St Edern's Church, Bodedern

St Edern's Church, Bodedern
The porch and south side of the nave and chancel
St Edern's Church, Bodedern Location in Anglesey
Coordinates: 53°17′41″N 4°30′07″W / 53.294727°N 4.501893°W / 53.294727; -4.501893
OS grid reference	SH 333 804
Location	Bodedern, Anglesey
Country	Wales, United Kingdom
Denomination	Church in Wales
History
Founded	6th century; earliest parts of present building are 14th-century
Founder(s)	St Edern
Dedication	St Edern
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	5 April 1971
Architect(s)	Henry Kennedy (1871 rebuilding and restoration)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Perpendicular
Specifications
Length	59 ft 6 in (18.1 m) (nave)
Nave width	16 ft 9 in (5.1 m)
Other dimensions	Chancel: 17 by 16 ft (5.2 by 4.9 m)
Materials	Stone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	Bodedern with Llanfaethlu
Deanery	Llifon and Talybolion
Archdeaconry	Bangor
Diocese	Diocese of Bangor
Province	Province of Wales
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Vacant since September 2009

St Edern's Church, Bodedern (sometimes referred to as St Ederyn's Church) is a medieval parish church in the village of Bodedern, in Anglesey, north Wales. Although St Edern established a church in the area in the 6th century, the oldest parts of the present building date from the 14th century. Subsequent alterations include the addition of some windows in the 15th century, and a chancel, transept and porch in the 19th century, when the nave walls were largely rebuilt. Stained glass was also inserted into the windows of the chancel and transept.

The church contains a 6th-century inscribed stone found near the village, a medieval font, and some 17th-century decorated wooden panels from Jesus College, Oxford, which was formerly connected with the church. St Edern's also owns three pieces of 19th-century church silverware, but a silver chalice dated 1574 was lost some time during the 19th century. An 18th-century gallery at the west end rests on two oak crossbeams, one of which was previously used to support the rood loft.

The church is still used for worship by the Church in Wales, one of nine in a combined parish, but as of 2013 there has not been a vicar in the parish since September 2009. It is a Grade II* listed building, a national designation given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest", in particular because it is regarded as "a good example of a late medieval church, its character maintained in the late 19th-century restoration and rebuilding work, and retaining some of the medieval fabric and windows."

Bodedern is a village in Anglesey, Wales, about 5 miles (8 km) from the port town of Holyhead. "Aeternus", known in Welsh as St Edern or sometimes in a variant spelling as "St Ederyn", is recorded in the Welsh genealogies as the son or grandson of Beli ap Rhun (a 6th-century king of Gwynedd). He appears as "Edern ap Nudd", one of the knights of King Arthur, in the Mabinogion (a collection of medieval Welsh prose tales). He established a church in the area in the 6th century, perhaps at Pen Eglwys Edern, a site about half a mile away (800 m) from the present building (eglwys means "church" and pen means "head" or "top"). Excavations there in the early 1970s revealed a cemetery from the 5th or 6th century. The village takes its name from the saint; the Welsh prefix bod means "dwelling of". The present building stands in a churchyard in the centre of Bodedern, on the north side of Church Street.