St Mary's Church

St Mary’s Church stands on a low mound in a quiet corner of Anglesey, about four kilometres north-east of Aberffraw. The churchyard wall follows the curve of the mound, and inside there are no gravestones. The church once served the vanished township of Tal-y-llyn, which had twenty-two houses before the Black Death. It began as a chapel for the parish church of St Peulan’s, Llanbeulan, three kilometres to the north. The nave may date from the 12th century, while the chancel was rebuilt in the late 16th century and a side chapel added in the 17th. The church is recognised as a Grade I listed building because it is a rare example of a largely unaltered medieval church. Fewer than two per cent of listed buildings in Wales hold this grade. The 18th-century fittings survived until the early 1990s, when services ended and the building became redundant. In 1999 the Friends of Friendless Churches took it into care on a 999-year lease. Monthly services resume between May and October on one Sunday afternoon. Inside, the nave measures seven and a half metres by four metres and the chancel five metres by three and a half. A pointed arch separates nave from chancel, with hints of 13th-century work. The east window in the chancel has three rounded lights framed in stone from the late 16th century. Clear leaded glass remains behind the boards that now close the windows. An octagonal gritstone font from the 15th century stands on an octagonal stem near the entrance. Stone benches line the nave walls, and simple 18th-century communion rails and pulpit survive. The empty bellcote sits above the west-end doorway, which may be 14th century.