Church of St Cynog

The Church of St Cynog is an Anglican parish church, dating from the 17th century with significant alterations in the 19th century. It is constructed of rubble stone with ashlar dressings, slate roofs, coped gables, and crested terracotta ridge tiles. The church is comprised of two parallel naves and chancels. The southern range contains a lower chancel and a south porch, while the northern range features a continuous ridge and a prominent, heavy ashlar bellcote on the west front.

The west door of the northern range is blocked, featuring rough stone voussoirs. The bellcote has a sloping-sided square base with a pointed opening on all four sides, all gabled; the west-east gables are higher and topped with a cross finial. The roof to the nave and chancel has a coping and cross finial, with the chancel roof having a slightly steeper pitch. The north side of the nave has three cambered-headed windows with stone voussoirs and inserted 19th-century two-light tracery. The chancel north side includes a small vestry with an arched west door and two small north windows. An ornate three-light east window has a sexfoil head. An octagonal stone chimney is present on the south roof slope.

The south nave's west window, dating to 1902, is a two-light window with a quatrefoil head and hoodmould, featuring two inset plaques in the west wall. A 19th-century porch has a moulded pointed arched entry and small side-wall lights. The south side incorporates three cambered-headed nave windows with stone voussoirs and inserted 19th-century tracery. The chancel has a cusped lancet window on the south side and a two-light, traceried window with a quatrefoil in the head and hoodmould on the east.

Internally, the whitewashed plastered walls have collar-truss boarded roofs, likely dating to 1878. A plastered chancel arch was added in 1902, and a plastered late medieval four-bay arcade of Tudor arches was “made symmetrical” in 1878. An additional arch was inserted in 1902 between the extended chancel and the south chancel (Coomb chapel), supported by a bulbous round column, which also carries the Coomb chapel’s west arch. Fittings include pews from 1878, a 1895 oak pulpit by Jones & Willis with cusped panels and foliage, chancel fittings from 1902 including rails, altar, and floor tiles, and two fonts: one from around 1850 with Welsh texts on marble panels similar to the one at Llanybri, and a 1902 font with carved foliage and marble colonnettes. Coomb chapel features fine paint and matt-glazed tile (opus sectile) work depicting the Nativity and Christ with Mary Magdalene, dedicated to Sir J.E. Phillips, and likely made by Powell of London.

The church contains stained glass by various firms: an east window circa 1902 by Jones & Willis depicting the Resurrection with Saints Michael and Martin; a north chancel window from 1954 by Powell of Whitefriars; an east window in the Coomb chapel from 1885 by William Morris, signed Cox, Buckley & Co, depicting the Resurrection, a window in the south side of the chapel by Jones & Willis depicting St David; a west window in the south aisle from 1902 by Jones & Willis depicting "Suffer the children"; and a north nave window from circa 1913 by Jones & Willis depicting the Virgin Mary and Mary of Bethany. Various monuments are present, including a 1847 limestone tablet for Maria Evans, a 1902 brass for Thomas Morris, a 1916 alabaster monument for Marteine K.A. Lloyd, a 1921 alabaster and marble memorial for Alice Morris, and an alabaster and mosaic monument for Owen Morris, Lord Kylsant, all likely by Powell.