Church of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary

This is a medieval parish church of squared rubble stone with concrete tiled roofs, comprising a nave, chancel, south porch, and a large square wooden bell turret topped with a bell-cast pyramid roof also concrete-tiled.

The west end features 19th-century stonework with quoins and a grey stone pointed two-light window with cusped lights and hoodmould. The timber belfry has four louvred panels with blank cusped heads on each side and boarding below.

The medieval south porch contains a restored chamfered medieval pointed arch with bar stops to a red sandstone surround. Inside are four arch-braced roof trusses from around 1500, moulded with two rolls and a fillet, alongside three intermediate plain trusses. Stone seats line the interior. A late medieval four-centred red sandstone south door, chamfered with diagonal stops, is flanked by double 19th-century doors with wrought iron hinges. To the right is a restored circa 1500 two-light square-headed window with four-centred heads to the lights and spandrel panels.

The lower chancel has one 19th-century cusped lancet to the right of centre on the south side. The east end shows mostly 19th-century stonework with a 19th-century three-light window featuring an octofoil in the head and pointed hoodmould. A lean-to 19th-century north vestry has an east-facing cusped lancet. The north nave wall has 19th-century stonework and two 19th-century flat-headed two-light windows, the left one retaining a medieval sill.

The interior features a fine medieval panelled ceiling with multiple roll-moulds to the ribs, with six-by-six panels original and added double-length panels at the west end. The stone flagged floor contains two grave slabs dated 1706 and 1730. Large 19th-century chamfered and stopped pine posts support the belfry with arched braces and cusped spandrels. A chamfered pointed chancel arch from 1864, in grey stone, has an inner order on column shafts with octagonal caps and carved leaf corbels, hoodmould, and head stops. Two steps lead to the chancel. The 15th-century chancel roof is panelled in six-by-four sections, similar to the nave. A 19th-century tiled chancel floor precedes one step up to the sanctuary. A 19th-century pointed north door provides access to the vestry.

The late 13th-century font is unusual: a shallow one-piece bowl with a trefoil section at the top of the shaft, a narrower trefoiled short shaft below, and a square chamfered base. Fittings include 19th-century pitch-pine pews, a 19th-century timber pulpit with Gothic panels on a grey stone octagonal shaft, and 19th-century chancel stalls with pierced tracery to the back and fleur-de-lys bench ends. Wrought iron altar rails feature twisted standards and scrolls.

The stained glass includes an east window of circa 1865 with patterned glass and a centre panel depicting Christ with a chalice and the Lamb of God in the octofoil head. A single-light chancel window from 1886 shows the Good Shepherd and is dedicated to Reverend C. Griffith.

Memorials on the north wall commemorate Anne Vaughan (died 1825) and Jane Price (died 1829), both by Hughes with twisted shafts and draped urns; Howell Powell of Maesyberllan (died 1797), a shield plaque; and Jenkin Lewis (died 1738) and Mary Lewis (died 1757), a well-lettered marble plaque probably from a larger monument. The south wall holds memorials to Margaret, wife of Reverend W. Williams late of Carburthy (died 1808), a rustic plaque with two ovals; Thomas Williams of Carbuthy (died 1788), an incised painted plaque by D. Hughes; Elizabeth, daughter of Reverend W. Williams (died 1805), by Games; and Reverend Walter Williams late of Carburthy (died 1766), with a border of flowers by T. Games. The chancel south wall has a neo-Grec marble plaque to Elizabeth Griffith (died 1837) by H. Wood of Bristol. On the chancel north wall is a brass plaque to Reverend Charles Griffith of Glyn Celyn (died 1886) and a white and grey marble plaque with sunburst to Reverend Morgan Price (died 1833) by Thomas of Brecon.