Marble Church, Bodelwyddan
St Margaret’s Church in Bodelwyddan, known as the Marble Church, is a Decorated Gothic church in Denbighshire, Wales. Its 202-foot spire makes it visible from many miles away, and it sits just off the A55 road.
The church was built by Lady Margaret Willoughby de Broke in memory of her husband, Henry Peyto-Verney, the 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke. The foundation stone was laid on 24 July 1856. John Gibson designed the building, which was consecrated on 23 August 1860 after costing about £60,000.
When it was completed, the parish of Bodelwyddan was created on 3 August 1860 from nearby areas that had been part of St Asaph. The church was nicknamed the “Pearl of the Vale.”
The Marble Church is famous for its many kinds of marble. It has Belgian Red marble pillars, an Anglesey marble nave entrance, and Languedoc marble shafts on Purbeck marble bases. It also features fine woodwork. In the tower, the north and south sides have stained-glass windows of Saint Margaret and Saint Kentigern.
Today it is a popular tourist destination and was given Grade II* listed status in 1962. For a long time the building was very white, but pollution has turned it more grey.
The church is in Denbighshire. It used to be in Flintshire (before 1974) and in Clwyd (1974–1996).
To the west lies Kinmel Camp, a former military camp at Kinmel Hall. It was used by Canadian troops in World War I. The churchyard contains graves of Spanish flu victims from the camp. In March 1919 a riot there led to the deaths of five Canadian soldiers, four buried here and one in Canada.
There are 112 Commonwealth service graves in the churchyard from World War I, mostly Canadian. Four British soldiers are remembered on Special Memorial headstones from St Peter’s Churchyard in Holywell. There are two World War II British graves. Post-World War II graves include a Welsh Guards lance corporal who was killed during the Falklands War aboard the RFA Sir Galahad.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:07 (CET).