Church of St Illtyd

Church of St Illtyd

A parish church comprising a west tower, nave, chancel, and a small 19th-century vestry on the south side of the chancel. The building is constructed of rubble or axe-dressed masonry, with original features surviving in the tower and other openings restored over time.

The exterior walls show considerable architectural interest. The nave wall thickness reduces externally on both sides at its midpoint, and battered buttresses are positioned where the nave meets the tower on both sides. The north side of the nave is rendered, with eroded render also visible on the south side. The roofs are 19th-century restored slate with tile ridges and bargeboards at the verges. The vestry and the external projection of a tomb recess in the chancel are both roofed as catslide extensions of the chancel roof. Rainwater goods are cast iron, though plastic replacements have been installed on the north side.

The tower is five storeys high, slightly battered at the foot, with a thickening on the south side housing the stairs. The parapet projects on corbels and carries restored crenellations, above which are multiple small openings on three sides. Belfry openings on three sides have stone louvres. Two string courses run across the tower, one at door arch level and another at mid height. The base of the tower forms the porch, with a simple segmental arch door set slightly off centre, and a small square-headed light above it. Above this sits a two-light window with trefoil heads. Slit lights illuminate the stairs on the south side. Bondstones at intervals cross the hollow south west corner, and numerous putlog holes are an interesting constructional feature visible across the tower.

The fenestration of the nave is very irregular. On the north side at left is a simplified Tudor-style three-light window with a small label, the label ends everted and given saltire terminations (a motif also used in 19th-century work at Oxwich Castle). Centrally is a deep-set two-light square-headed window with foiled light-heads in oolitic limestone and a label terminating in heads. To the right is a two-light Tudor-style window without label. The south side shows a two-light window similar to the leftmost one, with remains of external shutter hooks, followed by a small rectangular light that may be a reduced lancet, another two-light Tudor-style window without label, and at right a wide lancet with a depressed pointed head. Several small square holes at about head height in the nave are probably re-opened putlog holes. The chancel has a two-light east window with Y tracery, cinquefoil heads to the lights, and a quatrefoil above, with a small label of scroll profile with everted ends. A rectangular window is set in the north side. An east doorway with a Caernarfon arch leads to the 19th-century vestry, which has a two-light south window.

Interior

The church is entered through a porch which is the base of the tower. Stone benches occupy each side, with a small access doorway to the tower stairs on the south side. Two medieval grave-slabs are displayed on the walls: one bears Lombardic lettering with a formalised incised interlace pattern as a cross on a long shaft, commemorating Hugo; the other records William de la Lake, rector 1320–1323. The door to the nave opens into a floor recess, as the nave floor has been raised by two steps.

The nave is rectangular, though it does not visually express the change in wall width at its midpoint. It is roofed in four bays with 19th-century arch-braced high-collar-beam trusses with V struts, accompanied by small semi-bays at each end. A single purlin runs each side, strutted from the principals. The braces of the trusses descend on the walls with decorative spandrels each side. There are no pews; the central passage is paved in encaustic and plain tiles. An octagonal pulpit with a moulded top-rail and white limestone base with four steps sits at the left of the chancel arch.

The chancel is entered through a narrow Norman archway only 1.3 metres wide, with one step up within the archway. It contains a carved teak altar and a plain panelled reredos. The altar steps are edged in limestone and paved in encaustic tiles. A round altar-rail on twisted iron standards stands before the altar. At the left is a 14th-century tomb beneath an ogee canopy carved with a knight and lady, the knight's feet resting on a lion; damage suggests the effigies have been removed from elsewhere. The canopy arch features crockets, elaborate trefoil scalloping, and a floral finial, with terminal finials diagonally at left and right, the latter partly lost to the window above.

The east window, dated 1893 and donated by Miss Talbot, depicts St David and St Illtyd with decorative margins and an IHS shield at the top. A small window to the right of the nave depicts St Francis, installed in memory of members of the Fry family in 1967. Among the nave monuments is a plain marble slab to Joan Bevan (died 1748) to the right of the chancel arch, featuring carved fleur-de-lys at the corners. On the right wall is a pointed tablet to Francis Bevan (died 1707) with two incised cherub heads, below which sits a tablet to his son Thomas (died 1708).