St Michael & All Angels Church sits within a curvilinear churchyard, in the Ceredigion village of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn (NPRN 33047).

The exact date the church was built is not known; it first appears in records around AD 1300, though its origins are thought to be much earlier. The Welsh Lords of the Commote of Creuddyn, for which Llanfihangel was the administrative centre with court and probable bond village, would almost certainly have had a church here and the Brut y Tywysogion (The Chronicle of the Princes) notes that Gwenllian, daughter of Maelgwn Ieuanc (Fychan), died at her father’s court or Llys at Llanfihangel Gelynrhod (an older name for the settlement) in 1254, following which she was buried at Strata Florida. Three cross-inscribed stones dating between AD 600 and AD 1000 have also been found at Llantrisant Church, near Devil’s Bridge (NPRNs 419306 and 402331). This church was once an upland chapel of ease to the church at Llanfihangel y Creuddyn and suggests that the first church in Llanfihangel may well have been established during the early medieval period.

The church is referred to as Llanfihangel Gelyndrod on its chalice dating to 1751. By 1833 it had become the church for the wider parish of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn in the patronage of the Bishop of St Davids. It was among the last in Ceredigion to keep its Christmas morning plygain service, which was held for the last time in 1960. The church also has its own carol, 'Trigolion Llanfihangel', written in 1805 by the then curate, David Rowlands.

The church is a Grade II* Listed Building (no. 9850), an example of a largely unaltered Welsh medieval church. It is plain and dignified in style and built in a cross shape, complete with imposing 3-storey central tower. It is the best example of the three surviving cruciform churches with central towers in Ceredigion. The others are at Llanbadarn Fawr and Llanddewibrefi, which unlike Llanfihangel, were former monastic centres.

St Michael’s is constructed of local rubble stone with Forest of Dean sandstone dressings (dating to refurbishment in 1871) and a slate roof. The nave, chancel, transepts, crossing and tower (accessed from a spiral stair in the thickness of the north-east crossing with a narrow, square-headed doorway) are medieval in date with later additions comprising the porch (1871 replacing an earlier porch), vestry, octagonal spire (1898) and below-ground boiler house (1900s possibly from renovations in 1933).

Internally the nave and transept wagon roofs (a similar roof exists under boarding in the chancel), substantial tower floor beams and the bell-frame all date from a sustained refurbishment project undertaken in the early decades of the AD 1500s. This has been confirmed through dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) by RCAHMW and the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory, undertaken in 2019. Using oaks felled between 1502 and 1538, fashionable and expensive wagon roofs were installed by craftsmen in the nave and transepts (presumably also the chancel), and new floors were fitted in the church tower. At the top of the tower, a bell-frame to hold three bells was installed in 1537-8. Such an ambitious programme of work illustrates the prosperity of Llanfihangel parish, despite the period of instability leading up to the Reformation.

Most of the interior decoration and fittings including the quarry tile floor (raised over a void and flues), pitch pine pulpit and pews, and windows date to several phases of repairs, alterations and refurbishments, which since 1789 have been recorded in the Vestry Book (held by National Library Wales). Recorded dates for refurbishment are 1831, 1841, 1871 (main restoration), 1898, 1905, 1933 and 1989 (Evans 1915 and 1918, Salter 1994)

Notable features include:

• 2 fonts, a 19th century oolite font with octagonal bowl and a second older (possibly Medieval) octagonal font with broken round shaft.
• Carved oak reredos depicting the last supper in Baroque style by Belgian sculptor Jules Bernaerts with the inscription below 'To the Glory of God and to commemorate the victorious restoration of peace this reredos is presented by Mr and Mrs Edward Roberts March 1919'.
• Stained glass windows. The commemorative west window of 2001 depicting rural scenes and the north chancel window of 19th century date with leaf design.
• Tower bell-frame dating to 1537-8. King-post design to hold a peal of 3 bells. A system of Arabic numbers are carved into the timbers which would have helped guide those tasked with assembling (or reassembling) the frame up in the tower.
• Church bell (currently in South Transept). Dating to 1686 and cast by William and Thomas Covey of Limerick in Ireland, though not originally for St Michael’s. It bears the inscription: HENRY PARRY FELIX REES/CHURCH WARDENS 1686/MORGAN LLOYD GNT. Part of the bell is missing, the result of being struck with a heavy hammer to make it ring louder at a wedding in 1878.
• Curvilinear churchyard. In use until 1928 when a new burial ground for the church was established on the edge of the village. Includes a gravestone of 1733, with brass tablet screwed in and a rare painted gravestone dating to 1835.

Between 2019 and 2023 a church and community project undertook the latest phase of repairs and improvements to the church. With a grant of £187,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, together with additional funding from the National Churches Trust, Ceredigion County Council, the Wolfson Foundation, the Headley Trust, the Church in Wales and the local community, repairs to the church addressed serious problems of damp by stopping water leaking through the tower into the church and by replacing the existing heating system. This work included repointing the south and west face of the tower with hot-lime mortar. Access was also improved by installing new stairs to provide safe public access in the form of ‘tower tours’ up the tower to the belfry. A new history area was also created in the south transept where interpretation and exhibits are now on display. The Royal Commission worked closely with the community group during this project. Alongside dendrochronology (noted above), a laser scan survey of the church tower was undertaken prior to work commencing.

Louise Barker, RCAHMW, July 2023

Sources:

Alcock, N. and Tyers, C (eds), 2019, Tree Ring Dates Lists 2019. Vernacular Architecture Vol. 50 (List 311)

Cadw Listed Building Description. Reference Number 9850 https://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/listedbuilding/FullReport?lang=&id=9850

Dyfed Archaeological Trust St Michael, Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn, Ceredigion (PRN 5176) https://www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/wp/discovery/projects/churches/st-michael-llanfihangel-y-creuddyn-ceredigion/

Evans, G. E., 1915, ‘Vanished and Vanishing Cardiganshire’, Transactions of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society Vol. II.

Evans, G. E., 1918, ‘Cardiganshire: Its Plate, Records and Registers’, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol. XVIII, Sixth Series.

Glynne, S. R., 1897, ‘Notes on the Older Churches in the Four Welsh Dioceses’, Archaeologia Cambrensis, Vol. XIV, Fifth Series.

Jenkins, G. H., Suggett, R., White, E. (eds), 2019, Cardiganshire County History Volume 2. Medieval and Early Modern Cardiganshire.

Lloyd, T., Orbach, J., Scourfield, R. 2006, The Buildings of Wales: Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion (Pevsner Architectural Guide)

Ludlow,N., 2000 , Cadw Welsh Historic Churches Project, Ceredigion Churches: An overview of the churches in Ceredigion https://www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/ceredigionchurches.pdf

Ludlow, N., 2002, Cadw Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project, Ceredigion, Part 1.

Ludlow,N., 2004 , Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project, Stage 2: Ceredigion Gazetteer of sites. Dyfed Archaeological Trust Cadw-funded project report http://www.walesher1974.org/herumd.php?group=DAT&level=3&docid=301369603

Salter, M., 1994, The Old Parish Churches of South West Wales.

Suggett, R., 2021, Painted Temples: Wallpaintings and Rood-screens in Welsh Churches, 1200–1800, (RCAHMW), pp. 333, n.58.