Parish Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building in the Snowdonia National Park local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 19 October 1971. Farmhouse.
Parish Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- first-rood-sparrow
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Snowdonia National Park
- Constituency
- Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP: Liz Saville Roberts (PC)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 19 October 1971
- Type
- Farmhouse
- Address
- Parish Church of St Mary, Dolbenmaen, Gwynedd
- OS grid reference
- SH 506 431
- Coordinates
- 52.96488, -4.22488
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
The Parish Church of St Mary is a small single-cell building dating from the 19th century, constructed from uncoursed local rubble stone with long stone quoins, partially rendered, and topped with a slate roof that features raised gable parapets. The south door, located near the west end, is a pointed arch that contains a 19th-century boarded door with ornamental ironwork. There are pointed-headed windows on both sides, with the central window on the south side showcasing diamond leaded glazing set in timber transomed 'Y'-tracery, and another similar window further east, along with a matching window on the north side. The east window is round-headed. The west wall has been rebuilt and features a square-headed high-set west window, along with a corbelled gabled bellcote topped by a small stone cross. An early 19th-century slate sundial is positioned on the south side.
Inside, the walls are plastered throughout. The roof consists of five bays, defined by 15th-century arch-braced collar beam trusses with cusped king posts and soffits of the principal rafters that rise directly from the walls. There are windbraces to two tiers of purlins, and the eastern bay over the chancel has a boarded soffit at arch-brace level, forming a shallow barrel vault. The floor is tiled, with the chancel raised by a single step. A timber altar rail is supported by iron scrolled stanchions, and the reredos behind the altar is made from the frontal of the former west gallery. Three corbels at the west end likely remain from beams that supported the west gallery, which is illuminated by the high west window.
Fittings include a 19th-century pulpit made of stained wood and an altar from 1931. The east window features an Agnus Dei, while the south window was created in 1937 by J A Brymer. On the north wall, there is an engraved slate tablet commemorating Lowry Wynne of Rhwngyddwyrid, who died in 1719.
Local climate
Parish Church of St Mary sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,550 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 20 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 79% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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