The name or dedication of the church.
This identifies the church type. Most churches are parish churches which means they serve a specific parish or area. Other types such as chapel, daughter and mission are mostly historic designations as many are now also parish churches. Please note that former churches are no longer used for worhsip and may be in private ownership.
A unique identification number given to every church.
The name of the diocese in which the church is located.
The name of the archdeaconry in which the church is located.
This is the legal name of the parish as given by the Church Commissioners.
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There are 3 levels of listing: Grade I, II* & II. The majority of buildings which are of special interest are Grade II. A much smaller number of particularly important buildings are listed as Grade II*. Buildings of exceptional interest (approx 2% of the total number of listed buildings) are Grade I.
Ancient monuments and archaeological remains of national importance are protected by law. Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service is responsible for compiling a schedule (list) of these ancient monuments, some of which can be found in churches and churchyards. Examples can include churchyard crosses and the archaeological remains of previous churches or buildings on the site.
There are three National Parks in Wales: Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and Brecon Beacons. These protect 20 percent of the land in Wales, including precious landscapes, habitats, villages and heritage sites.
There are over 500 conservation areas in Wales. They are designated by local planning authorities for their special architectural and historic interest.
The Buildings at Risk register is managed by Cadw (the Welsh Government’s historic environment service) in order to identify the number and type of listed buildings at risk in Wales.
It is often extremely difficult to determine a precise date of construction for a church as many have been extensively altered over time. Church Heritage Cymru therefore shows a date range within which a church is believed to have been constructed. The dates are as follows: Early Medieval (pre 1066), Medieval (post 1066 to 1540), Post Medieval (1540 to 1837), Victorian/Pre WWI (1837 to 1914) and Modern (post 1914).
This is a very brief summary of the church's main features. More detailed nformation can be found in the other fields and pages (tabs) in this database.
Useful information is displayed here for people wishing to visit the church. This may include things like opening hours, catering & toilet facilities, parking, etc.
If the church has its own website the details will be displayed here.
Any further sources of information for the church will be listed here (eg. links to other historic databases).
This is the Ordnance Survey (OS) reference for the location of the church. Some locations will be approximate as this data is continuously being refined and updated.
This is the name of the Local Authoirity within which the church is located.
This describes how the church relates to its immediate and wider environment, sometimes called its setting. It describes how the church contributes to its landscape or townscape and how these things collectively contribute to the character of the area.
Llangurig lies in the southern end of Montgomeryshire at the divergence of the A470 and the A44 some 40km east of Aberystwyth, 6km southwest of Llanidloes and 15 km north northwest of Rhayader. It sits beside one of the few roads through the Cambrian Mountains with a backdrop to the village of high hills while to the south the flat plain of the upper reaches of the river Wye are to be found.
References
Route Planner Directions, traffic and maps AA
This is a description of the ground plan of the church.
If known, the dimensions (measurements) of the church ground plan will be displayed here.
If the footrprint (area) of the church is known, it will be displayed here.
A description of the history and archaeology of the church and its site.
Llangurig is dedicated to St Curig who died in AD 550 and who was Bishop of Llanbadarn Fawr. The link with Curig can be only guessed at but to the west lies Eisteddfa Gurig (seat of Curig). Certainly it was a clas settlement, one of four in Montgomeryshire, the others being Llandinam, Meifod and Llanrhaeader. From about 1280 the church was dependent on the Cistercian House of Strata Florida. In about 1780 the north wall was rebuilt following a collapse but not on its original foundations but such as to make the church narrower. In 1834 the beautiful C15 Rood screen was removed, happily in 1828 the Revd John Parker had made a detailed drawing of it, and in 1834 the church was reseated.
The church was rebuilt/restored in 1887 by Sir George Gilbert Scott and Arthur Baker at the expense of Chevalier Y C Lloyd of Clochfaen at a cost of £11,000. (Lloyd had reverted to Anglicanism and his house was 1km to the south although the present Clochfaen is an 1914-15 extension to his house). Much of the money went on the restoration of the roof to a design based on medieval fragment found in the tower. A screen was made in 1888 using the drawings of John Parker as a guide. Of the original screen only a piece of the foliage trail was reused. Other pieces of the finely carved traceried panels were dispersed (five ending up in Glansevern in Berriew.)
The low spire was clad in copper in 1885.
