History of the Ministry Area

Christianity came to the area of the Great Orme in the sixth century when St. Tudno established his llan here. In mediaeval times, there were three settlements on the peninsula: the agricultural Y Cyngreawdr to the north that included St. Tudno’s Church (the present building dates from the 12th century); Yn Wyddfid in the south-east below the fort-hill of Pen-y-Dynas; and Y Gogarth to the south-west. In the year 1284, King Edward I gave the Manor of Gogarth, which included the three aforementioned settlements, to Anian, the Bishop of Bangor, and Gogarth became the location of the palace of the Bishops of Bangor.

Bishop's palace

A last remnant of the Bishop’s Palace, 2015.

At the time, the Great Orme was virtually an island, separated from mainland by a strip of saltmarsh. The bishops and their entourages travelled between the see and the palace by boat. The palace was burnt down by Owain Glyndwr in 1400. Coastal erosion of the Conwy Estuary has consumed much of the palace and the old settlement of Gogarth.

St. George's Church circa 1890.

St. George’s Church circa 1890.

St. Tudno’s remained the parish church well into the 19th century. However, in 1839, the church was severely damaged in a storm and a new church, St. George’s, on the lower slopes of the Great Orme was built in 1840. Although St. Tudno’s church was rebuilt, the status of the parish church was transferred to St. George’s in 1862.

Meanwhile, it was becoming very clear that both Ss. Tudno and George’s Churches were inadequate for the hosts of visitors that were beginning to holiday in the developing town of Llandudno. An initial expedient was to license St. George’s School for Divine Service, and between them, eight services every Sunday were held. But even this proved inadequate, and it was decided to build Holy Trinity Church for the increasing number of visitors and its cornerstone was laid in 1865.

As the land between the Great Orme and the mainland was reclaimed, the issue of the parish and diocesan boundary (with Llanrhos Parish and St. Asaph Diocese) had to be determined. Initially, the plot of land given by the Mostyn family to Holy Trinity Church was bisected by the parish boundary.

old

An additional church, the Church of Our Saviour, was built on the West Shore in 1911. A change in the parish boundary to a line coincident with Vaughan Street and the railway line gave the parish another church, a “tin” mission church, in Trinity Avenue called St. Andrew’s. This was closed when a church hall was built at the Church of Our Saviour. St. Bueno’s School was also licensed for Divine Service.

ImageAt the turn of the second millennium, there were four churches in the parish – St. George’s Parish Church, St. Tudno’s Church, Holy Trinity Church and the Church of Our Saviour. After a long consultation period, St. George’s Church and the Church of Our Saviour were closed in 2002. Holy Trinity Church then became the parish church and it celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the laying of its foundation stone in 2015. In 2018 the status of the parish was changed from a Rectorial Benefice to a Ministry Area, giving Holy Trinity and St. Tudno’s Churches equal status.

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