Welsh Journals

persuading the Church Building Commissioners to put up St. Matthew's, Buckley, at a cost of £ 4,000. 74 Landed proprietors were prominent in some other parishes and districts, though none of them on the scale of the Hawarden family, in Bodfari, Brynford, Eyton, Llanfynydd, Mostyn and Nannerch.75 This was particu- larly the case in the second half of the century, as, for example, in 1872-4 when Bettisfield was provided with a church at the sole expense of Lord Hanmer.76 Where gentry influence and benevolence were not forthcoming, then the churches that were erected tended to be utilitarian, indifferently designed, unprepossessing and badly built. Thus, two of Archdeacon Clough's three churches, namely Gwernaffield, which was built at a cost of £ 764 in 1838, and Pontblyddyn built for £ 790 in 1836, had to be rebuilt in 1861 and 1865 respectively. His third church at Bistre was assisted by the Church Building Commissioners and cost £ 1,520, which was probably why it stood the test of time. One wonders whether the ancient and venerable ruin of Ysgeifiog would have been demolished if there had been local gentry in the parish interested in antiquarian values and associations and prepared to spend money on its restoration? As it was, the rector found it impossible to say when a new church can be complete if left to [the parish's] own resources and I much fear that Benefactions from the Landowners will not raise a large sum, as they are all of them absentees Were they resident the object of their benevolence would be more immediately in view. £ 160 was the most that he could collect from them towards an estimated cost of fl,061. When to this was added poverty, then church reconstruction made heroic demands on the faith as well as the pockets of its advocates. As we have already observed, the parishes which lacked a resident gentry class were precisely those upland parishes where lead-mining provided a precarious income, or was a source of additional income, for the peasantry and immigrant labourers. How could money a Commissioners for Building New Churches, 3rd Report, 1823. The cost to the Board of erecting the chapel was £ 4,051. 15s. Od. The list of major benefactions in the diocese is as follows: Bodelwyddan, £ 35,000 by Lady Willoughby de Broke; Abergele, £ 780 by Jones Bateman; Betws and St. John's, £ 2,560 by the Coed Coch family; Trefnant, £ 4,200 by the Mainwaring family; Llanddulas, £ 6,000 by R. B. Lloyd Hesketh; Llanelian, £ 535 by the Coed Coch family; Llanddewi, £ 2,700 chiefly by Mr. Sandbach; Llysfaen, £ 2,300 chiefly by Mr. Hesketh and Mr. Wynne; Llanbedr, £ 3,100 by J. Jesse; Llanfair porch, £ 3,200 by Mr. Owen; Rhydymwyn chancel, £ 3,500 by P. D. Cooke; Pentrefoelas, £ 2,300 by the Foelas Hall family; Penmynydd, £ 3,100 by Sir Stephen Glynne; Mold chancel, £ 6,500 by J. Wynne Eyton; Llansantffraid Glyn Dyfrdwy chancel, £ 2,100 by Lloyd Rhaggatt; Llanuwchllyn, £ 2,100, half by Sir W. W. Wynn; Pool Quay, £ 3,100 by Lord Powis; Llwydiarth, £ 1,200 by Sir W. W. Wynn; Erbistock, £ 3,500 by Mrs. Gerardot; Rossett, £ 2,600 by J. Townshend; Tallarn Green, £ 800 by Lord Kenyon; Bettisfield, £ 6,000 by Lord Hanmer. 78 Thomas, op. cit., p. 828. The architect was G. E. Street, who designed the new Law Courts in London (1868), the new nave of Bristol cathedral and who carried out extensive repairs at York Minster and at Salisbury and Carlisle cathedrals (c. 1871).