Welcome – Croeso from The Church Team at St Deiniol’s
Our Church is open every day for private prayer and meditation in addition to our regular Sunday and Midweek services. We are a family-oriented church and encourage you to become involved in the life and witness of our extensive worshiping community.
As usual, regular Sunday Holy Eucharist services are at 8.00 am and 10.00 am. All are welcome, we can join in singing the hymns, psalms and responses and there is no need to “book” a place – just come along. Following our 10.00 am Sunday service, refreshments will be available in the Tithe Barn. On Thursday mornings we join together for Morning Prayer at 9.00am and our Midweek Eucharist service is on Thursdays at 10.30am. No need to book. All are welcome and afterwards a cup of coffee will be served in the Tithe Barn.
Our address: Church Lane, Hawarden, Deeside CH5 3LT Church Office phone: 01244 534912
Retirement of Rev’d Canon Andrea Jones
It is with great regret that after seven & half wonderful years of dedicated service, Rev’d Canon Andrea has announced her retirement as Rector of St Deiniol’s Church. During this time she has dedicated her ministry in the service of the community; not only within the boundaries of Hawarden but throughout the Borderlands Mission Area and beyond. Her farewell service was held at St Deiniol’s on Sunday 23rd March 2025. The church was packed to the rafters, hymns were sung, Eucharist was celebrated, stories shared and she delivered a sermon that will be remembered for many years to come. Her legacy is incalculable. We wish her every blessing in the next chapter of her life with her family in Manchester.
St Deiniol’s Community Project
A message from the Committee at St Deiniol’s: Our beautiful church needs constant care and attention. There will need to be some serious and expensive repairs in the coming years.
The Church Committee has engaged the services of an architect who has been working on some draft proposals. See more about our initial ideas in the small exhibition in our Church within theWhitley Chancel. Please take time to have a look at these and I would like to place on record my thanks to Gareth Jones who has put together the display.
It’s a long road ahead but we have a duty as stewards of this special sacred space to preserve it and ensure it can be a resource for the whole community. I know all of us want to play our part in being good stewards of this sacred space.
Hawarden Village Church School
St Deiniol’s is very involved in school life. The school Vision Statement is reproduced on our Church School Page. For the latest news, please visit the school website: www.hawardenvillage.wales
Links with other churches: Our Church is located in the Borderlands Area of the Escobaeth Llanelwy (Diocese of St Asaph) of the Church in Wales
History
There has been a church on this site since St. Deiniol, a 6th century Welsh saint, planted his staff here. William Gladstone, the 19th Century prime minister, worshipped and was married here. Much of the 13th century building was destroyed by a fire in 1857 which was thought to have been started deliberately. The church was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott and the Gladstone family.
The magnificent west window, depicting the Nativity, was the last work of Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, a Gladstone family friend and was installed as a thanksgiving for the lives of William and Catherine Gladstone from their surviving children. It was completed in 1898 shortly after William Gladstone’s death.
The Gladstone memorial chapel, depicting William and Catherine Gladstone lying in the boat of life was completed in 1906. They are buried at Westminster Abbey.
Please observe on the south wall a list of rectors dating back to the year 1180.
The rood screen is a memorial to Lt. W.G. C. Gladstone MP, grandson of the Prime Minister, given by his mother and sisters. He was killed in action in France in 1915.
The church clock was made by Joyce and Co. of Whitchurch and dates from 1854. There is a peal of six bells in the tower, cast by Rudhalls Bell Foundry in Gloucester and installed in 1742 replacing an earlier set. They are rung every Sunday by our resident team of bell-ringers. See photo on the Gallery page
You will see some more pictures of the Church interior on our Gallery page
There is a Boer War memorial cross in the churchyard on the south side.
