St Cybi's Church

St Cybi's Church is a mainly late Perpendicular style building, largely dating to the 15th century, constructed of brown stone. The church possesses a two-stage west tower with a pyramidal roof featuring an 18th-century weather vane dated 1753. The tower is topped with embattled parapets and louvred openings to the upper stage, and has a square-headed doorway on the south side. An elaborate south porch is distinguished by its battlemented parapets, stepped buttresses with finials at the east and west angles, moulded string courses, and a plinth. The 4-centred doorway is adorned with traceried spandrels. East and west windows feature 4-centred arches with 3 lights of 5-foil ogee heads, tracery above, and a transom with cusped lights below. The entrance doorway itself is 4-centred with a hoodmould and decorated frame, the spandrels containing carved decoration including a heraldic shield. Elaborate relief carving above the doorway depicts a trinity beneath a tiered canopy, with the arms of Llywarch ap Bran (displayed to the right within a wreath of twisted cord), surrounded by panels of tracery designs enclosed by an arch of trefoil cusping. The nave’s fan vaulting dates to 1877-79, supported by angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases on the south side and angle niches on the north side. The south aisle features two windows, each with 3 trefoil-shaped lights and perpendicular tracery heads. A polygonal stair turret, with a steep pyramidal roof (dated 19th century) and a band of quatrefoil decoration below, is situated in the angle between the aisle and the south transept. The south transept has its own battlemented parapets with finials at the angles and sculptural reliefs including angels, lions, mitred heads, and fantastic beasts, as well as a band of sunk quatrefoil decoration. A two-light window is complemented by a sundial dated 1813 situated between the window and the gable. The south chapel, built in 1896-7, has two broad 2-light windows to the south (with a 16th-century window relocated from the chancel to the west) and a broad 3-light window to the east. A lancet window returns to the chancel. The east end of the chancel includes 19th-century diagonal buttresses and a three-light window with a 2-centred arch, cusped lights, and intersecting tracery throughout the head, topped with a hoodmould. Two lancets and a small 16th-century window with a segmental head are found on the north wall of the chancel. The north transept has battlemented parapets and a 4-centred window with 3 trefoiled lights to the east, and a 4-centred window with 2 trefoiled lights to the north. The north aisle is characterized by two 3-cusped light windows with perpendicular tracery, and a 4-centred arch at the doorway. A small vestry is located in the angle between the aisle and the tower.

The Stanley chapel, situated south of the chancel, contains an Italian marble monument with angles and an effigy by Hamo Thorneycroft. A window within the chapel was designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and executed by Morris & Co. Roofs were restored in 1813-14 and 1877-79, incorporating previously used moulded timbers. The nave has 3 bays, defined by 4-centred arches (the south arcade being at a higher level). Round arches lead to the tower, while 4-centred arches define the transepts and crossing. The chancel arch is a roughly semi-circular form. A late 15th-century painting of a Tudor rose is found on the east wall of the north transept. Within the south transept, some 12th-century stones with chevron details have been reused.