St Michael & All Angels, Efenechtyd

St Michael and All Angels is a Grade II* Church in Wales parish church in the village of Efenechtyd, Denbighshire, in the Diocese of St Asaph, standing in a rubble-walled churchyard.

Overview

Cadw records an ancient llan site, first named in the Norwich Taxatio of 1253 as Eccla de Wenechdit. The present single-cell church may be that structure in essence, with an early eastward extension of the chancel. A west porch of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century is unusual in being at the west end. The cluster-truss roof is probably mid fourteenth century, as is the east window (perhaps relocated). Restorations followed in 1714 and in 1873 under Arthur Baker, at a cost of £500.

The fabric is local limestone with a slate roof and stone-coped gables. The west gable has a two-stage sandstone bellcote; the porch is timber-framed above rubble side walls, with an original oak post-and-panel door. Inside, Cadw notes a primitive late-medieval oak tub font, perhaps fourteenth century; reused seventeenth-century pew ends; a late seventeenth-century pulpit; and a fragment of post-Reformation wall painting of the Commandments in Welsh. The church is listed Grade II* for its medieval character and unusual west porch.

Further Information

• Cadw listed building 730
• Mission Area