Church of St. Gwyddelan

Church of St. Gwyddelan

This is a Grade I listed stone church built of large, roughly coursed and dressed blocks with a roof of thick, rough-graded slates, some of which were allegedly re-used from Meredith's house Penamnen. The roof features overlapping copings to kneelered gable parapets.

The primary structure is a rectangular block containing a continuous nave and chancel. A later 16th-century south chapel was added towards the east end. The north entrance features a Tudor-arched, chamfered opening with a studded and ribbed oak door with lozenge bracing to the rear. This entrance is contained within a 19th-century single-storey gabled porch addition, which has overlapping parapet copings and a gable cross. The porch has a pointed-arched outer entrance that is chamfered with a moulded label and simple stops, and boarded outer doors. An original flat-headed rectangular window survives on the far left of the porch, fitted with an original wrought iron grille. A large chamfered Tudor-arched east window with an original heavy grille is present, and further flat-headed windows exist on the east and south walls of the south chapel. Paired 19th-century pointed lancets occupy the position of the former south door and share a label with chamfered jambs. A similar single window to the west wall is contemporary with a gabled bellcote surmounting the gable, which has an arched bell opening.

The roof of the continuous nave and chancel comprises five bays. The first four are of arched-braced collar truss type with stopped chamfered purlins and two tiers of cusped, chamfered windbraces. The easternmost bay, positioned over the altar, is a waggon vault with wooden boarding featuring ribs and carved bosses arranged in a conjoined lozenge pattern. The north wallplate bears a primary relief carving of a dragon with an extra head at the tail end, wings, and a knotted tail. The floor is slate and the walls are rough plastered.

Positioned within bay three is the primary rood screen, which was moved westwards probably when the south chapel was added. It is in Perpendicular style with a wide central Tudor arch featuring carved 'bent feather' spandrels. There are three flanking lights to each side, with panelled dado and pierced tracery heads; the northernmost light formerly had an iron grille, suggesting original use as a confessional. The rood canopies are lost but are inferred from mortising evidence. The rood beam is surmounted by an early 18th-century balustrade with flat, S-shaped balusters and a 'candle-beam' rail bearing 14 candle sconces. This balustrade probably originated as a west end gallery and was relocated during the 19th century.

East of the screen are four primitive fixed benches on each side of the central aisle with S-baluster backs, dating to the early 18th century. One bench is inscribed 'Maingc i'r dyla i clyw' ('a bench for the hard of hearing'). Contemporary turned communion rails and a reading desk with fluted corner posts and carved finials are also present. A panelled rectangular pulpit bears the date 1711 together with churchwarden's initials WP, RM, and RI.

On the north wall of the chancel is a late 16th-century Wynn memorial commemorating the first three heads of the Wynn family and their wives. This is a three-section classical wall monument with cylindrical pilasters supported on fluted corbels with cherub and acanthus capitals, inscription tablets (some now blank) and heraldic shields. The monument retains residual polychromy, restored inaccurately in the early 20th century. Mounted on the north wall in a case are three brasses from Meredith ap Ieuan's former tomb (died 1525), consisting of a kneeling figure of the donor in full plate armour, a shield with his coat of arms and a Latin inscription in Gothic lettering. The figures of Alice, his wife, and his children, presumably part of the original group, have not survived.

A square gritstone font with chamfered sides rests on a modern base. The east window retains a large quantity of original glass dated 1512, with some figurative elements, although these are not clearly identifiable. In the northeast window is a square quarry with a finely-executed St. Christopher in grisaille, also original.

The south chapel is entered from the chancel via an arcade of two bays with round-headed arches. A central slatestone Tuscan column with marked entasis supports the arcade, featuring a moulded capital with square abacus and stepped, square base. The roof comprises two bays with a central arch-braced, chamfered collar truss and two tiers of windbraces. Early 18th-century fixed pews are present, and at the northwest corner is a 17th-century poor-box consisting of an upright, hollowed-out beam with stopped-chamfered edges, heavy iron hinges, and three locks, one of which formerly bore the Wynn arms. The east window contains modern stained glass.