Christ Church

Christ Church, built as the parish church of Glanogwen, was consecrated in 1856 and retains its original stalls with ornate 'poppyhead' ends. 

It was designed by Thomas Henry Wyatt after a collection raised enough money, including £500 from parishioners and £2,000 from Colonel Douglas Pennant of Penrhyn Castle. He also donated the site. Lady Louisa Douglas-Pennant, his second wife, laid the foundation stone. In 1859 Queen Victoria gave the Choral Society of the Penrhyn Slate Quarries an engraved silver cup, after the choir sang her and Prince Albert at Penrhyn Castle. The vicar Glanogwen rotated the cup annually around the local churches 1875 vicar John Morgan was embroiled in a conflict with residents who wanted burial fees reduced and fixed, and it was claimed (although denied by quarrymen) that the dispute was a way of 'punishing the parsons' for supporting the employers’ cause in the 1874 Penrhyn quarry strike. A memorial tablet to the Reverand Morgan was prepared as part of the church’s renovation in 1906. 

Shortly before the church reopened, a gas explosion badly damaged the floors in the clergy and choir vestries, blew two of the windows completely away and cracked the 'beautiful east window'. The renowned writer Caradog Prichard was a choirboy here in the early 20th century. The Grade II listed church building is a substantial mid 19th Century stone structure aligned E-NE to W-SW with slate roofs over timber set at a steep angle of approximately 60 degrees from the horizontal to both the nave and the transepts. It has a stone built bell tower surmounted by a spire in the southern corner. The nave and chancel are approximately 37m (120ft) overall length with the nave being approximately 10m (33ft) wide and double height. The church is set in an elevated position and is surrounded by a large historic graveyard.