Beuno was a seventh-century Welsh abbot born in Powys, who founded a religious community on this site under the patronage of King Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd. He is one of the most important saints in the Welsh tradition -- a contemporary of Aidan of Lindisfarne, a teacher of other Welsh saints including his niece Winifred and his disciple Aelhaearn, whose well is venerated a few miles down the coast at Llanaelhaearn. The Lives of the British Saints, the Victorian compilation that drew on medieval Welsh sources, describes Beuno raising people from the dead more than once -- including his niece Winifred, beheaded by a frustrated suitor and reportedly restored by Beuno's prayers, with the spring of Holywell rising where her head fell. Beuno was buried at Clynnog, in what was then a clas -- a Welsh ecclesiastical community of clergy and lay scholars, with its own bishop and its own school. The clas at Clynnog was famous, attracting pupils from across Wales and Ireland.

Clynnog's prominence made it a target. The Vikings burned the church in 978, sailing up from Dublin or Limerick along the coast as they did with monasteries across the Irish Sea. The Normans burned it again in the late eleventh or twelfth century, during the long campaign of conquest and reprisal that followed the death of the last independent Welsh princes. Each time the community rebuilt. The earliest surviving parts of the present church -- the chancel and the transepts -- were complete by 1486, the date that appeared on stained glass formerly in the east window. The nave was added shortly afterwards; its external plinth and string course are still visible inside the church on its east wall, marking where the older building had ended. The north porch came next. The vestry, west tower, and the separate St Beuno's Chapel that adjoins the church via a passage were probably added in the early sixteenth century. Their uncusped window tracery resembles the tower of Bangor Cathedral, completed in 1532.

The most unusual feature of the site is the small detached chapel built directly south-west of the main church, connected to it by a covered passage probably added in the early seventeenth century. The chapel is traditionally identified as the spot of Beuno's burial. About three hundred and fifty yards north-east of the church stands Ffynnon Beuno -- Beuno's Well -- a rectangular pool enclosed by a roughly dressed stone wall, which medieval pilgrims used for healing. The waters were credited with curing children of various ailments well into the nineteenth century, particularly rickets and weakness of the limbs. Parents would bathe their children in the well and then carry them to the chapel to spend the night on Beuno's tombstone. The practice continued into living memory.

St Beuno's is now one of six churches in the parish and benefice of Beuno Sant Uwch Gwyrfai. The others are Christ Church, Penygroes; St Gwyndaf, Llanwnda; St Aelhaern at Llanaelhaearn; and St Twrog at Llandwrog -- a chain of foundations linked to Beuno or his disciples. The parish sits within the diocese of Bangor. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales has called St Beuno's Church 'one of the most notable churches in North Wales,' and the Grade I listing reflects both its architectural significance and its place in the religious history of the country. The interior contains a fine wooden chest dated 1664, carved with the name 'Cyff Beuno' -- Beuno's chest -- used for collecting alms from pilgrims. A medieval pillar stone with a sundial carved into it stands inside the church, salvaged from earlier on the site. The church is normally open during daylight hours. The village is quiet. The scale of the building still feels astonishing.