Tal-y-Llyn - St. Mary's
This church stands in a remote, sparsely populated part of Anglesey three miles north of Aberffraw. In medieval days the area had 22 houses but the Black Death completely wiped out the population. It is on a raised mound that may have been a prehistoric site, an example of the common practice of building Christian churches on older pagan sites. A circular enclosure wall surrounds the building.
The nave is the oldest part, perhaps 12th century. The massive wooden roof trusses, shown below, date to the late 15th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the 16th century and a chapel was added to the side in the 17th century. A date carved on the communion rail shows that it was added in 1764. The church once housed a 12th century baptismal font, but this was moved after World War II to a church near Bangor, then to St. Maelog's church in Llanfaelog. The remaining octagonal font is from the 15th century.
This was a chapel of ease for the Llanbeulan parish, built to provide services to local people who could not travel to the main parish church, St. Peulan's. It functioned in this capacity until 1992 when it was closed. It began to decay and suffer vandalism, but was rescued by the Friends of Friendless Churches, who restored it. Part of the restorations included having copies made of the one surviving bench in the nave, as all the others had been stolen. Services are still occasionally held here.
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