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St Mary's Church, Ruabon

This grade I listed church, built on a pre-Norman site, and possibly a 7th-century foundation, was dedicated to St. Collen.

By the end of the 13th – century the church had been granted to the Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis, and the church was re-dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary.

There is significant surviving medieval detail including the 14th - century Cheshire - type church tower and sepulchral monuments dating from the first twenty years of the 14th century.

During the 1870 restoration Benjamin Ferrey, architect and pupil of the renowned architect and designer Augustus Pugin, uncovered the magnificent 15th century wall painting depicting the Works of Mercy. This is reputed to be the finest medieval wall painting in the country.

In the north chapel is one of the finest monumental effigies in Wales. The Latin inscription invites the reader to “Pray for the souls of John ap Elis Eyton, knight who died on September 28, 1526 and Elizabeth Calveley his wife, who died in 1524”.

He fought at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 on the victorious side of Henry Tudor and was rewarded with large estates in Ruabon.

The exquisite and delicate font designed by Robert Adam was given to the church by Sir Watkin Williams Wynn upon the baptism of his son on the16th December 1772.