Church of St Dingat

Church of St Dingat

This is an Anglican parish church of medieval origin with substantial 19th-century alterations and early 20th-century embellishments. The building is constructed of rubble stone with red sandstone dressings to the original windows, though some 19th-century openings feature Bath stone tracery and early 20th-century additions are in red sandstone. The roof is slate with coped gables.

The plan comprises a large western tower, nave, northern porch, chancel, and a parallel-roofed southern aisle with a southeastern chapel.

The western tower has a deep splayed base with a chamfered top moulding and a pointed western door of red conglomerate stone with hollow moulding and double 19th-century boarded panelled doors. Stone voussoirs span the opening, above which sits a 19th-century sandstone small window with hoodmould. A two-light red stone Perpendicular bell-opening with hoodmoulds has been renewed on the west and east sides, whilst the north side retains an original two-light cusped opening with quatrefoil and no hood; the south side has a small medieval single light. Rough stone corbels support a rebuilt parapet in rock-faced grey stone. A northern stair tower contains three small loops in red stone and a rebuilt parapet. The north side also displays a medieval two-light window with cusping and hoodmould at mid-height, and the south side has a cusped medieval single light at the same level.

The north side of the nave features three large 19th-century Bath stone windows in Perpendicular style, each with three lights and buttresses between them. A large 19th-century porch stands between the first and second windows. The first and third windows have pink stone flush surrounds, whilst the second has pink stone jambs and stone voussoirs. The porch has a plinth with a large moulded top course, a pointed arch with red stone jambs and pyramid stops to the chamfers. A long narrow blank cusped panel occupies the gable, with two trefoil small side windows flanking it. Inside, the porch has a 19th-century two-bay roof and a deep chamfered surround to the pointed north door. The door itself is double-framed with diagonal boarding. A tiny chamfered pointed medieval light is located at the left end of the nave's north wall.

The chancel's north side has a medieval dark stone flat-headed two-light window with cusping. Both the chancel's north and east end walls have a battered base, though on the east end this does not extend as far as the straight joint to the southern aisle east. An 1882 cast-iron rainwater head sits between the east gables. A small dark red stone late medieval three-light pointed east window, in stone similar to the chancel north, is crowned by a tiny 19th-century cusped lancet in the apex.

The southern aisle contains an early 20th-century four-light west window with voussoirs of a blocked small opening to its left. An early 20th-century boiler chamber has been sunk in front. The south wall displays a late medieval three-light window in red and grey stone surround with ogee panel tracery, alongside an early 20th-century south door in a pointed surround recessed within a cambered-headed frame, fitted with a panelled door bearing studs and good metalwork. A second window is a 19th-century copy, also three lights; a second early 20th-century door with hoodmould follows; and a third three-light window replicates the late medieval style of the first. The east wall has a battered base and a 19th-century three-light grey stone window.

Interior

The walls are plastered. A pointed plastered western tower arch springs to a cambered tower ceiling, possibly a stone vault. A narrow pointed door with hollow moulding and a grained painted board door gives access to the tower stair, which is a winding stone stair with a red stone newel and rubble steps.

The nave has stone flags to a broad central aisle and a 19th-century Bath stone three-bay pointed arcade with octagonal piers, moulded caps and bases, and broad chamfered arches. A medieval chamfered pointed broad high chancel arch has stone piers with minimal imposts to the chamfered piers featuring curved stepped stops and a raised bracket on the north pier. The nave roof comprises nine collar trusses with wishbone struts and four purlins. Some timbers date to around 1700 and have been substantially embellished by Caroe with arched braces and traceried spandrels to the cambered collars, added brattishing to collars and corresponding purlins. The north door is chamfered and pointed. A square recess with chamfered jambs and renewed lintel sits in the north wall, with a tiny lancet set in a deep reveal to its right.

The chancel has two dark stone steps and flagstones, including incised memorial slabs. A broad curved boarded 19th-century roof features a brattished cornice and two tie-beam trusses with curved wishbone struts and added mouldings and brattishing. Encaustic tiles cover the sanctuary floor. A medieval broad south chancel arch rests on two octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases.

