St Peirio's Church, Rhosbeirio

St Peirio's Church
The church from the east
St Peirio's Church Location in Anglesey
Coordinates: 53°23′53″N 4°25′17″W / 53.397962°N 4.421301°W / 53.397962; -4.421301
OS grid reference	SH391917
Location	Rhosbeirio, Anglesey
Country	Wales, United Kingdom
History
Founded	605 (reputedly) Current building said to date from no earlier than the 15th century
Dedication	St Peirio
Architecture
Status	Church
Functional status	Closed
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	12 May 1970
Style	Medieval
Specifications
Length	36 ft (11.0 m)
Width	13 ft 9 in (4.2 m)
Materials	Rubble masonry

St Peirio's Church is a small disused medieval church, in Rhosbeirio, Anglesey, north Wales. It is unclear when a church was first established on this site, although it has been said that this happened in about 605. The current structure, which may date from the 15th century, has been restored in the 18th and 19th centuries. It ceased being used for services some years ago and has been boarded up.

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", as "a simple, rural Medieval church" that retains "much of its original vernacular character" despite alterations. One 19th-century writer said that it was "one of the humblest ecclesiastical buildings in Anglesey", and that there were "no architectural features in this church worthy of delineation."

The date of the original foundation of a Christian building at this location is unclear, although one 19th-century writer said that it is supposed that a church was first established here in about 605. No part of a building from that period survives; the walls of the present structure have been said (by the 19th-century clergyman and antiquarian Harry Longueville Jones) to be "probably not older than the fifteenth century". Some restoration took place in 1812. The building was again restored, and a new roof added, in the late 19th century. The work was funded by Lord Stanley of Alderley, a convert to Islam and patron of the church, whose donations to rural churches carried the requirement that Islamic detail should be included in any restoration work. At St Peirio's, the windows have geometric patterns of small panes of coloured glass as a result. The same condition was imposed by him for the work carried out in 1867 nearby at St Mary's Church, Bodewryd.

St Peirio's is set in a churchyard in the countryside of Anglesey, by a road between Llanfechell and Bodewryd, to the north of the island, and is approached along a tree-lined path. It is about 2.25 kilometres (1.40 mi) from St Mechell's Church, Llanfechell (which is still in use), and at one point was a chapel of ease to St Eilian's Church, Llaneilian. In her history of Anglesey, published in 1833, the Welsh antiquarian Angharad Llwyd noted that the "small ancient edifice" was some distance from the village of Rhosbeirio, and that a service was only held in it on the third Sunday of the month. By the time of the publication of a guide to the churches of Anglesey in 2006, the church had been closed for some years and the windows boarded up; it was noted that the fabric was still in generally good condition.