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St Melangell’s Church is a Grade I listed medieval building in the former village of Pennant Melangell, in the Tanat Valley, Powys, Wales. Built over a Bronze Age burial ground, the church was founded around the 8th century to commemorate the reputed grave of Melangell, a hermit and abbess who founded a convent and sanctuary in the area. The current church was built in the 12th century and has been renovated several times, including major restoration work in the 19th and 20th centuries. Archaeological excavation in the 20th century uncovered prehistoric and early medieval activity. The church contains the reconstructed shrine to Melangell, considered the oldest surviving Romanesque shrine in northern Europe and which was a major pilgrimage site in medieval Wales. The interior of the church holds a 15th-century rood screen depicting Melangell’s legend, two 14th-century effigies, paintings, and liturgical fittings. (Full article…)