All Saints
Gresford, Wrexham
Very fine misericords and carvings, a wealth of medieval glass, a memorial to 266 miners and a peal of bells which is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales.
Revd Vowler had arrived at Rossett in 1863 and soon began to lobby for a new church. However, building the solid looking, Gothic Revival style building of stone with a green slate roof was to become his life’s work. He died in October 1892, four days before new church was to be consecrated. He was buried on the day of the service.
The church was designed by Douglas and Fordham, architects from Chester and cost over £3,677. The carved oak pulpit from the original church was reused, as were the lamps in the nave and north aisle with their ornate ironwork.
The font from the previous church stands outside the chancel in the churchyard. Other fittings, including the pews and organ case were new. The reredos features five oak panels depicting Christ and six angels, and is of coloured alabaster and abalone.
The clock in the tower is dated 1902 and has the initials ER, commemorating the coronation of King Edward VII. The tower contains eight tubular bells.
The large east window contains stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe, as does another. There is also a window by Burne Jones.
In 1925 a war memorial window was installed in the nave’s north wall. It depicts a battlefield scene, with a soldier carrying a rifle and a medic tending a wounded soldier. The church also has a fragment of a battlefield cross, unusually it is outside in the churchyard.
Visitors are urged to explore the Living Churchyard, which contains several conservation sections. The bier house once kept the old bier cart which carried the coffins through the village, and is now on display at Bersham Heritage Centre, near Wrexham.