Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Winefride

Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Winefride stands on the A5025 road just west of Amlwch, a small port town on the north coast of Anglesey. Built in the 1930s to designs by the Italian architect Giuseppe Rinvolucri, it is a reinforced-concrete church shaped like an upturned boat. The building is dedicated to Our Lady, Star of the Sea, and to St Winefride, a 7th-century Welsh saint. It was completed in 1937 and consecrated the same year. The church is a Grade II* listed building, recognised for its unusual inter-war design. The church is praised as one of Britain’s most avant-garde places of worship. Cadw describes it as striking and individual, while the Twentieth Century Society calls it a rare and unique church. Critics such as Simon Jenkins have said the exterior alone is worth a visit, noting its sweeping parabolic arches and bold gable. The building’s nautical theme reflects Amlwch’s maritime past, with porthole windows and concrete ribs along its sides. Inside, the church’s concrete ribs frame patterns of lights and coloured marble panels on the lower walls. The main entrance at the south end is reached by stone steps and topped with a mosaic star window. The altar was replaced in 1995 and again in 2011, when a carved crucifix from a Liverpool convent was installed. A parish hall lies beneath the church, and a 13th-century sepulchral slab is housed in the porch. The building’s dramatic lines and maritime motifs make it a striking example of modernist church architecture.