I will take my leave of you with this photo of the display on the door of the church

Till Next time have a peaceful weekend