A Llay church is to play a central role in special centenary celebrations of the Church in Wales.

In 1920 the Church in Wales was disestablished from the Church of England under the Welsh Churches Act of 1914.

Politically and historically it was significant as one of the first pieces of legislation to apply solely to Wales.

The campaign for a separated Church in Wales grew after the Prime Minister William Gladstone, who lived in Hawarden, disestablished the Church of Ireland in 1869.

The first church in Wales to be consecrated after the disestablishment was St Martin of Tours in Llay. It was consecrated in 1925 by the then Bishop of St Asaph, the Most Reverend Alfred George Edwards, who was the first Archbishop of Wales.

On February 21, 2020, the current Archbishop, the Most Reverend John Davies, will rededicate the church to mark the centenary.

During World War I Llay was a small rural village but after Llay Main Colliery, which became Wales’ largest deep mine, opened hundreds of houses were built.

The population soon justified its own church, which initially came under the parish of Gresford, and in 1944 St Martin’s became the parish church of Llay.

It is dedicated to St Martin, a fourth-century Roman soldier who converted to Christianity after dreaming of Christ wearing half of his cloak which he had given to a beggar.

He became Bishop of Tours, in France, and in the Middle Ages a garment said to be his cloak was taken around Europe, where shacks known as “capelli” were erected to house it. The word “chapel” comes from this.

The service on February 21 will be followed by a reception in the Miners’ Welfare Institute, with a performance by Llay Silver Band.

On February 23 the Bishop of St Asaph, the Right Rev Gregory Cameron, will join the congregation for a celebration Eucharist.

In April the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will attend a meeting of the governing body of the Church in Wales in Llandudno and on June 7 a service marking the centenary will be held in St Asaph Cathedral, for which a special liturgy has been written.