The church of St Michael and All Angels, Clyro, joined the parish group in 2024. Sitting right in the centre of the village, with a tall square tower and surrounded by a walled graveyard, it is an unmissable feature.

The building dates from 1852/53, all except for the base of the tower which belongs to the older mediaeval church that it replaced. The interior is simple with a gothic arch separating the nave and chancel, and box pews for the congregation. Marble memorials, saved from the mediaeval church, are mounted on the walls of the north aisle and there are some commemorative stained-glass windows. Members of the Baskerville family, landowners of Clyro Court (and possibly the source of the Hound of the Baskervilles legend) feature prominently.

Clyro church is the only one in the parish group to have a full set of six bells. Two date back to the medieval church, three were cast in 1887 and first rung to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and a final one was added in 2024, thanks to a generous donation.

Today, Clyro and its church are best known for the diaries of Rev. Francis Kilvert, curate of the parish from 1865-1872. Kilvert was young and single and he lodged with a Mrs Challoner at Ashbrook House in the village. On New Year’s Day 1870 he walked into Hay, purchased a notebook, and began to record his daily life: parish duties, tramps over the hills to Bettws Chapel, the poverty and the kindnesses, his social life – cider cup and games of croquet with the ladies in Hay. The result is a brilliant snapshot of a village in mid-Victorian Wales and a very honest account of Kilvert’s own busy but rather lonely existence. (Kilvert’s Diary 1870-1879, Selections from the Diary of the Rev. Francis Kilvert, Vintage Classics).

For times of services at St Michael’s and All Angels, see the Calendar of Services.

All of our churches are members of the Black Mountains Ministry Area