St Ceinwens Church, or Llangeinwen Church, sits between the two settlements of Dwyran and Newborough in the south west of Anglesey, North Wales. The church is hidden behind a row of trees, hardly visible from the road, which is a great shame as it is an attractive church of great character. To my untrained eye it appears to be a mixture of styles ...a typical single naved Welsh church, but with the addition of a tower, albeit the tower is rather short and stumpy and sort of perpendicular in style but without the fancy bits .......yet the end result is a perfectly proportioned building.

The church is thought to have been established by St Ceinwen, the sister of Dwynwen who founded the church on Llanddwyn Island, at the end of the sixth century. Both Dwynwen and Ceinwen were the daughters of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, Brecon. The present church building dates back to the middle ages but with nineteenth century additions, including the tower. The first stone church was built on this site during the 12th century and the north and south walls of the nave date from this period, the chancel was built during the mediaeval period and its walls date from this time, the nave roof however is late mediaeval. The north transept was added during the 18th century and a restoration of the church took place in 1812. In 1829, the square tower and north chapel were built along with the south window and chancel windows.

The church was again restored in 1928 during which time the box pews were removed and replaced with the present ones and the Victorian gallery at the west end of the nave was taken down, the removal of plaster exposed the early mediaeval roof timbers. The church walls on the outside have been cement rendered which makes the age of the church somewhat deceptive at first glance.

Outside the church there are four broken gravestones of 9th to 11th century date that have been built into the buttresses of the church. The best one is like the spiral decorated stone at nearby Llangaffo Church. Also on the north wall from the outside can be seen the upper part of a rounded stone arched head of the old Norman north doorway, the remains of this doorway can also be seen on the inside of the church though these stones are not arched. |Although this church is in need of urgent repairs to preserve the fabric of the building, it has served the local community continuously since the 12th century, and it is still used as a regular place of worship several times a week.

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