History

A church was founded in Llangollen in C6 by St Collen. In C13 an E E Gothic church was built and various additions and improvements were in succeeding centuries. Today the overall character of the building externally stems from the 1864-7 remodelling and enlargement by S Pountney Smith, architect of Shrewsbury at a cost of ú3,097. This includes the addition of a south aisle and aisled chancel. The mid C18 W tower was however retained.

Exterior

Triple naved with central W tower and chancel and NW vestry. The medieval N aisle is rubble; the tower is coursed rubble with quoins and the Victorian work is snecked rubble. Freestone dressings including finials, gable parapets etc. Stepped buttresses and plinth; slate roofs. The tower is 4-stage, tapered inwards with band course at each step; parapet with urn finials. Round arched louvred bell stage openings with Gibbsian surround and bracket cill. Lean-to Victorian W porch with 2 order arched entrance with nook shafts etc. Clock faces to N and S sides with pediment to N (and brackets of a removed cill). 2 light window to base of S side. Round arched doorway to tower base and recessed boarded and studded door. 2-light windows to aisle gable ends. NW vestry added in 1876 in early English style; chimney stack inscribed W G (the initials of the patron William Griffiths). The N side has 2-light Perp windows flanking 3-light windows with more elaborate tracery. 2 light window to chancel curved sided triangle head and Caernarvon arched doorway. On S side the 2 order arch porch is in the W bay - the gable is flanked by punched cusped trefoils. Victorian late Decorated 3-light windows to S side. 2 light window to organ chamber extension and 5-light Perp chancel E window.

Churchyard has large collection of C18/C19 monuments including an unusual octagonal pedestal type with crowning urn.

Interior

Internally there is a 4-bay Perp arcade to N and 3-bay to S. Polygonal piers and 2 order arches; low, narrow respond arches to E end. Splendid 6 bay hammerbeam roof with extensive carved timber ornament. It has been said that it was transferred here from Valle Crucis Abbey but there is no firm evidence - however the roof does appear to reuse timbers and the trusses do not correspond with the bays of the arcade. Triple purlins and broad reeded rafters with riotously carved bosses; the principals midway between each heavily pegged truss are moulded to suggest colonnettes with figurehead capitals. The western 4-bays have cusping below the ridge and punched mouchettes spandrels to hammerbeams, the ends of which have long springer brackets. Intermediate principals are carved with animals. Panelled linefold band all along wall head eastern 2 bays are elaborately ceiled at collar level with vertical and horizontal quatrefoil banding and diamond shaped patterns; this respresents the chancel of the medieval chuch. The N side has 3 stone corbels below the 4th truss from E. Half glazed screen to tower arch. Triple shafted medieval S door retained inside the present building with modern doors; eroded capitals. 6 bay hammerbeam roof to N aisle - less detailed. Strapwork ornamented wall head panelling to N wall; foliage and fish trails to panel on arcade wall. Early C14 tomb recess with fleuron detail and quatrefoil panelled pinnacle. Victorian S aisle with hammerbeam roof screened from porch at W end. Iron chancel screen (1902). 2-bay chancel with arcade to N; E bay filled in. 24 panel ceiling; 2 windows over organ chamber.
Furnishings include finely carved sedilia/piscina, crucifixion by Earp; octagonal ballflower pulpit and circular font with 4 marble piers dated 1869. Two stained glass windows by A Gibbs in S aisle. Monument by Violet Labouchere to Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler in S aisle, commissioned by the feminist Dr Mary Gorden in 1937 with herself and the artist as models. Unusual polished marble monument to Susannah Price 1796 by J Turner of Chester; Ionic pilasters to monument to Edward Wynne (died 1777). 2 Hatchments at NW end, one with Hanoverian arms.

Reasons for Listing

Group value.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• St Collen's Church at Wikipedia
• St Collen's Church official website
• Wikidata Q17737168

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)