St. Aelhaiarn's medieval church (nprn 163185) lies in the old village centre of Guilsfield. The churchyard, formerly used as a cemetery, is roughly circular in shape with an area of about one acre (0.4ha).
The churchyard is raised, standing between 1m and 2m above the level of the lanes which surround it, and is supported by a stone retaining wall. Three entrances break through the wall on the south, south-west and north-west. The south entrance is the main one and opens on to a 2m wide tarmacked path which runs in a straight line to the church porch. The other two entrances connect with footpaths which lead diagonally towards the church, intersecting a short length of path which runs around the west end of the tower to the porch. Nineteenth-century iron gates and gate posts survive at each entrance. 

The main feature of the churchyard layout is the regularly spaced, ancient, managed yew trees which grow around the perimeter of the area. Some have been lost, stumps remain, but there are about 20 trees presently growing. The largest, and oldest, trees are located along the south and west boundary, younger trees along the east. Each is well maintained, the trunks being straight and clean for at least 2m off the ground and the crowns partly clipped to form neat mushroom canopies. Their date is uncertain. It is probable that the medieval churchyard contained yews but an indication of the dates of the older trees comes from the inscription on a gravestone beneath one of the trees planted by a forebear of the interred and suggesting a date in the later sixteenth century.

The churchyard has been closed to new burials since 1907.

Sources:
Cadw 1995: Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales, Powys, 230-2 (ref: PGW(Po)54).
Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, second edition, sheet: Montgomeryshire XV.15 (1902).

RCAHMW, 4 July 2022