St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden

The parish dates back at least 1,000 years and the list of rectors starts in 1180. The church was restored by James Harrison in about 1855–56. However it was badly damaged on 29 October 1857 by a fire which had been started deliberately. Some of the stained glass and woodwork at the east end were not damaged by the fire and the church had been restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott by the end of 1859. In 1896 a porch was added, designed by the Chester firm of architects, Douglas & Fordham. The same firm, then known as Douglas & Minshull designed the Gladstone Memorial Chapel at the east end of the north aisle, built between 1901 and 1903 and in 1908–09 the vestries which were added at the northeast of the church. ==Architecture==

Exterior The plan of the church consists of a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, a south porch, another porch to the chancel aisle, and northeast vestries. At the east end of the north aisle is the Gladstone Memorial Chapel, which has a three-sided apse, and at the east end of the south aisle is the Whitley Chapel. The tower is central, over the easternmost bay of the nave, in Perpendicular style, with a short lead-covered spire. The church is not cruciform, because it does not have transepts. The east window was also made by Morris & Co. in 1907 reusing a design by Burne-Jones. Glass elsewhere in the church is by Henry Holiday, F. C. Eden and Haswall. ==External features==

In the churchyard is a baluster sundial, and a South African War Memorial from the early 1900s, which is probably by Douglas and Minshull. The south gates to the churchyard, dating from 1877, were by Douglas. To the northwest of the church is a lychgate designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1929, consisting of a pyramidal roof on ogee timber framing. Among those from the former war buried here is the politician William Glynne Charles Gladstone, a grandson of the Prime Minister, killed in action in 1915. ==See also==