Church of St Meugan

The Church of St Meugan is a largely medieval building constructed of stone rubble with a clay tile roof. It comprises a large west tower, a continuous nave and chancel, a south porch, and a north aisle. The broad, embattled west tower has three storeys and is topped by a weathercock. A stair turret is set into the northeast corner, and water chutes are located at the corners, above a heavy, lead-covered string course. The ringing chamber has louvred, pointed arched openings with paired, trefoil-headed lights, with a string course below forming a hood over small, rectangular lights to the tower chambers. The tower’s ground floor has a double, battered plinth. The plain south porch has a segmental, pointed arched doorway with rough voussoirs. The nave and chancel are not divided, although a building line is visible along the south wall. To the west of the porch is a two-light window with cusped tracery in a moulded, pointed arched surround. The other south windows consist of cusped lights in rectangular surrounds, two to the nave and two to the chancel. A chamfered, Tudor-arched doorway leads to the chancel. The east window has three narrow lancets within a pointed arched surround, and the northeast window has two cusped lancets in a rectangular surround. The north aisle is also battered, featuring a blocked, chamfered, pointed arched doorway, a two-light, trefoil-headed window, and paired lancets. All windows have heavy iron armatures.

The porch has two stone and wood seats and a boarded roof of two bays, with a collar and tie truss and a chamfered and stopped cross beam. The south, pointed arched door is also chamfered and stopped, and has double doors with two pairs of decorative hinges. The interior has had plaster removed, revealing a late medieval wagon roof, boarded behind, with reeded ribs. A four-bay north arcade has two broached, octagonal piers with unusual stepped capitals and chamfered arches. The eastern respond has a similar capital and continuous chamfers, while rubble pier to the west indicates the location of a 13th-century north wall extended into the 14th-century north aisle. The west tower arch is simple and pointed, with a later wide, screened opening to the tower chamber above. Woodwork includes a significant section of a former chancel screen, now situated against the north aisle wall, with slender canopywork buttresses and a moulded headbeam, along with traces of paintwork. Uncommon chancel stalls, dated by Haslam to about 1700, have panelled backs, narrow seats, and simply but stoutly carved ends. The pulpit may also incorporate 17th-century elements. Monuments include a cartouche to Lewis Gunter (died 1683), incorporating serpents; numerous early 19th-century grey and white marble wall monuments; many ledger slabs; an octagonal font on a circular base; and a niche east of the south door.