On the Llŷn Peninsula, St Mary’s, Penllech sits in splendid isolation overlooking the Irish Sea. A church has been here for 800yrs, serving generations of farming communities.
From the 1500s, it was also used as a school, and was one of the earliest grammar schools in Wales.
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From the 1500s, it was also used as a school, and was one of the earliest grammar schools in Wales.
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The church's grey interior, open benches, and box-pews jostling at the east end, is simple and special. Most of what you see today is a rebuilding in 1840 by Samuel Jones. It's hard to imagine a classroom in this this place of deep stillness.
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One of the students of Penllech was Henry Rowlands, a man who went on to Oxford to gain a university education and eventually became the Bishop of Bangor.
But Rowlands never forgot the parish of his childhood – or its people.
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But Rowlands never forgot the parish of his childhood – or its people.
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T. J. Hughes explains how Rowlands, in his will, he left money to repair roads, found a new school and support the poor - in particular,’the poor shall be given clothing - "I do not mean white paltry flannel or black foolish cotton but good boarded frieze whatever it cost"..'
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