St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church
The Parish Church of St. Mary's, Beddgelert, had its origins in a Celtic Christian Community established on the present site in the 6th Century. That community eventually became an Augustinian Priory in the 13th Century. In the Middle ages, the Priory grew to importance through the endowments of rich nobles, including Prince Llewelyn the Great. It was destroyed by fire in 1283/4 and restored by Edward I, the carelessness of whose troops is thought to have been responsible for the original destruction. In 1286, following the restoration of the Priory, Bishop Anian of Bangor used these words "know all, that the said house of the Blessed Mary is the senior religious house in all Wales (except the Island of Saints, Bardigeya [Bardsey Island]), and of better hospitality and of more common resort for the poor, and for the English and Welsh travellers, for those passing from England and West Wales to North Wales, and for those going from Ireland and North Wales into England". The Priory was said to have been devastated a second time in the early 16th Century, and it is likely that it was finally dismantled or allowed to fall into ruin during the period 1536-1539 on the orders of Henry VIII, leaving only the Chapel standing.
Little remains of the original Chapel apart from parts of the North and West walls which are believed to be 12th Century, along with other sections of those walls together with the East wall which are 13th Century. The North wall has two fine 13th Century arches and doorway to the vestry, thought to have led to the Prior's cell. The East wall has a beautiful 13th Century triple lancet window, described by Hughes and North in The Old Churches of Snowdonia as "possibly the finest architectural feature in the whole of Snowdonia": the same writers describe the two arches in the East wall as "the most elaborate we shall meet" (in Snowdonia). In the name of puritanical nonconformity, much of the Church's old carved woodwork and stained glass was removed during the 1830 "renovation", together with the north choir. The latter was restored in 1882. The present elaborate rood screen and some of the other carved woodwork was presented to the Church in 1921 by the Rev. John Morris Parry. The font carries two curious inscriptions, believed to date from the 1882 restoration. The upper one being in a so called Bardic Alphabet devised by the bard Iolo Morganwg (1747 - 1826), in English it reads "R.W. Vicar, W.E.P. Churchwarden. Restored : 1882". The lower inscription is the baptismal formula "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen", this is written in characters invented by the 8th Century historian and monk, Nemnius (Nennius, Nemnivus). He was the Nemnius who compiled Historia Brittonum between 790 and 800. In a M.S. (now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) written in 820 the scribe says that Memnius invented the alphabet in order to rebut the charge brought by a Saxon cleric that the Britons had no alphabet of their own.
One treasure of this church is in the National Museum of Wales. This is the silver chalice and paten given by Sir John Williams in 1610. Sir John, Court Goldsmith to King James I, was born at nearby Hafod Lwyfog.