St Mary's Church, Bodewryd

St Mary's Church, Bodewryd
The churchyard and south side of the church
St Mary's Church, Bodewryd Location in Anglesey
Coordinates: 53°23′15″N 4°24′25″W / 53.38750°N 4.406946°W / 53.38750; -4.406946
OS grid reference	SH 400 905
Location	Bodewryd, Anglesey
Country	Wales, United Kingdom
Denomination	Church in Wales
History
Founded	Before 1254; earliest dateable feature of present building is c.1500
Dedication	St Mary
Architecture
Status	Church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	12 May 1970
Specifications
Length	34 feet 9 inches (10.6 m)
Width	14 feet (4.3 m)
Materials	Rubble masonry
Administration
Parish	Llanfechell with Bodewryd with Rhosbeirio with Llanfflewin and Llanbadrig
Deanery	Twrcelyn
Archdeaconry	Bangor
Diocese	Diocese of Bangor
Province	Province of Wales
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Canon G W Edwards

St Mary's Church, Bodewryd is a small medieval church in the hamlet of Bodewryd, in Anglesey, north Wales. The date of construction is unknown, but there was a church on this site in 1254 and the earliest feature to which a date can be given is a doorway in a 15th-century style dating to around 1500. When the church was restored in 1867 after being struck by lightning, stained glass with Islamic-influenced patterns was included in the windows, a requirement of Lord Stanley of Alderley, the church's benefactor, who was a convert to Islam.

The church is used for worship by the Church in Wales, and is one of five churches in a combined parish. It is a Grade II listed building, a national designation given to "buildings of special interest, which warrant every effort being made to preserve them", in particular because it is a "simple, rural church of Medieval origins."

The date of foundation of the first religious building on this site is unknown. A church was recorded here in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, and the church was owned by the Augustinian priory at Penmon, at the south-eastern corner of Anglesey, during the 13th century; the priory also owned (and therefore received the tithes from) the Anglesey churches of Llanddona and St Cwyllog, Llangwyllog at this time. The current building has medieval walls, and the doorway of the porch on the north side of the church, which is of 15th-century style, is the oldest dateable part of the building. A 2009 guide to the buildings of north-west Wales put the date for the doorway at c.1500. St Mary's was restored in 1867 by Henry Kennedy, the architect of the Diocese of Bangor, after the previous church was struck by lightning. It was funded by Lord Stanley of Alderley, a convert to Islam, whose donations to rural churches carried the requirement that Islamic detail should be included in any restoration work. At St Mary's, the windows have geometric patterns of small panes of coloured glass as a result. This condition was also imposed by him for the restoration work at the nearby church of St Peirio, Rhosbeirio (now closed), where the new windows were also decorated with geometric patterns in glass.