St Dunawd's Church

St Dunawd’s Church stands in the quiet village of Bangor-on-Dee in Wrexham County Borough. It is a Grade II* listed Anglican church, still used for worship today. The site has been sacred since about 560 when St Dunawd founded a monastery there. In 616 the monastery was destroyed and 1,200 monks were killed. A sandstone church replaced it around 1300, and parts of that building remain. The church has been restored several times. Richard Trubshaw worked on it between 1723 and 1726, adding the bell tower. John Douglas carried out major changes in 1868 and 1877, extending the south aisle and adding a half-timbered porch. A vestry and new organ position were added in 1913. Inside, the stalls, rails, pews and pulpit date from these restorations, with carved sunflower patterns on the pulpit. Outside, the churchyard holds six war graves, five from the First World War and one from the Second. The brick-and-stone tower has round-headed bell openings and urn-like finials. Inside, a fourteenth-century east window lights the chancel, and a brass lectern remembers three brothers lost in the Great War.