Anglesey - Day 7 Friday 21st June - Beaumaris Part 2: St Mary and St Nicholas

I told the family I would be 15/20 minutes looking at the church. Well, of course, I was a little bit longer and that combined with having an icecream was probably the reason we were more or less the last to board the boat! (see previous post!). A little over 20 minutes was nowhere near long enough to see the church properly and all I could do was grab a church guide and take as many photos as possible. I knew two important features were the ancient stone sarcophagus belonging to a princess in the porch and an old alabaster tomb but there were quite a few features I missed.

Most of the church building was constructed in the 14th century. The Nave (in the Decorated style) dates from 1330 when King Edward I built the final of his great castles in North Wales. The chancel dates from the 15th century and is in the Perpendicular style. The church was restored in 1902 and many of the furnishings - font, and pews date from this time.

I am glad I took a photo of this unusual looking tomb as it is a rare table tomb dating to the 18th century with moulded legs and an arched stone canopy.

Interesting graves missed included a tomb chest commemorating a blind musician John Hughes (1650-1710) who could sing in 7 languages and a gravestone of one of the last families to live on Puffin Island - a Hugh and Jane Jones.



In the South Porch is a royal sarcophagus much older than the church. It is an empty stone coffin with the effigy of Princess Joan who was natural daughter of King John of England and married to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales. According to the Britain Express website it was at first a happy marriage but in 1230 she was discovered in bed with William de Braose, a Norman knight. Braose was hung on the instructions of the prince and Joan exiled for a year at Garth Celyn. Llewelyn did eventually forgive her and she returned to court in 1231. She died in 1237 and initially her remains lay in a community of friars at Llanfaes but when the priory closed at the Dissolution the coffin was lost. At one time it was even used as a horse trough but it was finally rescued and came into the care of the church in the 19th century.

The top of the coffin has a floriate design with the hands of Joan in prayer in her effigy.

I didn't realise until afterwards that at her feet is a wyvern ( a bipedal dragon with a tail often ending in an arrow or diamond shaped tip) so I cropped a photo to show a close up of this part of the coffin lid - sadly I have failed to make out a wyvern.

This is an 18th century Watchman's Box which was probably used to keep the rector dry when conducting burials in the rain. However, it may also have been used by someone guarding the churchyard to prevent body snatching.

Font which dates back to the 1902 restoration.

The alabaster tomb dates from around 1490 and is the tomb of William Bulkeley, who was Deputy Constable of the castle, and his wife Ellin. At that time alabaster tombs were made in the Derby and Nottingham area. William wears a salet, a light helmet and at his feet is a heraldic lion. The tomb is covered in graffiti from over the centuries.

Somehow and please don't ask me how I managed to miss the bishops and saints carved round the sides of the tomb.

Next missed item was a brass plaque from 1743 which records gifts to the poor of the town.

Thankfully, I did not miss the 15th century misericords which probably came from the friary 2 miles away in Llanfaes (the same place where Princess Joan's coffin was initially laid to rest).

I though the misericords were in super condition but the photos are not brilliant as despite upping iso and changing aperture I was only getting shutter speeds of 1/15th of a second! Luckily I could rest my arms and camera on the choir stalls.

The carvings are from medieval life and include a King, bishops, nuns, tonsured monks, rich merchants and a jewelled aristocratic couple. Also there are a few of people carrying out their daily jobs - a man with a barrel of beer on his head, a woman with a milk pail balanced on her head, a woman carrying a wheatsheaf and also a woman with two tankards balanced again on her head.

I think I managed to get photos of most of them apart from those that were at a difficult angle.

I thought I had got a photo of the North side brass from ~1530 which contains in the topmost section a rare representation of the Holy Trinity where God supports the horizontals of a cross and the dove depicts the Holy Spirit. Also on the plaque is the figure of St John holding a chalice over which there is a devil. Some biblical accounts mention John being challenged to drink from a poisoned chalice as proof of God's power.

However, having cropped this photo I really cannot see the above items so I suspect this may be another plaque? Oh the joys of rushing round a church!

I've now got to the stage where I can recognised medieval glass so without even reading the guide I took a lot of photos of this window which does contain fragments of late medieval glass which survived the havoc caused by the Reformation and Oliver Cromwell's troops.

A few more stained glass windows.

It really was an interesting church and I would have liked D to have seen the Princess Joan sarcophagus as he is so interested in history. Hopefully we will revisit Beaumaris in the future and I will try and spend longer in the church and get a better photo of the wyvern and the saints and other items I missed!




All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera


The next post will include Beaumaris Castle which D and I had all to ourselves!!!!

Reference Britain Express Website
A Quick Guide to St Mary and St Nicholas Church Beaumaris