A side trip to Wales to see Saint Giles and Eli.

9000 This is one of the angel bosses and the Satan's Head boss on the ceiling.

9005 This is the arch to the sacristy.  Some of the singing angels are on the ceiling above it and the Judgement Day mural is on it. 

9021 This is the Mary Myddelton Memorial from the 1700s.  The angel is in the clouds in the upper left and Mary is just getting out of her coffin.  I'm sure she'll notice that her right breast is exposed and wrap that sheet around herself.

9028 D with Eli Yale's grave.  I guess Eliugh is the Welch spelling of his first name. 

9035 Saint Giles Parish Church, Wrexham, Wales.

 

April 23 – Wrexham, Wales.  We drove to Chester today and didn't arrive there until midafternoon.  This is a side trip we made on the afternoon of the 23^rd.  We didn't want to go into Chester for part of the day so we drove from England to Wales and the small town of Wrexham.  It's not a cathedral, just a parish church and it's not very large but it has one claim to fame.  It's the burial place of Eliugh Yale, a governor of the British East India Company, and benefactor of Yale University.  I know they spell his name differently in the states but that's the spelling I took from his tomb.  Since he's Welsh I think we should adopt the Welsh spelling not the British. 

 

Wrexham is a small town so getting in and out is not as difficult as our last several visits.  We parked in a lot just below the church and walked up the stairs and through the graveyard to the building.  It's a Grade 1 Listed Building in Great Britain and it's the largest medieval parish church in Wales.  It's the tallest building in town and it's on top of a hill to boot.  It can be seen from everywhere in the area. 

 

The ornately decorated tower is 135 feet tall and topped with four remarkable hexagonal turrets.  Construction was commenced in 1506 and among its many carvings are both the deer and the arrow, symbols of Saint Giles.  It has a single wide nave with two narrower side aisles.  At the front of the North Aisle is the Royal Welch Fusiliers Chapel, a memorial to all their fallen.  In order to make the church more useful the South Aisle has been reconfigured to be a multi-use space.  While we were there a Bible study was being conducted there.

 

Some of the church's features are a bit unique.  The bosses on the ceiling vaults at the front of the church are angels either singing or playing musical instruments.  The first boss back from the archway to the chancel is Satan, a reminder to resist temptation.  And if you need further encouragement the area above the arch has a mural of the Judgement Day painted on it.  There are several very nice memorials around the inside of the church.  The one that caught my eye was Mary Myddelton's.  I'm not sure I understand the symbolism.  It looks like an angel blowing a trumpet, maybe the signal to rise from the dead for the Day of Judgement.  Below Mary is shown with one leg over the side of her casket apparently during the resurrection.  Her tombstone has broken and the top is falling.  The lid of her casket is also broken and laying against the back.  It's a great work of sculpture. 

 

When we left the building we turned left and went around to the west end of the church.  There in a fairly simple monument are the remains of Eli Yale.  The memorial is very simple and is inscribed with his name and the year of his burial, MDCCXXI.  Oh come on, you can figure that out.  We visited Saint Giles as a tribute to all the Elis we know (read that as Ryan).

 

We left the church property through a very beautiful wrought iron gateway from 1720.  I'm told it's the work of the Davies Brothers.  They also did the gates to Chirk Castle (probably the finest wrought iron in Britain) and the gates to Sandringham House one of the residences of the Royal Family.

 

There's a nice café just outside the gates and we decided to have lunch there.  The three ladies working there were friendly and quite funny and the food was very good.

 

Tomorrow Chester.