Church that's weathered centuries of storms faces new threat from crime

COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE CALLS FOR GREATER PROTECTION FOR 'EASY TARGET' PLACES OF WORSHIP

- Andrew Forgrave

AN ancient church on the Gwynedd coast has survived centuries of sea storms that battered its stonework and often left it buried in sand.

At one point the building was abandoned completely, allowing local fishermen to hang their nets on its altar rail.

But St Tanwg’s Church in Llandanwg's sand dunes, near Harlech, endured.

Its collapsed roof was restored in 1884, and the building underwent a £20,000 restoration in 1987. The work ensured it remains one of the oldest places of continuous Christian worship in the UK.

The site is believed to date to about 435AD, though the present building dates to the early Medieval period. In the churchyard is the grave of Welsh poet Sion Phillips, a contemporary of Shakespeare who was drowned whilst crossing from Shell Island to Llandanwg in 1620.

Even buildings as venerable as this are not immune from criminality.

Last December thieves snuck inside and stole silver and brass items from Meirionnydd’s little “Church in the Sand”.

Items removed in the “high value” theft included candle holders and a communion cup.

These might not have been as eye-catching as the brass eagle removed from an Edgbaston church five months earlier, or the £90,000 break-in at Sherborne Abbey in August 2024.

But for a church as humble as this, the loss was just as painful.

New data shows that, in a three-year period from 2022-24, almost 487 crimes were committed at churches in Wales.