Manoreifi Old Church

The church of Manoreifi is likely a parish church dating from the early 14th century, with alterations made in the 18th century and again between 1835 and 1844. Constructed of rubble stone with graded slate roofs, it comprises a nave and chancel, a large western bellcote, a substantial western porch, and a northern vestry. The bellcote is large and stepped, featuring a round-arched opening and an uncoped gable; a bell-rope slot runs down the west wall below. Evidence of rebuilding is visible at the northwest angle of the nave, accentuated by a large, rough, two-step diagonal buttress. The western porch has an asymmetrical roof, a pointed centre doorway with cut-stone voussoirs and arched, panelled double doors. To the right of the doorway, the roof extends over a taller, depressed-arched recess housing a timber, pedimented monument to the Lewis family of Clynfyw, dated 1789. The north side of the nave, rebuilt between 1835 and 1844, features three pointed windows with glazing-bar sashes and Cilgerran stone voussoirs, showcasing Gothic intersecting bars. Two-step buttresses mark the northeast corner. The north side of the chancel has a low, cambered arched doorway with stone voussoirs and a plank door, alongside a gabled vestry with a west door and a pointed window with a Gothic sash. The walls of the vestry and chancel are unbonded. The east side of the chancel contains a broad Gothic sash with sandstone voussoirs. The south side of the chancel displays a late 14th-century flat-headed, two-light window with cusped lights, the head carved as if intended for a third light to the right. Beneath an eaves gable is a long inscribed slate commemorating the Saunders of Pentre (1750-1803), and to the left, a small, hollow-moulded rectangular single light, likely from the 15th or 16th century. The south side of the nave exhibits a southeast chimney and three pointed sashes similar to those on the north, with some sandstone voussoirs.

The interior is simply plastered and whitewashed, with flat ceilings and a pointed chancel arch. A rough stone vault is located at the west end, while slate paving covers the nave and chancel, with a raised, three-sided altar platform. Box pews fill the nave; two, at the west end, are designated for Ffynone and Castle Malgwyn, and are taller with fluted columns at the angles, partially reduced in height. Simpler box pews of varying dates are situated between them, followed by two larger eastern pews dedicated to Pentre and Clynfyw, and complete with fireplaces. The plain, panelled pulpit has been built onto the southeastern pew and was likely moved from the center of the south wall, where open-back benches now stand. The chancel features an altar platform with two steps and earlier 19th-century Gothic timber rails on three sides. A fine square font with a fluted underside, a circular shaft, and a square base is also present. Its three square panels on each side are decorated with crude quatrefoils, while opposed half-circles on the east side suggest a 13th-century origin with later 14th-century ornamentation. Monuments include a crudely lettered memorial to J Morgans of Vaynor (d.1712) and Rev J Blackwell (d.1840) in the chancel. In the nave, north-east monuments commemorate Leoline and Anne Davies of Clynfyw (d.1747), while southeast monuments are dedicated to Dr David Davies (d.1829) and Susanna Davies (d.1823), with a neo-Grec style, and to H O Colby (d.1837) and Capt C Colby (d.1852), the latter a military figure by E G Physick.