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St Mary's Churchyard |
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Visit our new Photo Album! The Chirk churchyard site is possibly an old Welsh ‘Llan’ (a walled enclosure, containing a chapel, hermits’ huts and burials). References to a burial yard in Chirk dedicated to St Tysillio (a 7th Century Welsh saint) precede any references to a church, but doubtless a wooden church existed here before the Normans built a stone church on this site in the early 11th century. The name changed in the 15th century to St Mary’s. The churchyard was extended in 1882 and 1903 by gifts from the Middleton family and similarly in 1905 by a gift from the Trevor family, to provide space for more burials. Explore:Trevor vault lies adjacent to the East wall of the church, delineated by old iron railings. Maude grave: lies on the south side of the churchyard. Rev. Joseph was vicar from 1852-1874 and was responsible for building the massive stone vicarage on Trevor Road. His wife, Mary, wrote the hymn ‘Thine for ever, God of Love’ and she wrote the graphic account of the fire in the church on Christmas Day 1853. Middleton Monuments: 3 large Celtic cross memorials are along the pathway which transverses the churchyard. Trevor mausoleum: The angel statue inside contains the vault of 5 year old Moyra. Lych-gate: This was erected in 1923 as a memorial to two doctors who were responsible for the foundation of Chirk Hospital. Churchyard volunteersMany volunteers have worked hard in the churchyard over the years. This year we formerly set up ‘St Mary’s Chirk Churchyard Volunteer Group’ with a team of six people. John Bishop, Len Hewitson, Ferelith Smith and Chris, John, Shirley Short. We have other volunteers who come to help on specific projects. We meet regularly every Friday 2-5pm with a tea and cake break. We discuss and plan and work together on projects. The churchyard is very large. Our main aims are to maintain and enhance the natural history and historical interest whilst presenting an attractive and cared for appearance. We have been implementing a cutting regime which is manageable for our team. Our calendar year so far:
Come and look or join us here at Chirk. |
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