St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden

St Deiniol’s Church stands in the Flintshire village of Hawarden, Wales, beside the main road through the settlement. It serves as the parish church for the rectorial benefice of Hawarden and holds Grade II* listed status. The building has links with the Gladstone family, who lived locally for generations. A thousand years of worship have taken place on this site, with the first rector recorded in 1180. The present structure was restored after a fire in 1857 and enlarged with a Gladstone Memorial Chapel in the early 1900s. The church is worth visiting for its fine Victorian craftsmanship and Gladstone connections. James Harrison led the first restoration in the 1850s, and Sir George Gilbert Scott rebuilt the interior after the fire. The Gladstone Memorial Chapel, designed by Douglas & Minshull, contains a marble monument by Sir William Richmond completed in 1906. The west window, made by Morris & Co in 1898, was the last designed by Edward Burne-Jones. A quarter-scale model of the church, built by local men, stands inside. Inside, the nave has north and south aisles and a central tower in Perpendicular style. The chancel holds a sedilia dated 1846 and a reredos showing the Last Supper. The font and choir stalls date from Scott’s restoration, while the pulpit follows Wren’s style. Outside, the churchyard contains a lychgate by Sir Herbert Baker and a baluster sundial. War graves mark the service of local men in two world wars, including William Glynne Charles Gladstone.