Church of St Cynhafal

Church of St Cynhafal

The Church of St Cynhafal is a double-naved church without external distinction between nave and chancel. It is rendered except for the porch and bellcote. The roofs are of slate with coped gables to east and west of both naves and over the porch. A low annexe containing heating apparatus stands on the north side with a chimney, and an adjacent shed.

Windows and External Details

The windows were restored according to Lloyd-Williams and Underwood's drawings and descriptions recorded by Glynne prior to the 19th-century restoration work, demonstrating a conservation approach. The east window of the north nave is of four lights with sub-arches in the tracery and an unstopped label mould with a grotesque face as keystone. The east window of the south nave is of five lights in Perpendicular style, four-centred, with richer detail but no label mould. New Red Sandstone contrasts strongly with the yellow sandstone of the restored mullions in the south windows. The other windows, much restored, appear to be in yellow sandstone. The three windows of the south side are four-centred, each consisting of four trefoil-headed lights. The west window in the north nave is probably of the 18th century, round-headed with leading attached to stout rear ferramenta. The north side has only one window, of three lights beneath a three-centred arch.

The porch is of 19th-century date, its front in pecked ashlar limestone with axe-dressed work at the sides and sandstone dressings. The outer doorway is four-centred with plain modern doors featuring glazed slits.

Interior

The church is entered by the south porch. The inner doorway has a three-centred arch within an opening that has lost its main arch and now has a lintel. This truncated archway has a broad hollow moulding at the left within which there is a small carved figure in vestments, possibly representing St Peter.

The interior retains strong Perpendicular and late mediaeval character. The naves are of similar size, each containing five major or ten minor bays, separated by an arcade of five four-centred stone arches on octagonal columns. The floor is of red and black quarry tiles. The roofs are a dominant feature, with major trusses having short pseudo-hammer beams with angel terminals (some missing) and minor trusses having carved faces at the feet of the principals, recently painted. All trusses have high collar beams. In the north nave, V struts above the collars are cusped to give trefoil and quatrefoil openings. The naves are now pewed as one, with 19th-century pews in three banks. The pew detailing is plain but there are simplified poppyheads to the ends. To the west of the north nave are two Jacobean box pews, within which a brass plate records the burial of John Jones of Scorlygen, gent, 1760. A 19th-century octagonal font stands near the south door.

The south nave functions as the main nave, with the pulpit at its right side. This is octagonal and Jacobean, said to date to about 1636, carved on all faces except the right where it stands against the wall, suggesting it may have been rebuilt when relocated from the north nave. In the chancel, one step up from the nave, are choirstalls similar to the nave pews. The chancel floor and that of the Lady Chapel in the north nave are paved in red and black quarry tiles, with encaustic features in the main chancel. A sanctuary step around the high altar features communion rails with unusually tall closely set fluted balusters and no gate, said to come from the stairs landing at Plas Draw. The carved low-relief reredos is said to bear the date 1636, with wall panelling each side and a pelican (1690) suspended above. The altar in the Lady Chapel is simpler and carries a three-panel altarpiece.

Stained Glass

Mediaeval stained glass was destroyed in the 17th century; some survived until replaced by 19th-century memorial windows. At the south are three windows: one with four male saints (1892), another with four female saints (1890), and a third with four Old Testament leaders who built things—Noah with the ark, Abraham with the pyre, Solomon with the Temple and Nehemiah with the walls of Jerusalem—commemorating G F Lyster of Plas Issa (1899). The three-light window at the north shows the Crucifixion, commemorating Catherine Williams of Glyn Arthur (1886).

Monuments and Furnishings

The church has a good collection of 18th and 19th-century Classical wall memorials, those at the south to the family at Plas Draw from 1778 onwards. Those at the north include a small memorial to the Rev David Hughes, rector and headmaster of Ruthin School (1817) and a large Regency-style one to the Rev John Jones, rector of Plas-yn-llan, by Blayney of Chester (1830). Four earlier (17th and 18th-century) memorial stones with lettering only are set at low level in the north wall. Beside the south door is a table of charitable bequests to the poor of the parish.