Church of St. Beuno (Eglwys Beuno Sant)

Church of St. Beuno

A Decorated style church comprising a nave and chancel that are structurally undivided, with a south transept, porch, and north vestry. The building is constructed predominantly of rubble masonry, with the south wall of the nave and lower part of the west wall built of squared stone laid to approximate courses. The roof is covered with hexagonal slates and stone copings, with crosses at the gable apexes. A tall ashlar stack serves the north vestry, and a bellcote sits at the west end of the nave.

The nave and chancel span three bays, with offset angle buttresses at the west end and diagonal buttresses at the east. The south transept and south porch have angle and diagonal buttresses respectively. Entry to the church is through a pointed-arched doorway in the south porch, which opens into an inner pointed-arched doorway set within a segmental-headed, chamfered surround. Slate plaques mounted on either side of this inner doorway list benefactors to the poor of the parish, with the right-hand plaque dating to 1761 and the left-hand plaque to 1766.

Windows vary in date and detail. The south wall of the nave contains two early 19th-century cinquefoil-headed windows in square frames: one single light and one paired light. Similarly detailed windows appear in the north wall, including a reset window of around 1500 with moulded jambs and a hoodmould featuring carved human head stops, which was originally in the south wall. The west wall has a rectangular window with chamfered jambs dating to around 1500. The east chancel window is late 14th or early 15th century: a pointed-arched, traceried window of three lights with a moulded label and scroll stops. The south transept contains a 19th-century pointed-arched, traceried window of two lights with hoodmould in its south wall, and a late 13th or early 14th-century pointed-arched doorway with roll-moulded jambs in its west wall.

Interior

The nave contains eight roof bays with exposed rafters and collared trusses with chamfered soffits; curved braces run down to wall posts on shaped corbels. The chancel is raised by one step and has an early 18th-century chancel rail of moulded design on turned balusters and newel posts with chamfered angles. The sanctuary ceiling is a wagon barrel vault decorated with ornate, painted, recessed panels. The altar table is faced with slate and features a decorative cross carved into its centre.

A south chapel, descended by one step, contains a reset late 13th or early 14th-century two-centred arch of a single roll-moulded order, likely the original chancel arch. This chapel roof spans two bays with a single 17th-century collared truss. A late 13th or early 14th-century segmental-arched doorway with roll-moulded jambs opens into the west wall of the chapel. A 15th-century doorway with a depressed, pointed head in the north wall of the nave leads to the north vestry.

The font, dating to the 12th century, stands at the west end of the nave. It comprises a cylindrical bowl with a surface divided into six panels: four panels contain saltires, one features a cross of Celtic knotwork with an intersecting ring, and the sixth panel is blank.

Memorials and Fittings

A slate memorial plaque of the 17th century on the north wall of the nave commemorates Hugh ap Richard Lewis of Marian Gent (died 1660) and his wife Jane (died 1661), as well as Owen Williams of Marian Gent (died 1723). The memorial displays an achievement at its base.

Ancient stained glass is limited to fragments of a 15th-century crucifixion window, reset in the south chancel window. The east chancel crucifixion window is by Charles Eames Kemp, dated 1907, and commemorates Thomas Owen of Trefeiler (died 1904). A slate slab bearing a Latin inscription and dedicated to Sidney Parry (circa 1766) runs along the sill of this window.