Church of St Margaret Marloes

Church of St Margaret, Marloes

An Anglican parish church of rubble stone with slate roofs and grey limestone copings, comprising a nave, chancel, and south porch. The building exhibits phases of medieval work overlaid with substantial 19th-century alterations and early 20th-century enrichment.

The exterior shows distinctive features characteristic of rural Welsh churches. The nave's west wall has a battered base and is topped by a grey limestone squat bellcote, probably of 1856. A Y-tracery grey stone west window dates to 1848. The south side features a 19th-century yellow limestone single-light window with hood to the left of the porch, and a low broad blocked arch with stone voussoirs, partly covered by the porch's west side. The porch itself has a pointed arch with stone voussoirs, heavy cornerstones, and grey limestone coping. Inside the porch is a whitewashed 15th-century rough stone vault, stone seats, a flagged floor, and a panelled door of circa 1900 covering an earlier panelled door of circa 1848 in a pointed doorway. To the right of the porch is a low arched grey limestone single light, followed by a low buttress, then a 19th-century Bath stone flat-headed 2-light window with hoodmould. Above these are voussoirs of an earlier small window. Low buttressing appears at the southeast corner.

The north side of the nave shows walling stepped out at right angles, with a pointed chamfered north door and a small medieval rectangular light to its right, both blocked internally. A moulded eaves cornice, possibly of the 18th century, runs along both parts of the north wall. A small 19th-century single light on the nave's left side provides light to the pulpit. The chancel stonework appears largely 19th-century. A Bath stone Y-tracery 3-light east window, possibly of 1878, echoes the 1848 west window. Two Bath stone single lights stand to the south. The chancel has a coped east gable with cross, and the north wall is windowless.

The interior of the nave features cream limewashed pointed rough stone walls and a vault with small side windows. A low round chancel arch separates the nave from the chancel, with a rectangular wall recess to its left behind the pulpit. The floor is of stone flags. The west window is deeply set, with the wall stepping back above it. Two steps lead up into the chancel.

The chancel displays exposed stone walls and a 1878 open timber roof of oak collar-rafter trusses. The floor is of red tiles. A round-arched ashlar reveal surrounds the east window. Three stone-fronted steps lead up to the communion table, surrounded by encaustic tiles. A trefoil-headed piscina with shelf is located on the south wall.

A wall painting on the nave's north wall presents a complex overpainting of a possibly 13th or 14th-century pattern. Above this are letters in red ochre, possibly pre-Reformation, subsequently overpainted with the Ten Commandments first in English (presumably 16th century) and then in Welsh (perhaps early 17th century). A smaller painted panel adjoining is dated 1637.

The pews date to 1900–01 and are of oak. The west end contains two very small vestries in each corner, enclosed by oak-panelled walls that splay inward to an oak seat beneath the west window. The seat has a hinged back concealing a 5th-century inscribed stone reading "AVITORIA FILIA CUNIGNI". The oak work is in the Arts and Crafts manner, with rough-hewn corner posts, simple panels, open-top screens of diagonally set thin bars, and hand-crafted ironwork to hinges and latches. The design was by Philip Webb himself.

A medieval stone font consists of a small retooled square bowl on a round shaft and square base, apparently of a single piece of stone. An oak lectern of 1903, with fine lettering and carving of St Margaret, possibly by Eden, stands in the church. A conventional panelled Gothic timber pulpit dates to 1925. Timber chancel stalls and rails are of 1878.

The stained glass is entirely early 20th-century and mostly of high quality. The east window of 1906 is by F.C. Eden and depicts three St Margarets. The chancel's south windows—representing St Michael and St Nicholas—probably date to 1907 and are likely by Eden. The nave's south-left window depicts Saints Teilo and Brychan and is signed by Eden and dated 1915. The adjacent St George window is probably by Eden and dates to 1907. A St Cynin window is signed by Eden. The nave's west window shows Sir Guy de Brian and Lady Elizabeth de Brian of Laugharne, signed by Eden and dated 1917. The nave's north window depicts St David and dates to 1909.

Memorials include an inscribed slab of 1798 over the chancel arch commemorating Sir John Perrot (died 1592). The nave's south side bears a painted plaque to Jane Price (died 1854). The chancel's west wall displays slabs to Peter Chapman (died 1718) and Edward Phillips of Sandyhaven (18th century). A well-lettered small plaque on the chancel's south wall commemorates G.G.T. Traherne (died 1923).