Church of St Cedwyn

Church of St Cedwyn

A church built in brown stone with Bath stone dressings, topped with a slate roof with cresting and dormers to the north and south sides. The building comprises a nave with a west bellcote and weathervane, a south aisle, a west porch, and a south-east vestry.

The north side of the nave features two lancet windows to the chancel with hoodmoulds and head stops, and three two-light windows to the nave with hoodmoulds and floral stops. The south aisle contains a central three-light window flanked by two two-light windows, all with hoodmoulds and floral stops. The south-east vestry has a south doorway with a shouldered arch and a two-light window to the east. The chancel is lit by a three-light east window. The west porch is in Norman style, rendered, with details in brick and terra-cotta. It features a south doorway with two shafts to each side, a two-light west window, and arcading on the north wall.

Against the east wall is a stone simply carved with an early double circle cross, including representations of a hammer and nails. This stone is said to have been discovered in the walling of the old church, which was taken down in 1869.

The church is entered through the west porch, which contains an octagonal mediaeval font, a wooden poorbox dated 1741, and on the west side a painted creed, decalogue and Lord's prayer, all in English. On the north side is a small wood and copper war memorial with Art Nouveau detailing by the Arts and Crafts designer JHM Bonnor. Though Bonnor died in 1916, the memorial was carried out by his staff at Chiswick. The churchyard contains Bonnor family tombstones to his design, and there are family memorials within the church.

A plain door leads to the nave, which has a single aisle to the south with a three-arch arcade. The interior is dominated by a lightly constructed roof with arched wind braces of unusual design. Extra illumination comes from North's dormer windows added around 1907, giving the interior a bright effect.

The pews in the nave and aisle are plain pine, arranged in three banks with black and red quarry tile passages. The pulpit on the left is made from 17th-century oak panelling. To the south west of the nave is a late 19th-century octagonal Gothic font, probably by Ferrey, standing on clustered black supporting colonettes.

One step leads up to the chancel and two more to the sanctuary. Plain pine choirstalls line the chancel. The Communion rails, designed by JHM Bonnor but carried out after his death, feature a vine trail beneath and stand on iron and brass standards. A simple Gothic reredos stands behind. To the right is the effigy of a 14th-century cleric with his missal, his feet resting on a lion. The chancel ceiling is boarded in pointed barrel form with reused woodwork in its cornice dated 1527, though the rebuild date of 1869 has been added.

The church contains a large collection of monuments, including many to the Williams-Wynn and Bonnor families. To the left of the east window is a monument in figured marble with an open pediment and arms, commemorating Edward Vaughan (1718), adopted heir of Edward Vaughan of Llwydiarth. The style of this monument has been copied in a later Williams-Wynn monument on the south side. Bonnor of Brynygwalia memorials are mostly on the west wall.

The east window was restored in 1853 in memory of Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn (1850), and depicts the nativity and the four evangelists. The central window to the north of the nave, by Ward and Hughes, was made in memory of Marie Nesta Williams Wynn, who died in childhood in 1883, and includes a representation of the church as rebuilt by Ferrey.