Church of St. Aidan

Church of St. Aidan

The church is of medieval form, consisting of a large nave and chancel that were partially rebuilt and given a western porch in the 19th century. It stands adjacent to an unusual surviving medieval group of two towers and an original chancel. Traces of old doorways on the north and south sides show that the nave was not reduced to ground level during the 19th-century restoration.

The restored nave and chancel are unusually high-roofed, with a pitch of about 60 degrees. The walls are constructed of rubble similar to that of the older surviving parts, though the restored masonry is more clearly brought to courses. The nave, porch and chancel roofs are slated with tile ridges, coped gables and finials. At the south side of the restored nave the dressings of a blocked round-headed doorway survive. At the north side, between the centre and right windows, are slight traces of another lost doorway, though no dressings remain.

To the south side of the chancel are two blocked windows with cinquefoil-headed lights under a square label mould. An old painting shows they were not yet blocked in the early 19th century. Elsewhere the windows are restored; the east window has tracery in a geometrical style. Generally the windows are of two lights with a pointed trefoil head plus a top pointed quatrefoil. Below the east window is an ancient carved pillar stone built into the wall, above a projecting stone.

Both towers have locally typical corbelled parapets. The lower and older tower has slit belfry lights, and there are double belfry lights to all sides of the later tower. The newer tower also has a string course. The 19th-century western porch is open fronted, paved in slate, with slate benches on each side.

Interior

The nave is of five bays defined by high collar-beam trusses with arched supports from corbels below wallplate level. There is one step up at the chancel arch and one at the sanctuary. To the right is the vestry, originally a chancel with its north aisle on the site of the present chancel. The separating arcade is of two arches, with a round column and moulded caps to the column and responds. The column cap is of conical cushion form with a cable moulding similar to that on the font. The east respond has grotesque carvings, including a two-headed animal in which the heads share one eye, and another face at the rear. The arches above are four-centred, presumably 15th century. A death's-head corbel above on the chancel side was a former roof bracket support.

Access to the tower is now through the vestry, but a blocked deep south archway at the south of the nave was previously the direct access. The archway now resembles a small transept. The stairs to the towers commence at the south-west corner of the later tower, and they appear to be an adaptation of the original smaller-tower stairs. The larger tower has a pointed vault over its base storey, but no vault or upper floor survives in the smaller tower.

Against the south wall of the vestry is the effigy in Nolton stone of a priest, head on a pillow and feet on a dog. At the south of the chancel is a slate monument to the Reverend William Evans, died 1796, who was the translator of the Reverend Rees Pritchard's verse. In the blocked tower-archway is a memorial to the Reverend Evan Owen, chaplain to Charles II, died 1662, an oval plaque with Baroque carved surround.

The east window consists of glass recovered from Slebech church in 1995. It features Gethsemane and the four evangelists. An east window in the vestry is in a grisaille style, with crosses in leaded quarries and a red margin.