St David Llanynis

This is the last of the Builth Wells Group of churches I that I am due to visit and one of the most remote you can find in the area being in a bend in the River Irfon at the end of a dirt track. The church may date back to Medieval  times but not trace of brickwork remains as it had been rebuilt on numerous occasions and the Victorian restoration seems to have lost all traces. Som history of the CPAT Site
"The location, the original shape of the church yard and the former dedication to St Llyr all point to an early medieval origin, though needless to say there is no documentary evidence to support this. Local tradition has it that Llewelyn attended mass here before he was killed at nearby Cilmery in 1282.          

The St Davids' Episcopal Register contains an entry for Llanynys in 1400, and the Valor Ecclesiasticus in 1535 records a value of  £7 0s 7d for the church.

There are records of the building being repaired or even extensively rebuilt in 1687, again in c.1778, and in 1894. This last restoration may have seen the removal of what was classed as a fine oak screen.

A clearance and renovation scheme in the early 1970s, apparently saved the church from permanent closure, but may have removed earthwork remains of the earlier churchyard."

It was a very overcast day when I visited the church

Above St David's church  from across the track leading to it.
Left the path to the church itself

The West end wall of the church with bellcote















The East end with small window

The North side of the church

Looking West towards the porch on the South Side
Left the Bellcote

Above the porch and inside the entrance door

Inside the church was very light from the larger windows on the North side
Right the Altar rails

Above the Altar and altar cross with the Stained Glass window behind

Looking back up the church to the vestry at the back

The pulpit

Above a view from the pulpit
Left a prayer desk in front of a small organ

One of the two banks of Choir Stalls

Above Left the only item that may be Medieval is the font. Right 

In case you wondered the church has no  lighting so candles are needed
Could not tell you the age of the chest which my gear is laid on

A Roll of Honour Plaque a sad reminder of the past

Memorial to the Bevan family

The memorials are of around the 1800s though some are fadeing

Above memorial to Watin and Elzabeth Bevan
Right a more modern slate memorial to Hampden Inskip

One to Cranley and June Onslow

The one thing that stands out in the church on the South side are the two stained glass windows

They are stunning.

The second with St David at the top shows the pretension in the Temple

It's the detail that struck me

Above The top showing St David
Left a more detailed shot of the faces in the window which may well be St Mary and her Husband

Detail showing the other couple in the window. Could this be Joseph and Mary with an offering

Above a simple wooden cross and book support

One of the gas lamps in the church

Outside the churchyard looks quite sparse

with many old headstones around

This one I could find no details on though it looked very interesting

The headstones all are covered in Lichen

Down the West end of the churchyard is a more modern family grave

and a cross that is covered in water staining. The stone on the family Grave.

Around the East end of the church are a few miss placed headstone leaning against the wall

some are readable

Over by the boundary are a few more either miss placed or fallen over

The older ones have just eroded with time and the covering of lichen

The most recent is this birdbath

a Memorial placed here in 2005

I will leave you this week with a View of the bird bath memorial with St David in the Background
Do have a wonderful weekend

Parish Church of St John Divine

 I had noticed The Parish Church of St John Divine Cwmbach Llechrhyd along what was the old A470  from Builth Wells many years ago when we passed by it on the way to the Elan Valley. Then a new road was built straightening out the old section between Builth Wells and  Newbridge on Wye thus isolating the small hamlet of Cwmbach Llechrhyd and its church. The only time I saw it was when we passed by along the new road above it and looked down on the spire. I finally got around to visiting the church while on my was to Landrindod Wells.There is not  much history I can find on the church other than it is Victorian and built in the 19th century. The church is in the Upper Wye Group of Churches

Your first view of the church from the road

The path leading to the church

The churchyard to the right which is still very much in use

The same can be said looking over to the right

This around the North West side of the church

The South side with the porch

Back around to the West end

Where you can see this inscription along the wall 

The North East end of the church

The East end with a view of the spire that had a ring of bells in it

I did try open the door leading to the church but it was firmly locked. The porch did have these stained glass windows in it

Which looked impressive and made me think what the rest of the church would have looked like inside

Up on the West end is a mixture of old and new graves

The headstones here are all in reasonable condition but then they only date from the 1800's

Looking back down the south side of the Church

The East end churchyard with all the newer burials 

The next church to visit in the area is Newbridge on Wye which is a similar looking church which I hopefully I will get access to 

Have a Peacefull Weekend

Still On Patrol

As today is Remembrance Day here in the UK I thought I would show this memorial to the submariners who were lost during World War Two   

The Dundee International Submarine Memorial is sited between Victoria and Camperdown docks in Dundee Harbour. I came across it while walking around the docks. The Submarines listed as still on Patrol were stationed at Dundee and lists the Six British, Dutch, Norwegian and Russian submarines were lost.

The memorial above is to a commando unit who were killed during Operation Musketoon 

HMS Thames lost after attacking the Battle Cruiser Gneisenau all 62 personnel we lost, O22 lost while on patrol off Norway, all crew were lost.

Uredd sunk by a German mine all crew were lost, the wreck was found in 1985 and is now a war grave. B-1 sunk in error by the RAF off the coast of Norway while being shipped to Russia all crew lost

HMS Oxley sunk in error by HMS Triton all crew lost, O 13 lost in a German Minefield while on patrol off Norway all crew lost

The outline of all the Submarines that we lost 

The opening inscription 

Two of the memorials with one of the warehouses in the background

 The memorial from the dockside

And a last view of the Submarine Memorial 
We Will Remember Them