Church of Saint David

Church of Saint David

An Anglican parish church built primarily of purple and grey rubble stone with stone-tiled roofs. The building follows a cruciform plan with a crossing tower and features 19th-century gable copings and cross finials, with shaped ends to the rafters.

The tower dates from 1629 and has plain rectangular openings under the eaves fitted with timber louvres, topped with a stone-tiled pyramid roof with swept eaves. A small slit window is set low on the west face, and stone dripcourses run along the tower sides parallel to the roof slopes. An inscribed stone preserved in the church records that the tower was commissioned in April 1629 by churchwardens William Havard and William Griffith. The south porch is a later addition from 1900, constructed of stone tiles with a pointed arch formed of cut stone voussoirs.

The church displays lancet windows of 13th-century type throughout. The nave's west end wall and windows were substantially renewed in 1900, featuring three long lancets. The north side wall is windowless and heavily battered, while the south side has a slightly battered base with one 1900 lancet to the left of the porch and two to the right. The south door within the porch has a cambered head with 19th-century stone voussoirs set above medieval red sandstone jambs, and is fitted with a 1900 plank door with cover strips.

The south transept contains renewed lancets (one to the west and one to the south) with heavily battered walls that have been substantially rebuilt. The south gable is coped and carries a chimney dated 1884. The east wall has a large pointed door with stone voussoirs, originally serving as an entrance to the adjoining schoolroom (1884-1900). An earlier 20th-century oak door has since been installed. The chancel has a low battered base to its walls and three lancets to the south set higher, preserving some medieval stonework. A door runs between the first and second lancets. The original 13th-century south door has a much-renewed unmoulded trefoiled head with hoodmould. The east end displays three widely-separated lancets with renewed heads, the central one broader and taller, topped with three pointed hoods linked at impost level. Three similar lancets light the north wall, renewed using some original stones. The north transept features a very narrow 13th-century lancet on the east wall set within walls of notable height, particularly on the north side, with renewed lancets to both the north and west walls.

The interior reveals rubble stone walls in the nave. The roof, dating from the later 19th century, is constructed with two tie-beam trusses fitted with crown posts rising to collars and an axial collar-purlin. The crown posts feature arched braces on all four sides. Stone voussoirs line the splayed reveals of the window openings: three lancets to the west, three to the south with a segmental-pointed head to the door surround, and none to the north. The nave's east wall is battered at the base, and the crossing arch is notably off-centre; the north wall appears to abut the east wall. The crossing is formed with round arches of stone voussoirs springing from square piers to the west and east. Stone walling to the south and north is pierced on the south by a low round-arched doorway with keystone and on the north by a tall pointed doorway with stone voussoirs fitted with 19th-century baize-covered doors. Later 19th-century beams and corbels support the bell-floor, with one corbel possibly of ancient origin.

The south transept contains plastered walls with plain collar-rafters to the roof, one pegged example possibly dating from the 18th century. A taller segmental-pointed reveal on the north wall, backing onto the entry from the crossing, exceeds the height of the crossing round arch. The east wall holds a large pointed door of late 19th or 20th-century date. A squint at the northeast corner provides a view into the chancel. An 1884 gallery on the south wall provides access to the bell-floor of the crossing tower.

The north transept has plastered walls covered by a 19th-century windbraced roof with two collar trusses, one with a heavy tie-beam. A pointed altar recess is set on the east wall, framing a very narrow pointed light. A squint at the southeast corner looks into the chancel. The south wall has a battered base.

The chancel, accessed by one step, has a roof similar to the nave with two tie beams. The plastered walls are lit by three lancets on each side with 19th-century flush sills, while the east end has a stepped triplet with deeply sloped sills running down to a moulded course. Corbels are positioned on opposite sides of the chancel, possibly originally supporting either a rood-beam or statue. The chancel's west wall bears two crude shields said to relate to the 1629 inscription stone. The south door has a cambered head. A pointed stone piscina on the south wall was renewed in the 19th century. Two steps lead to the sanctuary, which has a 19th-century tiled pavement.

The font is a massive and crude medieval bowl of tooled stone set on an ashlar pedestal with a square base splayed inward toward the foot and finished with large angle chamfers, stopped before the top corners; a modern plinth has been added. The 19th-century hardwood pews are of good quality with simply moulded bench ends. A large oak pulpit dating from 1905 features ornate pierced tracery to its panels and is inscribed as a memorial to Giraldus. An oak eagle lectern from 1903 stands nearby. The 19th-century chancel stalls have a band of pierced cusped squares along their frontals, and the altar rails are 19th-century work mounted on twisted brass standards.

Memorials include several wall monuments: Thomas Morgans of Felin Newydd, Llandevalle (died 1814), with painted marbling, two oval plaques, and an obelisk top with urn, signed by Hughes; David Williams of Llanfrynach (died 1823), an oval with painted marbling and shield plaque by T. Phillips of Talgarth; John Williams of Upper Penwain (died 1855) on the south transept east wall with an urn above; Roger Williams of Penwain Uchaf (died 1833) on the south transept south wall with painted marbling and reeded pilasters, signed by ?Giles; and Thomas Jones of Gwarcae (died 1864) and Ann Davies (died 1848) on the south transept west wall.

Inscribed stones retrieved during the restoration are preserved in the south porch: two 10th or 11th-century carved pieces, said to be possibly parts of the same cross shaft, and a Celtic-cross inscribed stone with incised Gothic letters. The north transept houses a rough 2-handled bowl found in 1859, possibly a stoup, and a 12th-century piscina with rope-moulded square bowl on a quatrefoil stem, retrieved from the chancel's east gable.