Llangar Church
| All Saints Old Parish Church, Llangar | |
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| Type | Church |
| Location | Llangar, Cynwyd, Denbighshire |
| Coordinates | 52°58′16″N 3°23′45″W / 52.9712°N 3.3959°WCoordinates: 52°58′16″N 3°23′45″W / 52.9712°N 3.3959°W |
| Built | 15th century |
| Rebuilt | 18th century |
| Restored | 1974 |
| Restored by | R. Shoesmith |
| Governing body | Cadw |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name: Church of All Saints, Cynwyd | |
| Designated | 1966 |
| Reference no. | 704 |
| Official name: Llangar Old Parish Church & Churchyard | |
| Reference no. | ME093 |
 Location of All Saints Old Parish Church, Llangar in Denbighshire
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Llangar Church, or All Saints Old Parish Church, Llangar, was formerly the parish church of Llangar with Cynwyd, in the Dee Valley, Denbighshire, North Wales. It is now under the guardianship of Cadw, is a Scheduled Monument, and a grade I Listed Building. It is conserved and open to the public as an example of a rural church with medieval wall paintings and largely intact 18th century interior fittings.
Documentary sources show a church at Llangar in 1291, but the present building would appear to date to the 15th century (1971 excavations within the church found this to be the earliest identifiable occupancy). The Church has an undivided nave and chancel, flagstone floor, and arch-braced roof with 15th century roof trusses. The walls have wall paintings, which probably represent at least 8 different layers of painted schemes. The earliest of these date to the 15th century. The extensive woodwork of the interior includes a gallery, box pews, benches and pulpit, all of which date to the early part of the 18th century.
By 1682 the parish was two identifiable townships of Llangar and Cymmer. By 1856 the majority of the population were living even further up that valley, at Cynwyd, and with the church now distant and in poor repair the decision was made to build a new Church, the Church of St John Evangelist, Cynwyd, and abandon the old Church at Llangar, which thus avoided the renovations of the 19th century. The church is now under the guardianship of Cadw, having become very dilapidated in its abandoned state. A major conservation programme was undertaken from 1974.
The oldest roof trusses are four arch-braced roof trusses forming the four bays in the centre of the Church. At the west end, above the gallery, further trusses were altered in the 17th or 18th centuries and are divided by a collar-beam truss. At the chancel end the roof is panelled over with a barrel shaped ceiling to provide a 'canopy of honour' of 15th century design, although most of the fabric of this is now of later date.
The interior of the Church has an extensive range of early eighteenth century wooden fittings, which, because of the subsequent abandonment of the Church, has survived in a largely unaltered state where nineteenth century improvers would have swept them away. There is a large gallery at the west end, accessed by a stone spiral staircase. The gallery has wooden bench seating for a choir, and an enclosed area and a pyramidal music stand. The main body of the Church has box pews, some facing east, others, alongside the pulpit, face south toward the pulpit, indicating the liturgical emphasis toward the pulpit, where the sermons are delivered, rather than the altar, where the mass is celebrated. The pulpit itself is positioned part-way down the south wall, and is a wood-panelled triple combination of pulpit, reading desk and clerk's desk, which is re-worked from 17th century items.
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