The building of St Eleth's church, Amlwch, in 1800 reflects local prosperity after the opening of the Parys Mountain copper mines in 1768. Most of the funds for the new church, which was consecrated in 1800, came from the Copper Mines Company. It was designed by James Wyatt and the commission presumably derived from Wyatt's patron at Plas Newydd, Llanedwen, Henry, 9th Baron Paget, who contributed to the cost of £2,500, as did the other part-owner of the Parys mine, the Rev. Edward Hughes, and the manager Thomas Williams.

It was deemed to be in need of improvement by 1867 (perhaps not least because the Neo-classical preaching-box form of the original did not suit High Victorian theology). The church was lightly remodelled in a gothic style by Kennedy and O'Donaghue: galleries were removed, arcades and a chancel arch inserted, and gothic tracery installed in the existing windows. The church was restored and some internal re-ordering was carried out to the designs of Adam Voelcker, in 1999-2000.

However, it remains a Neo-classical church in spirit (with some late gothic elements) built of roughly coursed and graded rubble with tooled ashlar dressings and a shallow pitched slate roof. The tower forms the centrepiece and has a simple arched entrance with oculus, louvred bell-chamber and clock above. The fine balustraded parapet has angle piers surmounted by shaped pinnacles. There is a broad-spanned nave. A series of memorial stones are within the church, mainly re-sited from an earlier church on the site.

Reference: Cadw listed buildings database.
Source: Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker (2009), The Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd. Pevsner Architectural Guide, page 93.

RCAHMW, October 2009