St Trillo’s Well and Chapel, Rhos-on-Sea

The Welsh Cistercian Way visits this minuscule seaside chapel

Highlights

• Holy well under tiny chapel’s floor

‘Smallest church in Britain’ is a hotly contested title, but St Trillo’s Chapel must be one of the leading contenders. It is in danger of being dwarfed by bushes planted next to it in the pretty little garden

The chapel is a stone’s throw from the sea but has its own source of water right in front of the altar. This holy well still flows pure and clear after 1,500 years, despite the addition of an adjacent road, sea defences, and a housing development in recent centuries.Its founder was a 5th- or 6th-century saint who built his wooden church over a holy spring, perhaps on a pre-Christian site. The water was used for baptism throughout the surrounding parish. You can lift the wooden cover today and cross yourself from the stone-lined pool. The flow runs westwards under the floor from the well, carrying the blessed source from altar to congregation in a theologically pleasing manner.

With a maximum congregation of six people, the chapel is still used as a place of worship, Holy Communion every Thursday at 8:30am. The exact date of the chapel building is unclear because it has been repaired and rebuilt so often. With its stone roof and modest proportions, it carries at least an echo of a Celtic hermit’s modest dwelling place.

St Trillo is described as a 5th-century abbot in the Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Other than a scattering of places associated with him, including this chapel, almost nothing else is known of him. His saint’s day is 15 June.

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St Trillo’s Chapel, Marine Drive/Trillo Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea LL28 4NS

W3W: cafe.shunts.token

GPS: 53.3144N 3.7406W

Colwyn Bay railway station 2km

St Trillo’s Chapel is next to Marine Drive, the road that leads from Colwyn Bay along the seafront to the west. The chapel is almost invisible from the road, although you might spot the small sign on the railings above it. Look instead for Trillo Avenue, on the inland side of Marine Drive. You can park here and walk back to Marine Drive. The chapel is a few metres north of this junction, by the sea.