All Saints' Church, Llangar

All Saints’ Church stands in the Dee Valley near Cynwyd, Denbighshire. It was the parish church of Llangar until the 19th century, when a new church was built higher up the valley. The present building dates mainly from the 15th century, with later additions and fittings. It is now looked after by Cadw as a Scheduled Monument and Grade I listed building. The church shows medieval wall paintings beneath later layers and keeps its 18th-century woodwork intact. Excavations in 1971 showed the earliest occupation on the site began in the 15th century. The church is worth visiting for its rare survival of multiple painted schemes on the walls. The north and south walls carry fragments of eight different layers of painting from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The south wall once showed the seven deadly sins as riders on animals, a device found in only three churches in Britain. A large skeleton of Death painted in the 18th century reminds visitors of mortality. The interior woodwork, including box pews, a gallery and a triple-decker pulpit, dates from the early 1700s and escaped later alterations. Inside, the undivided nave and chancel have a flagstone floor and an arch-braced roof with medieval trusses. The west gallery is reached by a stone spiral stair and holds choir seating and a pyramidal music stand. The box pews face the pulpit rather than the altar, reflecting the post-Reformation emphasis on preaching. The north wall shows a painted bishop in a fictive niche and a painted text of the Lord’s Prayer in Welsh. The church’s long walls have remained intact since the first paintings were applied, though conservators have had to decide which layers to reveal.