Church of St Tysilio

Church of St Tysilio

This church is built of uncoursed rubble stonework with sandstone quoins and dressings, roofed in slate. Boulder foundations are exposed on the south side, and re-used ashlar is incorporated in the east gable end. The building comprises a nave and chancel in a single cell, with walls largely of medieval date, the nave narrowing slightly towards the west. A north transept and south porch are attached. A stone gabled bellcote is raised on the west gable.

The windows are predominantly three-light with square heads, labels with square terminals, and ogee cusped tracery, though those on the north were replaced in the 19th century. A small round-headed window in the angle with the transept has quoins carved with foliate crosses from late 13th or 14th-century gravestones. The east window is a 15th-century three-light window with panel tracery. In the transept, a two-light early 14th-century north window has been reset in the end to light the vestry. One south window bears the date 1580, marking its renewal. A graffito of 1760 is carved on a south-east chancel quoin. An external stone pulpit, probably dating from the 1869 refurbishment, stands in the angle between the lean-to east vestry and the transept. An engraving of 1830 shows dormers on the south side, now removed.

The interior shows a nave and aisle in one cell, with seven bays of late medieval knee-braced collar trusses featuring cusped raking struts, two tiers of purlins, and cusped windbraces, all of which have been restored. The east bay is ceiled as a segmental panelled vault. The walls were plastered in the 19th century. The chancel occupies the two eastern bays and has a raised marble floor. An arch and three-light window open to the transept, which contains the organ and was extended to serve as a vestry. Around 1919, the chancel was refurbished with a tall oak screen positioned on the top chancel step, incorporating a pulpit, an altar with an elaborately carved front, and a reredos extending across the full width. These furnishings were all designed by R T Beckett. A 15th-century octagonal font with panelled sides stands on an octagonal base. The lectern contains a 15th-century black oak eagle of special interest, now remounted.

The stained glass includes two 15th-century figures in yellow stain in the small north window, set in an architectural frame, with the lower figure representing St James the Greater. The east window, dating from around 1890-1910, depicts Christ and archangels with scenes below and is a memorial to Sir Theodore Martin, donated by Lady Martin. A nativity scene of 1926 appears in the south chancel. The nave contains an Oakes memorial window at the west end of the south side, a window to Bond of Londonderry on the north side to the east, and coloured figures of St Tysilio dated 1972 by T M Cox on the south side at the east end of the nave.

The monuments include a large white marble relief in the nave depicting Helena Faucit Martin, died 1898, seated and holding a book with books beneath her chair and a tondo with the head of her husband(?) behind, unsigned. At the west end on the north side stands a white marble aedicule with a wide broken pediment, a circular coloured shield above and a putto on the apron, erected to Henry Roberts of Rhyd Owen, died 1722, with Elizabeth Meyrick added later. On the west wall is a footed monument on grey slate with a draped and corniced tablet, two putti and mounted arms above, to Elizabeth Jones of Bwlch, died 1721, with additions for Simon and Richard Jones, described as 'unkles' (sic), and Charles, brother to the husband Edward. A copper plaque on marble on the south wall commemorates William Herbert MD, died 1954, and a memorial brass to Robert Browning is also present. In the vestry, a white marble tablet on grey records Sarah Edwards, died 1834, and David Edwards, died 1837, while high on the wall stands a limestone Gothic aedicule monument to Mary Beech of Admaston, Salop, died 1861.