Church of St Ishmael

The Church of St Ishmael is a parish church, dating from the medieval period and built of rubble stone with slate roofs. It has a low, spreading outline, incorporating a nave, a west bellcote tower, transepts, and a chancel with squint openings on both sides. A broad bellcote tower was added in the 19th century to the west end, featuring a Y-tracery two-light window high in the gable, and an unusually large, plain, double-bellcote. Two tall, plain, pointed bell openings are visible. Small, plain lancet windows flank the tower on each side.

The nave has generally late 19th or early 20th century two-light Perpendicular style windows with flat heads and hoodmoulds; two are on the north side, flanking a blocked doorway, and three are on the south side, with a porch in between the first and second. The porch has a broad, low design with a red brick elliptical arch leading to the entry and thin roof trusses dated 1853. A 19th-century door is on the south side. The south transept features a heavily detailed 19th-century two-light window with a quatrefoil in the head, along with a small west-facing single light and an east-facing two-light window. The squint to the chancel has a canted wall and a single small lancet window. The chancel’s south side has a late medieval two-light window with a flat head, while the east window is a 19th-century design matching the south transept's south window. The north side of the chancel has a 20th-century lancet window, and the squint has a canted wall and a single lancet. The north transept has a window matching the chancel’s east window and the south transept's south window, a 19th-century east lancet, and a 19th-century west-facing single-light with a flat head and hoodmould. Blocked low arched openings are present in the transept’s west and east walls.

The interior has whitewashed, plastered walls, supported by arch-braced collar trusses and boarded roofs installed in 1853. A pointed, whitewashed arch separates the nave from the chancel, with a seat on each side, and a low, round, whitewashed arch leads to the north transept. A timber lintel marks the entrance to the south transept. The nave has a low, blocked doorway on the north side, and a stoup stands near the south doorway. Pews and a pulpit from 1884 are also present. The pulpit, carved by G.R. Jones of Haverfordwest, is constructed of ornate, painted ashlar with marble-shafted columns to the open front. A fine 13th-century font features a square, whitewashed bowl with scalloped decoration, set on a squat round shaft with rope mould bands at the top and bottom, and a square base. The font is raised on a large, patterned-tiled step. Around the font are inscribed stones of various dates, including a lower portion of a large cross slab dating from the 9th or 10th century, featuring plait-work on either side of the cross. Another slab displays a cross with rounded arm junctions and an equal-armed cross within a circle, along with cusping. The north transept contains a Gothic timber vestry screen, seemingly moved from another location, with unusual coloured-transfer pictures on the glass panels. The squint’s vault is roughly whitewashed, composed of several transverse arches. A niche is located to the right of the window. The south transept has broad, cambered-headed recesses on both the south and west walls, and a square-headed recess in the left-hand angle of the south wall. The south window has stained glass depicting a pelican in the upper quatrefoil light. The squint has cambered arches to the transept and chancel, with 19th-century boarding covering the lean-to roof. The chancel floor is laid with good encaustic tiles made by Minton & Hollins in 1884; it also features brass rails and a stained glass east window depicting the Resurrection and Ascension, dated 1886.