Some places are etched into our lives in a way that draws us back. The Pennant Melangell valley is one of those spaces that has drawn me back for over two and a half decades. It is a liminal space with a tangible sense of the other and the spiritual. In all weathers and across the seasons I have walked the road up the valley listening to the birds and absorbing the colours of the moment. Here is a small glimpse of a recent visit made to be still and pray in the Shrine Church.
It is a hidden place in Wales, Pennant Melangell is situated at the head of the Tanat Valley, not far from Llangynog on the main Oswestry – Bala road.
The ‘pace’ of this road is steady and slow. Many have walked this road and allowed God to speak into the silence. It has been a place where I can have those conversations with myself searching for direction and above all pray. I travelled her recently to ask for prayers for my father at the shrine following his death.
There has been a Christian Church here for over 1200 years. It stands The in a round churchyard, once a Bronze Age site, ringed by ancient yew trees estimated to be two thousand years old. Parts of the building date from the 12th Century though the most recent, a rebuilding of the apse on its original foundations, was completed only in 1990. The impression is still that of a simple Norman church, well loved and beautified over the years.The church’s greatest treasure is the 12th Century shrine of Saint Melangell. This was dismantled after the Reformation and its stones, carved with a strange blend of Romanesque and Celtic motifs, were built into the walls of the church and lych-gate. They were reassembled in the last century and have now been re-erected in the chancel. The result is an impressive monument, unique in Britain and recently described by a leading scholar as ‘of pan-European significance’. Bones said to be those of the saint have been deposited within the shrine.
This church is the only one which is dedicated to Melangell. It is an ancient church and the present stone building is over eight hundred years old but it has a wonderful modem story attached to it Until a few years ago it was in a dangerous state and there were plans to take off the roof and to allow it to become a ruin but the diocesan authorities and local support decided that this was not be. The ancient church has been beautifully restored. The memory of Melangell has been rekindled and many pilgrims once again are making their way to this hallowed site to enjoy the silence. For centuries the pilgrims came to Pennant Melangell because there was the shrine to Melangell and lying in the shrine were her relics.
At the time of the Reformation this shrine was destroyed but pieces of it were used in the walls of the church, the porch and the lych gate. At the east end of the church was a small room which had been built in the 18th century; it was known as Cell-y-Bedd. Twenty five years ago archaeological excavations of the floor of this room revealed the slab over the grave of Melangell. Before the restoration work of the last ten years was started further excavation revealed that the site had been a burial ground a thousand years before Melangell came to this sacred spot.
The inside of the church has been reordered but the most wonderful thing is that the shrine of Melangell has been rebuilt from the fragments which have been taken from the church’s fabric. It has been built to its full height in what is thought to be its original position in the chancel of the church, behind the altar. Melangels grave slab has been reset in the floor of Cell-y-Bed.
Do put this onto your list of places to visit – I promise that you will not be unchanged by the space and place.