St Marcella's Church, Denbigh

St Marcella's Church was the original parish church of Denbigh, in Denbighshire, Wales. Located about a mile east of the centre of the town, the church is dedicated to Saint Marchell (Marcella), a Welsh saint of the 5th/6th centuries. Although with earlier origins, the present church dates to the founding of Denbigh and the building of Denbigh Castle by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln in around 1290. Most of the current structure dates from a major rebuilding in about 1500. St Marcella's was superseded as the parish church of the town in the 19th century by the more centrally located St Hilary's Chapel. It remains an active church in the Diocese of St Asaph and is a Grade I listed building.

St Marcella's Church, Denbigh
Tower and porch
St Marcella's Church, Denbigh Location in Denbighshire
53.1851°N 3.3911°W / 53.1851; -3.3911
OS grid reference	SJ 071 662
Location	Llanfarchell, Denbigh, Denbighshire
Country	Wales
Denomination	Church in Wales
History
Associated people	Reverend M D Pritchard (Priest in charge)
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	24 October 1950
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	15th/16th centuries with earlier origins
Specifications
Materials	Body of church: rubble Roof: slate
Administration
Diocese	St Asaph
Archdeaconry	St Asaph
Deanery	Denbigh
Parish	Mission Area of Denbigh

History

The Church of St Marcella stands on the Whitchurch Road, about a mile south-east of the town of Denbigh.^[1] It is dedicated to Saint Marcella the virgin (Marchell), a Welsh saint of the 5th or 6th centuries, who was the sister of Tyfrydog.^[2] Cadw suggests that the dedication references the site of a 7th-century cell.^[3] The current church dates from the founding of Denbigh and the building of Denbigh Castle by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln in around 1290.^[4] Little remains of this church and the present building dates almost entirely from a reconstruction of around 1500.^[5] Among the burials at the church is that of Twm o'r Nant, the Welsh poet, who died in 1810; the church also contains a memorial to him.^[6]

St Marcella's was replaced as the town's parish church in the 19th century by the more centrally located St Hilary's Chapel. It was restored in that century, and again in the 20th.^[1] It remains an active parish church in the Diocese of St Asaph and occasional services are held.^[7]

Architecture

The church is built to a double-nave plan, with a west tower and a south porch.^[1] The architectural historian Edward Hubbard, in his 2003 Clwyd volume of the Pevsner Buildings of Wales, considers it one of the best examples of the type in the Vale of Clwyd.^[8] The building materials are sandstones of varying shades, and Welsh slate for the roof.^[a][1] The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) records the "exceptionally fine" hammerbeam roof^[5] which is decorated with carved and painted corbels.^[8] The interior contains an impressive collection of funerary monuments dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries.^[3]

St Marcella's is a Grade I listed building.^[3] The lychgate and a monument in the churchyard are listed at Grade II.^[9][10]

Gallery

• 
  St Marcella's double nave
• 
  The interior
• 
  The "exceptionally fine" hammerbeam roof
• 
  A roof corbel
• 
  The lychgate

Notes

1. The Church in Wales Historic record notes that the church was at one time rendered externally with whitewash, from which its alternative name of "Whitchurch" derives.^[4]