Church of St David

Church of St David

This parish church is built of rubble stone with slate close-eaved roofs and coped gables. It comprises a nave, chancel, transepts, a west bellcote, and a south porch.

The west end features a 19th-century two-light window with a quatrefoil in the head. The bellcote is an unusual structure in squared sandstone, slightly corbelled out, with two square-headed long openings and an embattled top with slate coping and a weathercock on a gabled centre battlement. The south porch has a pointed entry with a hood and a small pointed light to each side. The doors are boarded with Y-tracery overlights and armorial glass of 1986 by Celtic Studios. The inner south door is pointed and chamfered, a late 19th-century door with iron hinges.

The nave south side has two two-light windows with quatrefoils matching the west window. The south transept has a similar south window and a single lancet to the east. The nave contains a tiny, possibly medieval, vent in the east gable above the chancel. The chancel south side has a cinquefoil-cusped single light to the left, a small pointed south door with a rounded edge to the cut stone surround, and a square-headed late 19th-century two-light window to the right. A 19th-century three-light Bath stone window in late Gothic style lights the east end. The north side has a two-light square-headed window matching that on the south. A lean-to vestry has an east door and two single lights to the north. The north transept has a small 19th-century three-light window with a flat head and lancet lights. The nave north side is nearly windowless except for one small two-light cusped flat-headed window.

The interior is whitewashed and plastered with 19th-century panelled roofs. The nave roof is three-sided with six by ten panels. Pointed plastered arches open to the chancel and north transept; the chancel arch has deeply chamfered piers on the west side. The north transept has a small door in the east wall leading to a blocked stair within the wall, and its boarded panelled roof is three-sided. The south transept has a higher cambered arch and a similar short three-sided roof. The chancel has a low curved roof of three by eight panels. An 1889 four-centred arch spans the north side over the organ. Encaustic tiles floor the interior, with one step rising to the sanctuary. A square recess sits low on the east wall to the left of the altar, and an arched recess is set in the south wall near the south door.

The octagonal font has shorter diagonal sides and stands on an octagonal shaft and square base; it is possibly late medieval but retooled. The pulpit is oak, five-sided, dated 1889, with ogee-tracery blind panels. An oak screen of the 19th century or early 20th century divides the north transept, consisting of five bays with open tracery and panels below. Pitch pine pews and stalls of 1889 have stalls with cinquefoil piercings. The organ is by Vowles of Bristol. The communion rails of 1889 have twisted brass standards and a round wooden rail. The oak altar features blind tracery and a centre carving of the Lamb of God.

Notable memorials include a fine Baroque memorial in the nave north to William, Henry, and Rice Thomas of Castle Gorfod, dating to around 1765, in white and grey marble with fluted pilasters, a cornice broken forward over, and drapery with three cherub heads above a base with scrolls and coat of arms. A plaque to Mary Gwynne Hughes (died 1852) features a draped urn by E J Physick. The north transept holds a plaque to Lewis Thomas and his son (died 1735 and 1777). In the chancel, a marble plaque to George Jenkins (died 1840) appears on the north, while the east wall bears a marble plaque to William Thomas of Pantowin (died 1740) with a cornice and urn above and a cartouche below. A slate plaque commemorates Elizabeth Thomas of Kilycoed (died 1745) and John Thomas (died 1752), and above it a marble plaque honours Hester Thomas of Cilycoed (died 1735) in a bolection-moulded stone frame.

The stained glass includes a west two-light Nativity of 1927 by Hardman, made by Howells of Penyrheol. A nave south two-light of 1965 by Celtic Studios depicts Christ in his Father's workshop, commemorating J and M Lewis of Plasyronnen. The second nave south window has patterned quarries of around 1865 with a small stained glass panel in the quatrefoil head. The chancel south two-light shows the Presentation at the Temple, commemorating Katharine Bearcroft (died 1898), in 15th-century style. The east window of 1889 by Charles Evans & Co depicts the Last Supper and was created to the memory of Rev Thomas Jenkins and Rev Rhys Jenkins.