St Agatha’s Church, Llanymynech
Rectory Lane, close to the A483
The church is in England, just inside the national border, though much of the village is in Wales. The parish was part of the diocese of St Asaph but after the ballot of 1915 became part of Lichfield. St Agatha’s is a remarkable and early instance of the use of terracotta ornament.
Exterior
The foundation stone for Penson’s church at Llanymynech was laid in 1843 following the demolition of the previous building. It was completed by 1845. Penson chose a Romanesque style similar to that he had adopted at Christ Church Welshpool, but made more extensive use of terracotta decoration outside. Pevsner described the building as: 'A crazy demonstration of the neo-Norman fashion. The details are all Anglo-Norman, but the whole inspired by Poitou'.
The church forms an impressive composition, dominated by a muscular tower with big, clasping buttresses and a heavy, pyramid roof. Weight is added by the solid, square pinnacles at each corner of the building. The construction is of local limestone but the ornamentation is of ‘moulded firebrick’, yellow in colour and almost certainly from John Howell’s brick and tile works at Trefonen. Windows have both round and pointed arches.
Zig-zag is used profusely over doors and windows which have ringed shafts on either side – Pevsner calls these ‘elephantine’. They look rather like drainpipes, and Howell was indeed an early producer of ceramic pipes. Surprisingly, the listing description calls the decoration ‘carved’.
The arch over the west door is surrounded by moulded ornamentation, apparently of stylised lotus flowers alternating with palm leaves, as in a Greek anthemion frieze. An identical arrangement, presumably from the same moulds, appears at St Cedwyn’s Church, Llangedwyn. These motifs are found in Romanesque architecture, but the effect here is more classical than Norman.
The east end makes a fine statement with five tall, round-headed windows above low, blank arcading.
Above the west door is a row of seven moulded terracotta heads. Most are stylised medieval figures but two male heads appear more like portraits. Local tradition holds that one represents the architect.
An engraved perspective drawing of the church, with a plan, was published: signed Thos. Penson Architect. It shows the church as built, apart from a round window probably to take a clock in the tower. The chancel, whilst short by later standards, is more spacious than in Penson’s earlier churches.
On 21 September 1844 the Illustrated London News published a similar engraving with an appreciative description of the church, describing it as ‘pure Norman’. The mis-spelling of the architect’s name as ‘Pearson’ was corrected in a later issue.
Shropshire Archives hold a water colour drawing of the church on which the engraving is clearly based, though with a differing landscape and figures. Curiously it is signed ‘Thomas Mainwaring Penson, Architect’, though Penson’s son is not otherwise associated with the design. A second drawing, unsigned, shows the tower with a spire: a faint pencilled inscription appears to read ‘cost of spire 100 l extra’.
To mark the laying of the foundation stone, commemorative tableware was produced. A meat dish now displayed in the church hall has a copy of the engraving on the top: on the reverse is this inscription.
Some of the terracotta shafts had weathered badly and in the 1980s the Vicar, the Rev’d Tony Villiers, arranged for them to be replaced. The new shafts are paler in colour: a stock of replacements is kept in the bier house.
Interior
The broad, aisleless interior is covered by an open timber roof. Llanymynech church was among the last to be built with a gallery at its west end. These galleries were often used by musicians before organs were generally introduced. Penson’s is supported on cast iron columns and has Romanesque arcading along the parapet.
Similar arcading runs along all three walls of the chancel with ringed shafts, varied capitals and zig-zag. Doorways and windows also have shafts and zig-zag in the arches.
The chancel arch is tall with thin terracotta shafts and surmounted by ‘anthemion’ ornament like the west door. The card from which the older photograph is taken was posted in 1911.
Penson’s fittings were replaced later in the 19th Century.
The Building Today
St Agatha’s is well maintained and in regular use for worship. There is good access to the church with car parking to the rear off Rectory Lane. If needed, a key can be obtained from the nearby Bradford Arms pub.
Text: John Hainsworth
Sources
Rev’d Prebendary Tony Villiers: The Parish Church of Llanymynech
Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England, Shropshire, 1958 and (with John Newman) 2006.
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101054633-church-of-st-agatha-llanymynech-and-pant
