The Church of St Julitta, Capel Curig
Visit us
Where are we?
On the A4086, 150 metres from Plas y Brenin. the National Outdoor Centre.
Capel Curig,
Conwy,
Wales,
LL24 0EP
When are we open?
During all our listed Diary of Events and many weekends.
When closed, the key is available at Joe Brown's shop, at the A5 road junction
How to find us
OS grid reference:
SH719581
what3words:
expectant.plotting.label
History of the church
St. Julitta’s is the smallest of the old churches of Snowdonia. When it was built, probably in the 1540s, it was known as Curig’s Chapel - Capel Curig in Welsh – giving its name to the surrounding area and the village that gradually developed. The plan of the original church is typical of old churches in Snowdonia and now unique in the district - the only example where the double square (the length is twice the width) has not been altered in later times. The church was probably built by the sister of the owner of the Penrhyn estate, Margaret Griffith, who with her husband leased the farm of Gelli’r Mynach on which the church was built.
The church’s exterior construction is typical of the simple rustic style of the old churches of the Conwy valley. The entrance was originally on the north wall, where outside, the blocked-up doorway can be seen surmounted by a cyclopean arch – a huge single stone roughly carved to form an arch. Inside, a gallery was added in the eighteenth century above the south chapel, lit by a skylight. The bell turret predates the nineteenth century; the bell is dated 1623, but may have been ‘recycled’ from an earlier site.
In 1839 the chapel was extensively renovated at the expense of a later Penrhyn estate landowner, George Hay Dawkins-Pennant. Rectangular casement windows gave more light to the interior and a barrel-vaulted ceiling was installed below the medieval roof beams. The furnishing was typical of a small Evangelical Anglican church of the Georgian period, packed with box pews facing a prominent pulpit with a reading desk below it, from which the clergyman would take most of the service. When a grander new St. Curig’s church was built in the 1880s, the dedication of the old church was changed to St. Julitta’s. A more detailed history can be found in our booklet The Churches of Capel Curig.
The cemetery is the last resting place for generations of people from Capel Curig and visitors killed in mountain accidents. On its gravestones is written a rich history of the people, their homes and places of work. The churchyard is also a haven for a wide range of insects, birds, mammals and plants - it is being managed with conservation in mind in the interests of wildlife. Birdboxes and bird feeders have been erected and several native trees planted. The spring flowers produce a wonderful display after the cold wet winters that sometimes visit Capel Curig!
This church is now deconsecrated, but is cared for by a volunteer group, the Friends of St. Julitta’s, who lease it from the Church in Wales. They are a registered charity. Over the last three decades, the Friends have undertaken extensive renovation to preserve the church for future generations.
St Julitta's in 1949