Church of St Teilo

Church of St Teilo

This church comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, and west tower, constructed of rubble stone beneath stone tile roofs, showing no clear architectural style but dating probably to the 12th or 13th century.

The tower is a massive square structure without buttresses, featuring a corbel table and embattled parapets enclosing a pyramidal roof with cupola. The west doorway is narrow, set under a pointed arch of voussoirs, and contains 19th-century studded and panelled double doors with an overlight containing quarries. An early round-headed lancet opens to the south side at ground level. Narrow slits appear at upper level, mostly dating to the 19th century except for an earlier example on the north. A large clock is positioned on the west wall below the parapets.

The nave is long and narrow with a steeply pitched roof and splayed walls. Two raked buttresses were added to the north wall and one to the southwest angle. A gabled south porch projects from the left of the nave, containing a round-headed opening of voussoirs with a keystone inscribed 'David Jones / Rector / Thomas Edwards / David Daniels / Churchwardens, 1851 / G William, Mason'. The south doorway is round-headed with studded and panelled double doors. To the right of the porch stands a two-light window under a four-centred head with hoodmould ending in head-bosses, followed by a three-light Tudor window, both probably dating to the mid or late 19th century. The north wall of the nave displays a Decorated trefoil-headed lancet at the far left. A blocked round-headed north doorway is now butted by one of the buttresses and flanked by 19th-century windows similar to that in the centre of the south wall. A late 20th-century square window opening appears at the far right.

The south side of the chancel contains a blocked priest's door with a two-centred head placed left of centre. To its left stands a small round-headed lancet, and to the right, a pair of similar lancets. A three-light Perpendicular-style east window, dating to the mid or late 19th century, features head-bosses to the hoodmould. A single lancet with a shallow pointed head opens to the north side.

The interior contains a seven-bay arch-braced roof to the nave, probably dating to the 15th century. The shallow-pointed chancel arch is slightly asymmetrical and shows evidence of a former rood loft. The chancel has a panelled roof. A short round tower arch with stone steps to the left leads to a west gallery with panelled front, providing access to the organ and the first floor of the tower, which contains two large spine beams. A massive square medieval font stands on a round stem. Most church furnishings date to the early 20th century, executed in pale wood with Gothic and openwork detail.

On the south wall of the chancel is a marble tablet with pilasters bearing an entablature with foliate decoration in relief, commemorating Reverend Edward Davies (died 1831), rector of the parish and author of 'Celtic Researches' and 'The Mythology and Rite of the Ancient Druids'. To the left is a piscina, now fitted with a wooden door. Two early 20th-century brass plaques are mounted: one to Margaret Elborough, wife of Ivor James, who was the first registrar at the University of Wales, and the second inscribed with an arcade and cross commemorating Lance Corporal Stephen Jones who died in the Boer War. In the southeast of the nave stands a memorial to Margaret Peacock (died 1984), taking the form of praying hands on a free-standing post.

The east window contains stained glass depicting the Crucifixion, executed in memory of those who died in the Great War (1914-18) and dedicated in 1920. Other windows contain 20th-century stained glass, including a candle in memory of Brian Evason (died 1993), and in the north wall, a depiction of Iudocus, patron saint of the countryside.