St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn

St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn
The west end of St Mary's Church, showing the entrance door
St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn Location in Anglesey
Coordinates: 53°13′40″N 4°26′54″W / 53.227717°N 4.448388°W / 53.227717; -4.448388
OS grid reference	SH 366 728
Location	Tal-y-llyn, Anglesey
Country	Wales, United Kingdom
Denomination	Church in Wales
History
Founded	Unknown; building possibly 12th century
Dedication	St Mary
Architecture
Status	Chapel of ease
Functional status	Redundant church in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches; occasional summer services
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	5 April 1971
Architectural type	Church
Style	Medieval
Specifications
Length	Nave: 25 ft (7.6 m) Chancel: 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m)
Width	Nave: 13 ft (4.0 m) Chancel: 11 ft (3.4 m)
Other dimensions	South chapel: 9 by 8 ft (2.7 by 2.4 m)
Materials	Rubble masonry with boulder quoins

St Mary's Church, Tal-y-llyn is a medieval church near Aberffraw in Anglesey, north Wales. It was originally a chapel of ease for the parish church of St Peulan's, Llanbeulan, but the township that it once served, Tal-y-llyn, no longer exists. It was declared a redundant church in the early 1990s, and has been in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches since 1999. Services are held once per month during part of the year.

The date of the church is unknown, but the oldest parts could be from the 12th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the 16th century, and a side chapel added in the 17th century. The church furnishings, such as pews, pulpit and communion rails, were added in the 18th century, although some of the pews are modern replacements after vandalism. It is a Grade I listed building, a national designation given to buildings of "exceptional, usually national, interest", because it is "a very rare example of a virtually unrestored Medieval church of simple, rustic character."

St Mary's Church is in a rural and thinly populated part of Anglesey, about 4.25 kilometres (2.6 mi) northeast of Aberffraw and about 3.75 kilometres (2.3 mi) southwest of Gwalchmai. It stands on a low mound with a circumference of approximately 120 yards (110 m); the wall around the churchyard, which contains no gravestones, follows the shape of the mound to some extent. Its original purpose was to serve as one of five chapels of ease for the local parish church, St Peulan's, Llanbeulan, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north; St Peulan's itself has now closed. The township that St Mary's served, Tal-y-llyn, has now disappeared, although before the time of the Black Death there were 22 houses here.