The Church Explorer

With my little project of visiting Churches in the Builth Wells area It now leaves me to visit other churches I have been considering. One little group are along what I found in a few churches I visited is the Clerics Trail. These are the churches that the diarist Rev Francis Kilvert visited. Exerts from the diary were compiled into a book and give an inside into what it was like living in the mid Victorian era. I have read the diary so was interested in looking at the churches he visited The first is St Michael & All Angels Clyro where he was first sent

"The parish church is dedicated to Saint Michael and All Angels and was first recorded in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535. It was, however, almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, though the base of the tower is early 15th century."

The war memorial greets you while passing through the gate

The church tower with door in the base for the bell ringers

Looking across the graves at the west end of the church and tower

North west view over the churchyard

The north aisle and church

North east view

Going around to the south east. The yew trees near the church stop most of the view

Churchyard as you come in the gate

West view of the churchyard, the view very similar to when Kilvert preached here

Older headstones near the south of the church

Collage of the churchyard

Chest tomb and headstone with covering of lichen

Older part of the churchyard which is left for nature to thrive among the tombs and headstones

Chest tomb coming to pieces

The churchyard south east of the church. The scene reminiscent of the 1800's apart from the building you see which even by today's standards is ugly

North side of the churchyard with mixture of old and more modern headstones

More modern headstones

This Lychgate near what is the old school is and the east end of the churchyard and opposite the house where Kilvert lived

Gated porch is the way in

Inside you will find the Roll of Honor listing those who served in WWI

From the doorway your first view of the interior

Looking down the nave to the chancel arch

The chancel arch

Chancel arch which has if I read it right

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise"

The chancel with choir stalls and organ

Similar view again with my phone

Altar rails and altar

I found the lights so after turning them on took another shot of the chancel

The altar with carved reredo's

I thought the stained glass window looked quite magnificent

Closer view of the altar and reredo's

Looking back though the chancel arch

The organ and choir stalls

South corner of the chancel with stoup under the window

The Clyro mothers union banner over beside a clerks desk

Collage of items in the church

The stained glass in the chancel is quite beautiful

Window over the stoup

Which shows St Michael

The pulpit which may well be the one Kilvert preached from

From it the view of the nave and north aisle

The north aisle

The altar

This looks like it is the lady chapel with a prayer desk in front of the altar

The stained glass here is no less beautiful

Powell memorial

Memorial to Ralph Hopton Baskerville,

Three brass memorials

I have not got clue on these but the right had one looks old

More modern memorial

Memorial to Spyridion Mavrojani and his wife Dorothy

Couple memorials at the back of the church

They stand out a little more

This one with grieving wife

A funerary hatchment which might belong to the Baskervilles

Door leading to the bell loft in the tower

Over to the right you will find this area put on by the Kilvert Society

Which brings me to this nearby a plaque to his memory and pictures I could say a shrine to him

His last church was at Bredwardine which is not that far away and a place on my list to visit

A photo of Kilvert and pictures, the one of the church I may well stop off again and get a photo of what it looks like now

Below the plaque is this seating area

The part behind the screen is a vestry

Box pews Kilvert would know

The font with some nice decoration on the top

The photo shows the nave with a screen across the chancel arch

In my photo the screen is not there which I feel is a shame.

Till Next time may I wish you all a peaceful week

Remember in your thoughts Bovey Belle who lost Keith this week RIP

I've not shown any chapels for a while so I thought I would rectify this by showing two this week. A few weeks ago while on my way to revisit a church I had been to years ago I passed these chapels so on my way back I stopped off to get some photos.

This first chapel is Hermon Congregational Chapel Rhosgoch which was built back in 1849

Entered though this porch

Originally like other long wall chapels it had two doors this one was blocked off long ago

The north side from the nearby road

The south side from the cemetery is covered in corrugated iron sheets

The cemetery is well kept with a lot of older headstones to see

Looking south from the path

On the south of the chapel the cemetery looks huge

Pillar monument in family plot with their names around it

Tomb chest are not something you see in many chapel cemetery's

As the windows were plain glass I got to see inside and took a couple of photos

It all looked well laid out with chairs that I dare say replaced the old pews

The next chapel a few miles down the road was Moriah Baptist Chapel Llaneilo Graban built in 1834 then rebuilt in 1884. When I first drove past it many years ago they were replacing the large central window