Cadw Listings Notice
Buildings of Wales – Powys 2013
CPAT Montgomeryshire Churches Survey
The Rural Landscape of the Welsh Borderland – a Study in Historical Geography Dorothy Sylvester
A description of the exterior of the church and the main features of the churchyard.
The church has a large western tower, a nave, a narrower chancel with a lower roof line, and a south porch. The vestry is contained within the space of the chancel at the far east end. The rocks are irregular blocks of a grey sedimentary stone possibly a mud or siltstone, irregularly coursed. The roof is of slates with ornamental ceramic ridge tiles, cross finials at the nave and chancel ends and on the porch. The C19 guttering and downspouts have original cast iron cisterns.
The tower is squat with rough buttresses suggesting that the tower was remodelled rather than rebuilt. Rising above the tower is a broach spire with a weather vane. Much of the tower is Perpendicular in style.
In the north wall of the nave the windows are all from the Victorian restoration and one window containing three cinquefoil-headed lights had a worn reddish pink sandstone surround.
Information about any noteable architects, artists, people, or events associated with the church.
Information about any important features and building fabric.
If known, a list of the church's major building material/s will be displayed here.
Any renewable energy systems the church is using will be listed here.
This section gives a general description of the interior of the church. Further details of any important internal fixtures and fittings will be listed below.
Red and black floor tiles cover the floor of the porch which has plastered walls and a ceiling plastered beneath to arch-braced collar trusses with raking struts and a castellated frieze runs along each wall plate. Red tiles again form the walkways of the nave although the benches are on timber platforms. The roof is of three hammer beam trusses springing from stone corbels and supports a wagon roof of 42 panels, those at the west end where they abut the tower are half sized. Angels protrude off the arched beams, the arch beams are decorated as are the cornices – the whole being Victorian. In the north nave wall is a plain arcade of three wide, four-centred arches supported on two stone pillars reportedly of a C15 date. The west wall has three steps up to the tower.
There is a stepped entrance from the nave into the chancel and further steps into the sanctuary. The floors are encaustic tiles. There is a three-bay hammerbeam roof with arch-braced trusses, heavy rafters and purlins. Three hammerbeams spring from stone corbels with large carved wooden angels holding shields and supporting three arch-braced collar trusses with cusped raking struts and cusped windbraces. On the east wall of the chancel is a wooden reredos on a stone plinth.
In the C16 the font was removed but replaced in 1661 and re-sited in the middle of the nave. Inside the bowl is an inscription indicating who the first person to be baptised was.
There are ten fine examples of Burlison & Grylls stained glass: notably ‘St Michael with the seven Acts of Mercy’, ‘Historical scenes’, ‘St Michael slaying the Red Dragon’, ‘St Elidan & St Maurice’ and ‘St Dunawd with heraldry’. Other scenes include the life of St Curig, the story of Cyricus and his mother Julitta, princely welsh families and the Lloyd family heraldry. While the work was carried out by Burlison & Grylls there was much correspondence between Chevalier Lloyd and the firm, indeed Lloyd sketched out the compositions and must be regarded as the chief designer of the windows. The firm coped well with the Welsh texts. Scots was concerned that the that the windows were kept as light as possible so as not to darken the chancel. Over time some have faded due to the use of borax in their manufacture.
In 1700, three new bells were hung and the old ones recast. The National Bell Register now only records the three new bells which were cast by R Purdue.
Stained Glass in Wales
Information about the church's important internal fixtures and fittings.
Information about the church's important moveable items and artworks.
A description of the ecology of the churchyard.
Information about the presence of bats in the church building or churchyard.
Records whether the church has been consecrated.
Records whether there have been burials in the churchyard.
Records whether the churchyard is still being used for burials.
Records whether there are any war graves in the churchyard.
Any important churchyard structures will be listed here.
Signifiance levels are set at high, medium and low.
Significance defines what is special about a church. This could be architectural, archaeological, historical or liturgical. Here, it describes the relationship of the church to its surrounding area and helps place it within its wider landscape context.
Significance defines what is special about a church. This could be architectural, archaeological, historical or liturgical. Here, it describes the significance of the historic building fabric of the church.
Significance defines what is special about a church. This could be architectural, archaeological, historical or liturgical. Here, it describes the historic significance of the interior of the church.
Significance defines what is special about a church. This could be architectural, archaeological, historical or liturgical. Here, it describes the relationship between the church and its community.