Church of St Dyfnan

Church of St Dyfnan

This is a large rural church of medieval origin, substantially rebuilt and restored in the 19th century. It comprises a 14th-century nave and western annexe, a wider 15th-century chancel, and an early 19th-century south-west porch. The building is constructed of limestone rubble with gritstone dressings, and has a modern slate roof with stone copings and a dressed stone western gable bellcote.

The nave is two bays wide, lit by Perpendicular windows: paired foiled lights in rectangular frames with hoodmoulds to the south, and single arched lights to the north. The 14th-century north doorway has a pointed arched head and chamfered jambs with broach stops. The moulded label stops are particularly noteworthy, taking the form of nude human figures. The eastern figure lies face downwards with upturned legs and hands clasped across the breast. The western figure is in a similar position but with a dragon-like beast upon it, biting the figure's upturned right leg while grasping the left leg by a claw at the ankle; the figure's left hand grasps the right hind leg of the beast. Above the north doorway is a mid-14th-century carved human head supporting a dripstone.

The south porch contains a small reset 14th-century pointed cusped window in its east wall. The reset 14th-century pointed arched doorway has chamfered jambs and a moulded label, with the date 1817 cut on the arch and "I.D. 1682" inscribed on the west jamb.

The principal entry to the church, through the porch, is via a round-headed doorway of circa 1500. The doorway is set in a square frame with carved spandrels: the eastern spandrel contains a hart and hind, the western contains two dogs. The keystone has two human faces, one on the vertical side and one underneath; the former bearded, the latter with fingers in its mouth. The moulded label terminates on each side in a niche with a trefoiled head beneath a crocketted canopy. The eastern niche contains a figure of St John with curled hair resting on his shoulders, wearing a long pleated gown, holding an open book in his left hand with his right hand raised. The western niche contains the veiled figure of the Blessed Virgin clothed in a plain dress over a pleated undergarment, holding a closed book in her right hand. Each figure stands on a bracket roughly carved with human heads and birds (the western bracket showing winged angel's heads and possibly a bull). Framing each figure is a much weathered inscription. Above the label is a third canopied and crocketted niche containing a Trinity, with the Father represented by a crowned head. The figure of Christ is shown as if hanging, flanked by four angels: the upper pair swinging censers, the lower pair supporting his feet. Neither the third person nor the cross is separately represented.

The western annexe is narrower than the nave and has a similarly detailed north window to that in the chancel. A narrow light is set in the western gable apex beneath a corbelled and shouldered dressed stone bellcote.

The chancel is wider than the nave but almost as long, comprising a single bay with windows to the east. The east window has three ogee-headed lights with casement moulded jambs and vertical tracery in a pointed head with moulded label and scroll terminals; the window has been repaired and the cusping removed. Perpendicular windows to north and south: the south window has two foiled lights with moulded label; a single, possibly later, round-arched light to the north.

Set into the internal wall at the east side of the main doorway is a piscina of contemporary 14th-century date, with a cusped arch in a square frame. A crude stoup, now used as a poor box, stands to the east of the opposite doorway.

The church was re-roofed as part of an 1846 restoration. The nave has four roof bays, the chancel three, and the western annexe two; all have angle-braced collared trusses with crown posts. The chancel and western annexe are separated from the nave by 14th-century hollow chamfered arches with rounded 'ball' stops at the base of the chamfers.

The fittings are 19th-century in date. Simple bench pews, a contemporary pulpit and reading desk with panelled faces and shaped brackets to the lectern are present throughout. The chancel is raised by a single step and has a moulded rail on cusped balusters, with a reredos of simple arcaded panelling beneath a wide panel with moulded surround. At the west end is a gallery with a panelled face, set on a chamfered timber post and reached by a dogleg staircase to the north with moulded rail on stick balusters; the gallery contains cruder bench pews. Below the gallery stands a 19th-century octagonal font on a stepped square base.

A late 19th-century memorial is located on the north wall of the chancel, an early 20th-century memorial on the north wall of the nave, alongside a marble First World War memorial tablet.