St Peulan's Church

St Peulan’s Church stands in a quiet field on Anglesey’s low hills, four kilometres south-east of Bryngwran. The oldest part is the 12th-century nave of rough stone dressed with gritstone, while the narrower chancel and south chapel were added two centuries later. A blocked west door and a 19th-century door on the chapel’s east side show how the building has been changed. The slate roof is topped with stone copings and small iron crosses mark the chancel and chapel ridges. Inside, the nave is divided from the chapel and chancel by 14th-century arches, and the walls carry windows from the 12th to the 19th centuries. The church’s chief treasure is its font, a rectangular block that may date from the first half of the 11th century. One short side bears a ringed cross with two hemispheres beneath, thought to represent bee skeps, and another side shows a row of arches above lozenges. Historians such as David Petts and Peter Lord have studied the carvings, noting that the font’s plain fourth side suggests it was never meant to be seen once in place. The Friends of Friendless Churches call it the building’s chief glory and place it among Anglesey’s finest Romanesque works. Visitors walk along a grass track from the lane to find the church set in a grassy churchyard. A war grave of a Royal Welsh Fusiliers soldier from the First World War lies to the east. Inside, the 17th-century pews include a stall dated 1664 for William Bold of Treyrddol, and plain 19th-century fittings frame the earlier structure. The east window of the chancel, with two trefoiled lights and carved heads, remains a focus of light and colour. The simple medieval character survives despite later repairs, giving the small building a quiet strength.