Church of St Ceinwr

Church of St Ceinwr

A 19th-century church built in Gothic style, comprising a nave with a lower and narrower chancel, a south aisle with porch, a south chapel and vestry. The walls are constructed of snecked stone, battered at the base, with a slate roof.

The west porch has a single-chamfered doorway and boarded door with strap hinges. Its side walls contain Tudor windows with sunk spandrels and hood moulds. Above the porch rises a gabled bellcote with a pointed opening for a single bell. The four-bay south aisle has early 19th-century windows with pointed brick heads and two-light Y-tracery. The lower south chapel has a two-light south window with square head, hood mould and sunk spandrels, partly obscured by the vestry. The vestry has a coped south gable, a renewed west doorway carried up above the eaves, a two-light south window and a lean-to on the east side.

The south chapel contains a two-light east window with pointed quatrefoil tracery light and is continuous with the wider chancel east wall, which has a three-light Decorated window. The chancel north wall has, on the east side, a two-light window with sunk spandrels and hood mould, and on the west side a two-light window with cusped pointed lights. The nave, which is higher and wider than the chancel, comprises only three bays and is therefore shorter than the south aisle. It has similar windows to the aisle and a three-light geometrical west window.

An early medieval incised cross is set in the porch beneath the south window. The west doorway is pointed with single chamfer and has double boarded doors. The interior has an early 19th-century character. The nave and aisle have plain plastered wagon roofs. The three-bay division between nave and aisle is constructed on the trabeated principle with two Tuscan columns on high square bases and beams with panelled soffits. The plastered chancel arch and arch from aisle to chapel are both lower and pointed with single chamfers. Both the chancel and chapel have polygonal ribbed and plastered ceilings. The late medieval chancel aisle is two bays, with arches of different shapes: on the west side a four-centred arch with broad continuous chamfer, and on the east side a wider segmental arch.

A 13th-century style font is square, mounted on a round stem and square base. Box pews date to around 1870; the polygonal wooden pulpit is dated 1969. The chancel contains a moulded wooden communion rail. Several mainly simple wall memorials are present throughout. In the aisle south wall is a sarcophagus to Charles Williams (died 1853). The west wall of the aisle has slate inscription panels to Ann Bowen (died 1798) and, signed by W Williams, a tablet in memory of the essayist, dramatist and politician Sir Richard Steele (1672–1724), who married Mary Scurlock of Llangunnor and lived at Ty Gwyn in the parish from 1724. In the aisle north wall is an unusual wooden classical memorial with Tuscan columns and open pediment, to Ann Humphreys (died 1778). In the nave north wall is a tablet with pediment to the Reverend John Jones (died 1827) and a brass to Lily Francis (died 1912). In the chancel north wall, set low down, is a trapezoidal slate panel to Harriet James (died 1823), signed J Jones. The chapel east wall has a slate inscription panel to Thomas Thomas (died 1728) and in the south wall a similar oval tablet to several daughters of the Reverend John Jones (died 1797–1816). The nave west wall has a low-relief brass memorial to the 1939–45 war, made by F Osborne & Co of London to the design of Herbert Wauthier. In the nave north wall is a wooden board with the Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments and Creed in Welsh, undated.

Several windows contain stained glass. The chancel east window shows Christ, Saints David and Gynwr, made after 1908 by Kempe and Tower. The chapel east window shows Christ and Mary Magdalene, made after 1902 by C E Kempe. In the nave, the northeast window shows the Ascension, made after 1924 but unsigned. The west window contains the Good Samaritan, dated 1936 by Geoffrey Webb. In the aisle, the window at the east end of the south wall shows the boy Jesus at the Temple, dated 1969 by Celtic Studios, while the central window has a less formal composition with sea and fish, made after 1990 and signed CBB.