St Maelog

There has been a church on this site since 6th century. The present building, a Henry Kennedy design, was built in 1848/9, around which time Kennedy designed and built many similar churches in Wales.

The nave altar, with its 'Tree of Life' theme and uplighting, was designed and made in oak by local craftsman Colin Pearce. The theme is continued in the altar rails, pulpit, font and glasswork. The font is a 12th  century stone font and is housed in 21st century woodwork by Colin Pearce.

The large glass panel above the Juniper Gallery and the rear doors to the church were designed and etched by Bill Swann, a well known artist from Porthmadog. The 'Tree of Life' theme is repeated here and many Christian symbols are incorporated in the design.

The churchyard at St Maelog's has many fascinating features. It is an old churchyard, featuring in the 'Norfolk Taxation' documents of 12th century, and almost certainly dates back before that.

There are several shipwreck graves, including two officers from the 'Spirit of the Dawn' wrecked on this coast in January 1972, and also a barrel mortuary where unrecognised bodies from shipwrecks were stored to await identification. Also buried here are victims of an aircrash at sea on August 28th, 1941, along with rescuers from the police and army who died in the attempt. There are five war graves, and a copy of the Lifeboat Service report of the disaster is kept with the burial records.

Immediately outside the front door of the church is a grave with a large stone placed on it. The man buried here used regularly to sit on this stone on the beach, and his family arranged for his favourite stone to be removed from the beach and resited on his grave!

A 'wildlife fringe' is kept uncut around the churchyard, which provides a habitat for many creatures. Churchyards are the only remaining habitat today for many species.