Church of St Peblig

Church of St Peblig

A Grade I listed church of cruciform plan with a western tower, north-east vestry and chapel (also known as the Vaynol Chapel). The building is predominantly late Perpendicular in style, though it incorporates substantial 14th-century fabric. It is constructed of coursed rubble walls with slate roofs behind coped gables.

The three-stage western tower was built in two phases, distinguishable by changes in the masonry. The lower stage, dating from the late 14th or early 15th century, features a narrow western window in a chamfered surround, and on the south side a similar window with a narrower slit to its left lighting the stair. The middle stage contains a 16th-century two-light western window with sunk spandrels to a square head with hood mould, flanked by small narrow stair lights to the right. The upper stage has two-light square-headed windows on each face with sunk spandrels; the northern face retains its hood mould, and slate louvres sit in front of the mullions. The tall parapet features stepped battlements.

The nave has coped gables on moulded kneelers, with the north-west kneeler carved with a primitive head. A timber-framed north-west porch of 1894 sits on a dwarf wall of snecked stone, its gable projecting on brackets with cusped barge boards. The porch has double pointed boarded doors with strap hinges. Internally, the porch contains a two-bay arched-brace roof with a single tier of windbraces, constructed of reused materials. The north doorway has a continuous hollow moulding and double doors with iron studs.

The north transept is lit by a hooded four-light four-centred window beneath a blind pointed trefoil with finial. To its left is a round-headed doorway with a boarded door and strap hinges. The adjoining lower vestry has an embattled gable parapet and a two-light geometrical window with hood mould, above which sits a small cusped opening.

The north-east chapel projects in front of the vestry and transept, set slightly back from the east end of the chancel. Its west wall contains a cast iron rainwater head dated 1814. The north wall has a two-light window with post-medieval Gothic tracery and hood mould with head stops. The east window of 1593 comprises four round-headed lights with sunk spandrels and a square hood mould.

The chancel has an embattled parapet and a three-light Perpendicular east window of the late 19th century. The chancel south wall contains a three-light window to the east side, to the left of which is a smaller two-light Decorated window with hood mould, partly obscured by a later rubble stone projection housing a boiler. The south transept has diagonal buttresses and a five-light late 15th-century Perpendicular south window beneath a pointed trefoil with finial. In the nave is a two-light 16th-century south-east window with cusped ogee-headed lights, to the left of which is a window in similar style inserted in 1839.

The interior displays a short nave and a broad crossing structurally integrated with the north transept. The walls have exposed coursed stone faces. The nave contains a late medieval four-bay arched-brace roof with two tiers of windbraces and a small bullseye window over the crossing arch. The tower arch has a continuous hollow moulding to a two-centred arch, above which are three stepped cusped lights under a segmental arch with sill band. Two small stoups are located in the north wall. The four-centred crossing arch is inscribed with the date 1894. The crossing and north transept have a late medieval arched-brace roof similar to the nave, with windbraces and boarding behind; four bays are late medieval while the two narrower bays at the north end were added in 1775. The south transept has a late 19th-century roof of closely-spaced arched braces. All roofs feature wooden cornices.

The chancel arch, also dated 1894, has hollow-moulded polygonal responds with moulded capitals and a four-centred arch. To its left is an arch behind the pulpit with an inner order of cusping and an outer order of shafts. The chancel itself has a shallow-pitched three-bay king-post roof with corbelled brackets and a cornice with quatrefoil frieze. The north side of the chancel opens via a four-centred arch to the vestry (now housing the organ), and to its east is a wider four-centred arch to the north-east chapel. The chapel retains its original two-bay arched-brace roof with cusped windbraces. The tower contains a newel stair.

The chancel contains a late 19th-century stone reredos and a 14th-century trefoiled piscina. Another slightly later piscina, with cusped ogee head and corbelled basin enriched with relief foliage, stands in the south transept. The south wall of the south transept holds a 14th-century cusped tomb recess under a crocketed ogee hood with flanking attached pinnacles.

The plain octagonal font on a pedestal dates from the 15th century. The corbelled polygonal wooden pulpit with Gothic panelling is late 19th-century. Wrought iron double gates with flanking railings on a stone dado, enriched with scrollwork, cross the chancel arch. The choir stalls have open arcading to the front and rounded backs to the rear row.

The north-east chapel displays a large alabaster tomb of William Gruffydd (died 1587) and his wife Margaret (died 1593), daughter of John Wyne ap Meredydd. They lie in contemporary dress on a large tomb chest with weepers to the sides between fluted pilasters enriched with coats of arms in relief, and bearing an inscription around the rim. In the reveal of the east window, against which the tomb is placed, is an heraldic alabaster tablet in relief dated 1593. The vestry contains, above the east doorway into the north-east chapel, a small child's effigy built into the wall in a dressed surround, probably re-used from a window. The nave has two medieval grave slabs built into the south wall. The transepts contain numerous 18th-century wall tablets, while the chancel has brass memorial tablets.

Several windows feature late 19th or early 20th-century stained glass. The east window is by Mayer & Co of Munich, probably from their London workshop, and portrays Christ with the Apostles. The chancel south-east window depicts the miracle of loaves and fishes, by John Hall & Son of 1912. The chancel south-west window is unsigned and lacks clear subject matter, but shows in late-medieval style the sacrifice of a lamb, harvesting grapes, pouring wine and the death of a priest. The south transept south window depicts 'Come unto me all ye that labour', also by Mayer & Co. The north transept window depicts 'suffer little children' by Lavers & Westlake of London, dated 1894. In the nave, the south-east window depicts Saints George and Margaret, commemorating Morys Wynne Jones, killed in action in 1914. The nave south-west window is unsigned and shows Christ calming the storm at sea.