AN ambitious project to restore Llangwm’s medieval church is finally reaching its conclusion thanks to the help of over 100 volunteers.

The Church of St Jerome has been closed for 18 months for the extensive renovations, and will now reopen its doors on Monday, March 6.

A re-dedication service will be performed by Bishop John Saxbee, former Bishop of Lincoln.

Not only is the building now free from the damp that was threatening its two 700-year-old effigies, it is now the proud possessor of a state-of-the art underfloor heating system, a first for any medieval church in Britain.

It also has a modern audio visual system which can be used not only for services, but also for concerts and other events.

The interior – and the exterior if you know where to look – certainly appear different.

The pews have gone, replaced by comfy chairs. There’s also a new carpet and modern LED lighting.

The two effigies, now known to date back to around 1300 for the woman and 1340 for the man, were saved from further damage by having damp-proof sheets slipped between them and their plinths.

But perhaps the biggest change of all will be the addition of The Talking Tapestry of Langum, a five-metre long permanent display telling the tale of Llangwm’s Flemish founders and stitched by 30 Llangwm women who gave more than 2,000 hours of their time.

The tapestry, housed in a side chapel, will be declared open in a special ceremony on March 25 by the Flemish government’s representative in Britain, Nic van der Marliere.

It can be visited by groups between then and Easter, when it will be open to all visitors.

The tapestry will be accompanied by a downloadable app giving the story of the Flemish settlers, spanning almost 400 years from the time the Flemings arrived with William the Conqueror, to the death of the last of the main line of descendants of the original family.

But the church renovation wasn’t without its problems.

Having removed the cement render from the walls of the North Transept, the walls were in fact found to be standing on nothing more than mud.

One theory is that experienced stonemasons of the time were in short supply, many having lost their lives in the Black Death.

The church renovation and the creation of the tapestry were part of a larger project, backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and others, which also included DNA testing of Llangwm men (which found a link to men now living in Flanders), an archaeological dig, podcasts, extensive documentary research into the history of the Flemings in Pembrokeshire, and a DVD which will be on sale later in the spring.