St Mary's - Churchyard Cemetery - Begelly, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
N 51° 43.976 W 004° 43.600
30U E 380763 N 5732745
The 13th Century Church of St Mary, stands surrounded by ancient burials & old gravestones. Only the tower & walls are mediaeval, the rest of the church was restored in 1886. Located in Begelly, Kilgety, Pembrokeshire, South Wales.
Waymark Code: WMT9C6
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/19/2016
Views: 0
The church stands in a large churchyard with low stone wall, stile & lych-gate to the North,
Many hundred of parishioners lie in unmarked graves, who were buried before gravestones were in common use, the headstones that now surround the Church are dated the late 18 hundreds or early to mid 19 hundreds, including 2 war graves. I have no memory of modern or recent gravestones being present.
This ancient Norman church dates from The 13th Century. St Mary's Church, Begelly, is a Church in Wales denomination in the Dioceses of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, South Wales.
From the British Listed Buildings Website:
"An extensive restoration was carried out in 1886 under the Rev. Frederick Ball. The architect was E M Bruce Vaughan of Cardiff. The church was said to be in very bad repair. Services were held in the Rectory barn during the work. The roofs were rebuilt throughout. The nave roof was restored to the level of an earlier roof indicated by marks on the tower. The doors and windows were entirely reconstructed. The old S porch was already in use as a vestry, and its outer archway blocked. It was a request of the Bishop that the original stones of the archway jambs should be retained and a small window placed in the blocking of the opening. Corbels indicating the positions of former roof trusses were preserved and also the corbels and stairs of the rood.
Several perhaps C15 stray carved stones of the mediaeval church survived and are now displayed on the shelves of the windows. One is a mullion fragment, others carry six-petal flower motifs." Text Source: (
visit link)
"The 13th Century church is one of Pembrokeshire’s hidden gems, yet with Pembrokeshire's tallest church tower – it’s not that well hidden!
The church is a Grade 2 listed building and is a focal point of the community greeting hundreds of thousands of tourists
at the gateway to Pembrokeshire every year.
St Mary's Church was originally dedicated to St Bugail, which in Welsh means "Shepherd" and
this may have been the origin of the name.
The crenelated tower provides a striking landmark and at 71 feet high, with 3 storeys, houses a bell made in 1760 by Bayley in Bridgewater and
is the tallest tower in the county.
The bell bears the inscription "My sound is good, my shape is neat. 'Twas Bayley made me so complete" 1760.
Amongst the features of the church are the medieval font, a holy water stoup and the chancel arch “apparently Norman – built of local stone”." Information Source: (
visit link) &
(
visit link)