Church of St Rhystyd

The Church of St Rhystyd is a medieval parish church, largely dated to the 19th century, with significant earlier fabric, particularly in the west tower. The church is constructed of squared rubble stone with ashlar dressings, topped with steep slate roofs and ashlar coped gables. A substantial west tower with a 19th-century bell stage and a broad, broached stone spire dominates the western facade. The tower has a battered base with a 19th-century moulded ashlar course, large clasping buttresses with battered bases, a plinth course carried round, ashlar coped gables, a sill course to the bell stage, and deep-set 2-light ashlar bell-lights with quatrefoil heads and hoodmoulds; the western light has been removed and infilled with black brick. Corbels support the tall broach spire which has ashlar gabled lucarnes. A small eastern bellcote crowns the nave’s north side, featuring two cusped pointed openings and a cinquefoil in the gable.

Inside the tower is a plastered medieval vault. A 19th-century moulded ashlar tower arch sits on corbels, and a panelled 19th-century screen separates the tower from the nave. The nave features a seven-bay roof with arched braces on corbels. An ashlar five-bay arcade has pointed arches and alternate round and octagonal columns, with a corbelled respond depicting a carved head. The moulded chancel arch rests on half-column shafts with leaf capitals and carved corbels. A panelled, four-sided chancel roof has bosses and a carved wallplate. The south aisle has a scissor rafter roof. A medieval octagonal font sits on a 19th-century base. Monuments include a 1834 memorial to Mary Anne Hughes by Wallace and White of Edinburgh, featuring a broken rose carved on the obelisk top, a brass to J.G.P. Hughes of Alltlwyd (d 1906), and a 1829 plaque to Morgan Williams of Tregynan Isaf. The east window contains excellent 19th-century glass in the Gothic style, depicting Lloyd-Philipps of Mabws and Penty Park, likely dating from c1865-70. Other stained glass includes three 2-light windows on the north side to Capt. Begbie (d1902) and a 1945 window in the east of the south aisle, by G. Maile Studios.