Church of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary

This is a church built of rubble stone with slate roofs that overhang at the gables. It comprises a western tower, nave, northern porch, and a long chancel.

The western tower displays a pronounced inward slope at about one-third of its height. It has a corbelled embattled parapet. The bell-openings on the west, north and east sides are segmental-pointed with rough stone voussoirs and stone louvres. The north side contains a loop, while the west side has no door but has a loop to the ground floor and another at mid-height, plus two small loops further up, one on each side at different levels. The south side features a rectangular small window at ground floor level, a tiny loop, and a small rectangular bell-opening with grey stone sides and lintel.

The northern side of the nave is dominated by a large porch with a 19th-century overhanging verge to the gable. The entry has an unusual 15th-century ogee head with a broad double-chamfered opening. Within the porch are a slate floor and slated benches, and the interior has a plastered pointed vault. An arched northern doorway has cut stone voussoirs to the arch and plain caps that are chamfered beneath. Holy water stoups are located on the east wall to the right and in a pointed recess on the west wall, with a square bowl set diagonally with lobed corners. The west wall contains four small slate plaques commemorating David Lloyd of Cilciffeth, who died in 1631, and family members. The nave to the left has two large buttresses with slated set-offs and two 19th-century grey-stone paired lancet windows with varied coloured voussoirs.

The southern side of the nave has three pairs of similar 19th-century lancet windows. Low broad sloping buttresses flank the first window on the left and right, and there is a blocked square-headed opening to the right of the second window.

The chancel is lower and narrower than the nave. Its south side has two square-headed windows of Bath stone, restored in the late medieval style, with cusped heads to the lights and relieving arches. At the east end, an overhanging gable verge frames a restored late medieval 3-light segmental-pointed window with cusped panel tracery, also of Bath stone. A slate pedimented plaque on the south side commemorates Anne Davies, who died in 1837, and is by H. Llewellyn. The northern side of the chancel has two similar 2-light windows, with the left one entirely 19th-century in date.

The interior walls are whitewashed and plastered, with the nave walls markedly sloped. The nave roof dates to the 19th century and spans five bays, constructed with six thin tie-beam trusses. Each truss has an octagonal column post carrying an upper post and two arched braces that extend up to collars. A low pointed western arch connects to the tower, which contains a pointed stone vault. A low door on the west wall of the tower has stone voussoirs forming a segmental pointed arch. A deep window reveal opens to the south.

The northern side of the nave contains a round-arched door with an indent in its top right corner, and two windows set in segmental-pointed reveals. The southern side has three similar windows and a low blocked round-arched door opposite the northern door, positioned between the first and second windows. A corbel projects to the right of the third window.

A cut-stone pointed chancel arch in two orders divides the nave from the chancel. The arch has square caps to both the inner and outer orders, with chamfering below. The chancel is reached by one step and has a rafter roof to a 7-sided profile. Two stone steps lead up to the sanctuary. A small piscina with a cambered-headed recess and shelf is present.

The church contains a massive 12th-century ashlar square font with scallops and darts, and a rope-mould beneath, set on a squat round shaft with a rounded base moulding and square plinth. It appears to be fashioned from a single piece of stone, though it was retooled in the 19th century. A plain 19th-century timber pulpit stands on a stone base with stone steps and has applied late 20th-century white wood carvings in the panels of its canted front. A brass late 19th-century eagle lectern is present. Plain pine pews and chancel stalls date to the 19th century, as does a 19th-century organ in the northern chancel. Oak sanctuary rails were installed in the 20th century. Two wood carvings matching those on the pulpit are located in the church: a Last Supper scene in a blocked southern doorway and a Virgin in the northern nave wall.

Stained glass includes a 1920 window by Kempe & Co in a south-facing nave 2-light depicting Saints George and David as a war memorial. The eastern chancel window is a 3-light by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, dating to around 1865, with bright colours and faded drawing depicting the Parable of the Talents. Two 2-light windows of 1934 by Shrigley & Hunt are in the northern and southern chancel. A southern chancel 2-light window by Celtic Studios from 1982 shows Saints Mary and John and depicts pictures of the church and vicarage, commissioned as a memorial to Reverend J. Lloyd Williams.

Memorials include a brass in the northern nave to Second Lieutenant T. Jones of Corner Farm, killed in 1917. A plaque in the northern chancel honours F. Jewell, who died in 1922. A marble memorial with a draped urn in the southern chancel commemorates Eleanora Roberts, who died in 1795, and is by Lancaster of Bristol.