St Mary's Church

St Mary’s Church stands in the centre of Derwen, a small village in Denbighshire, Wales. The building is made of local gritstone and shale, with a slate roof and a bellcote at the west end dated 1751. Its nave and chancel share a single roof, and a short north transept once led to the rood screen loft. The churchyard is circular, suggesting an earlier place of worship once stood there. A large buttress supports the west wall, and the east window is in the Perpendicular style with five wide lights. The church was restored in 1857 by Henry Kennedy, who removed the west gallery and laid encaustic tiles in the sanctuary in 1907. The church is Grade I listed for its exceptionally complete rood screen and loft, which retain medieval features. The screen is finely carved with Perpendicular details, and the loft survives intact, a rare survival noted by architectural historian Edward Hubbard. The font is dated 1665, and the stained glass in the south chancel window, depicting the Nativity, Resurrection and Ascension, was designed by H. E. Wooldridge in 1869. The church was closed for worship in 1998–99 and is now cared for by the Friends of Friendless Churches under a 999-year lease. In the churchyard stands Derwen Cross, a tall medieval sculpture nearly 4.6 metres high, carved in the Gothic style with crowned heads and foliage. Its shaft and head contain niches with weathered figures, interpreted as the Virgin and Child, the Coronation of the Virgin, Justice or an angel, and the Crucifixion. The cross is Grade II* listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Nearby is an 18th- or 19th-century sundial on a limestone pillar, and a 17th-century building called Church House, once used as a hearse house or parish room. The churchyard also contains a buttress supporting the west wall and a slate roof with a tile ridge, completing the scene.