Church of St Gwendoline

Church of St Gwendoline

Parish church of the Church in Wales, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries and restored in 1873 by Thomas Nicholson of Hereford. The building is constructed of laminated rubble Devonian red sandstone with slate roofs.

The church comprises two parallel and independently roofed units: the nave with chancel, and the slightly shorter south aisle with east chapel (Francis Chapel). A large north transept, originally used as a school until 1893 when it was extensively rebuilt, now contains the organ chamber and vestry. The west end features a tower of three stages, while a wide gabled south porch provides the main entrance.

The south porch has 4-centred outer and inner arches with bracket mouldings, a ribbed stoup, and a blocked image recess over the inner door. The nave is lit by cusped 2-light windows with "Y" tracery, and has a blocked 16th-century square-headed door with animal and knot motifs in the spandrels. The east window has 3-light panel tracery, as does the east window to the south chapel. The aisle is separated from the chapel only by a buttress and contains windows matching the nave design, along with 2 and 3-light later 15th-century square-headed windows with cusping. The west tower, dating from the 15th century, has very small openings but features "Y" tracery bell openings and a crenellated parapet.

The interior nave has a late 14th-century four-bay arcade to the south aisle with arches of two chamfered orders on octagonal columns. The walls are plastered, and the roof comprises a trussed rafter design with soffit boarding, all dating from the 19th century, featuring large twisted tie bars. The chancel arch is carried on stilted and brattished corbels of large carved heads representing a bishop and king. The chancel is raised over two steps, rising a further three steps to the altar position, all finished with encaustic tiles and a boarded and panelled roof. A wide 14th-century arch opens to the south aisle, with a 19th-century squint providing a view to the organ chamber. The roof continues unbroken from the aisle to the east chapel. The tower contains six bells, all cast in 1724 by Rudhall.

The font, positioned by the south door, is a 19th-century limestone piece with an arcaded and moulded bowl on an octagonal shaft decorated with quatrefoils, connected to the wall by a stepped base. The Lady Chapel at the west end contains parts of a fine late medieval screen with a cornice carved with undercut oak and vineleaf trail. Other oak fittings in the chancel are early 20th-century work, while the pews are 19th-century pine. A single hatchment in the nave commemorates the Gwynne family of Trefeca Fawr, bearing the motto "VIMVI REPELLERE LICET". Light fittings were designed by George Pace.

The east window of the nave contains a Good Shepherd subject dated 1897, commissioned for Colonel Francis Roche of Tregunter, while the aisle contains modern glass by Celtic Studios, Swansea.

The south chapel contains a late 13th-century coffin lid decorated with a foliated cross. Numerous wall monuments are distributed throughout the church, including a late 13th-century example. Notable monuments include a grey marble tablet with white cornice and urn to Reverend John Jones and his brother Robert (died 1790); a limestone Gothic tablet by Phillips to Thomas Price, mercer (died 1848); white marble ovals to Elizabeth Price (died 1802) and John Price with cinquefoil corners (died 1800); a painted stone aedicule with raised tablet and urn within a 2-centred head to Benjamin Ralph (died 1834); a marble slab in a pilastered frame with coloured arms to William Vaughan of Delvanu (died 1774); a large slate tablet by Games to Howell Harris of Trevecka, noted as the first itinerant preacher of Redemption (died 1773), and his wife Ann Harris; a white tablet on grey by Thomas to Eliza Prosser of Porthamel (died 1847); a white sarcophagus on brackets with draped urn by Phillips to William Williams of Aberenig House (died 1863); a white marble shield with entablature carved with surveying instruments and draped urn by Paty to Joseph and Thomas Harris, respectively a mathematician and businessman and elder brothers of the preacher (died 1782); and a limestone tablet with leaf scroll border to Rebecca Glinter of Trevecca (died 1675, aged 2).

Under the tower are a further seven wall monuments, including tablets to Evan Roberts of Trevecka (died 1804); a finely carved tablet with oval, palmettes and husks to J. Jones (died 1782); a limestone oval engraved in low relief by T. Games, sculptor of Lawynfilly (Llanigon), to Ursula Tamplin of Hereford (died 1780); a tablet by Phillips to Joan Jones of Porthamal (died 1810); a limestone oval engraved by Games to Evan Evans, vicar (died 1804); a white Carrara tablet inscribed in Latin to Edward Winter of Tredustan (died 1737); and an incised limestone square tablet by Games to Samuel Jones (died 1805). Five additional donative memorials of stone and board are also present, including those to Thomas Bennet of Penywerdlodd (1727) and Thomas Watkin Probert (1663). An unfixed stone from circa the early 17th century, inscribed in Welsh as a warning to sinners of the judgement to come, remains in the church, its moral intent somewhat undermined by the presence of a rather naive trumping angel.