The southern aisle has a divided east end chapel now dominated by a large 19th-century organ in front of a vestry. A medieval stone segmental-pointed arch spans the opening, with a shallow-curved panelled and boarded roof that was altered in 1906–7. The east window exhibits Perpendicular tracery and an inscription recording renewal in 1833. The south window is late medieval, whilst the south door is by Caroe in a pink stone surround with a moulded cambered head. The southern aisle roof mirrors that of the nave, with eight collar-trusses with struts above, embellished with arched braces, spandrel tracery and brattishing to collars and some purlins, as in the nave. A square recess occupies the extreme left, with a south door by Caroe featuring a moulded cambered head.

Fittings and Furnishings

The font is a bowl in conglomerate stone of uncertain, possibly medieval, date, mounted on an octagonal limestone shaft. It is completely enclosed by an early 20th-century green-grey stone massive tapering square casing resting on four carved piers, each side of which is decorated with blind tracery and a carved panel.

An ornate Caen stone and marble pulpit was given by E. Lewis of Llandingat in 1908. It features brass rails to stone steps, a marble-shafted base, and cusped ogee panels with carved figures of the Evangelists and the Good Shepherd; marble shafts stand at the angles. A brass eagle lectern dates to 1906. Brass standards support the sanctuary rails. Oak stalls with a pierced front band are present, as are a pine 19th-century western tower screen in Perpendicular style tracery and 19th-century pine pews.

Stained Glass

The stained glass includes work spanning the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The nave's north second window dates to 1908 by Jones & Willis. The north third window is by Mayer of Munich to the Walters family, 1892. A tiny lancet in the north has glass of around 1930 monogrammed JWK. The chancel's north window of 1924 is by Leonard Walker in fine quality Arts and Crafts style. Patterned glass of around 1870 fills the east wall apex lancet. A deeply coloured Crucifixion window with Saints Mary and John occupies the east end, presumed also by Mayer, commissioned to the memory of Major G W Rice and Decima Vaughan Pryse (died 1893). The southern aisle's second window, highly coloured, is by Mayer, dated 1886.

Memorials

The memorials are numerous and of considerable interest. The west wall bears an alabaster Gothic war memorial, possibly by Caroe around 1920. The north wall displays a bi-colour marble plaque with an urn by J Thomas & Son of Brecon to Lieutenant Colonel D Williams of Henllys (died 1819); a plaque to W Gwynne (died 1889); a plaque to William Jones of Nantyrhogfen dated 1844 by D Beynon of Cilycwm; a memorial to Captain V L T Lewes of St Mary's Cottage (died 1867) by Wood of Bristol; a plaque to Reverend W W Poole Hughes of Llandovery College (died 1921) in buff stone with laurel; a brass shield to Rachel Jones of Velindre (died 1896) and Lieutenant Colonel D Jones killed on the northwest frontier in 1897; a draped urn and sarcophagus over a plaque to Louisa Jones of Velindre (died 1855).

The chancel floor contains a fine red marble slab to Thomas Hughes of Llwynybrain (died 1715), a fossil marble slab to Walter Rice of Llwynybrain (died 1793), and a slab to R H Rice of Milton, Laugharne (died 1853) by E Harries of Carmarthen. The chancel's north wall displays a white marble scroll to the Rice family of Llwynybrain dated 1844–87 by Wood of Bristol; a marble scroll with a book to Elizabeth Rice (died 1829); and a plaque to Eliza Rice (died 1846) with a beheaded lily, moth and chrysalis. An earlier 20th-century tile plaque commemorates Dorothea and Nest Pryse Rice, given by the Red Cross. The chancel's east end contains an egg-like urn with a broken lily and willow over a plaque to Caroline Rice (died 1810), and an Adam-style fluted urn over a plaque with reversed torches on pilasters, by Tyley of Bristol, to Walter Rice (died 1793). The southern aisle houses an ornate Gothic marble memorial to Reverend Price Rees, professor of Welsh at Lampeter (died 1839) by J E Thomas, and a large Gothic grey marble monument to William Rees of Tonn (died 1873) by J Beynon of Cilycwm.