Church of St Cewydd

Church of St Cewydd

This is a Grade I listed parish church in the Gothic style, comprising a nave and chancel under a single roof, with a south porch and a narrower west tower. The church is constructed of rubble stone, whitewashed on the nave and chancel, with a slate roof.

The south porch has a front of coursed rock-faced stone with a pointed arch and cusped barge boards. The side walls are whitened rubble stone with narrow windows, and the roof is laid with lozenge-pattern slates. Inside the porch are benches with backs made from re-used wood panelling. The simple pointed doorway to the nave, probably dating from the 14th or 15th century, has double doors with arched ribs and strap hinges.

Windows throughout the church are mainly 2-light wooden-framed windows with diamond-pattern leaded glazing. The nave has windows on either side of the porch. The chancel contains a 16th-century 3-light square-headed south window with cusped lights, sunk spandrels and hood mould. An 18th-century 4-light east window, made of oak, is square-headed with cusped lights. The north wall has been partly rebuilt, probably in the 18th century to judge from the date of internal wall paintings. The chancel has one 2-light window and the nave has two 2-light windows.

The 3-stage tower is battered at the base with a thick string course. The windows date from the late 19th century, though they are said to replicate previous windows. A 2-light Decorated west window has a hood mould. On the north side is a blocked doorway to the northeast turret. The middle stage has 2-light square-headed windows in the north, west and south walls, with cusped lights, sunk spandrels and wooden louvres. The east wall contains voussoirs above the level of the nave roof, possibly the relieving arch of a window looking into the nave. The upper stage has 2-light Decorated bell openings, each with a hood mould and louvres. A thick band sits below the coped, embattled parapet.

The nave roof is a 5-bay arched-brace roof with tie beams, two tiers of cusped windbracing, and panelling above the wall plate. The second truss from the west end is a later scissor-based truss with cusping above the intersections. The truss at the west end dates from the 19th century and is made of sawn timber with raking struts. The awkward half-bay between nave and tower has panelling above the wall plate of a different character to the remainder of the nave. The simple tower arch is pointed with voussoirs and is medieval in character, suggesting the existence of an earlier tower. The arch was formerly concealed behind a west gallery, which was still standing in 1870. Crude angle buttresses against the east wall of the tower might be associated with an earlier tower or bellcote, although they have also been interpreted as cut-down remnants of the earlier nave west wall. The half-bay at the west end of the nave has a cobbled floor, whereas the remainder of the interior has a stone flagged floor. There is no structural division between nave and chancel, but wall posts below the east truss of the nave roof formed part of the former rood screen. The chancel roof is a ceiled 3-bay arched-brace roof.

In the chancel is a segmental recess behind the altar with a moulded wooden lintel (similar to Rhulen church in Radnorshire), and a recess to its right has a cusped wooden head. In the nave north wall is part of a plaster frame of a former painted inscription panel, which survives only partially and in much-faded form. Further right is a faded Queen Anne Royal Arms. The nave south wall also retains part of a plaster frame. In the chancel east wall are earlier stencilled fleur-de-lis, IHS monograms, a banner with chevrons and a fragment of a plant, probably a lily.

The octagonal font is probably medieval but was re-tooled in the 19th century. It stands on a squat round stem and base.

The church retains a complete and remarkably preserved Georgian parish church interior. This interior demonstrates the emphasis placed on the pulpit rather than the altar, and is one of a small minority of such interiors to have survived the Anglican revival of the 19th century and its renewed emphasis on the liturgy. The focal point is a panelled polygonal pulpit in the south wall, inscribed 'IG' in its door. On its west side is a later reading desk with a door inscribed 'EE 1706' and a panelled front with round-headed patterned arches in low relief.

The nave and chancel retain a complete set of box pews of different dates. These include family pews with the names of their occupants—including James Watt, the inventor, who retired to Radnorshire in 1805—and unmarked pews at the west end. All pews, including those in the chancel and on the east side of the pulpit, face the pulpit rather than the altar. The box pews are panelled, some with raised fields, and some are dated. On the north side these include pews inscribed 'T Williams Penrhew 1808', 'LCI 1708', and 'LP 1710'. On the south side, beginning at the east end, 'ELL [1702?]', a pew with 'In the Year of Our Lord God 1666' in raised letters over lozenge panels, and 'EP 1714 IW'. In the chancel are box pews on the north and south sides of the sanctuary. The pew on the south side has 'IG 1687' in raised letters and may be contemporary with the pulpit, which bears the same monogram. Between the chancel pews is a partly renewed communion rail of turned balusters and reed-moulded rail, possibly late 17th century.

The chancel north wall contains a tablet to Ezekiel Williams (died 1752), comprising an oval inscription panel against a rectangular background with low-relief foliage in the angles. In the chancel east wall is a memorial to Elizabeth Davies (died 1822) and John Davies (died 1796) by T Price of Builth. It has double inscription panels, apron and segmental pediment with roundel. The chancel south wall contains a freestone classical memorial to Margaret Lloyd (died 1826), also by T Price of Builth. An inscription panel is flanked by pilasters, above an apron with heraldic shield, and surmounted by a marble pediment with urn in high relief.