St Mary's Abbey Church

This is the medieval abbey church of St Mary's, consisting of a single-vessel nave and chancel with flanking lean-to aisles. The building is constructed mainly of Sutton stone with renewed slate-covered roofs. While the west entrance front retains much Norman fabric from the 12th century, the remainder of the structure was substantially rebuilt in the early 19th century in Romanesque style.

West Front

The west front features a central entrance beneath a round arch with three orders of roll mouldings, the central order decorated with cable ornament. The arch is supported on detached circular shafts, each bearing two rings, bell capitals and square abaci. The capitals display varied decoration: mainly fluting and scallops to the left, and foliate decoration to the right. The doorway, fitted with double planked doors, sits within the scar of a pitched roof that belonged to a former porch. High above runs a moulded sill band, beneath which are three corbels that may relate to a lean-to porch, a feature common in Cistercian abbeys.

Above the sill band are three single-light round-headed windows, each with two orders of roll mouldings. These have narrow detached circular shafts with three rings and bell capitals, mainly with fluted decoration. The shafts of both windows and doorway appear to have been enhanced with rings during the early 19th century. In the gable apex is a circular vent surrounded by interlaced tracery within a blind circular panel. The shallow pitched roof is supported on decorated modillions and the apex bears a cross finial.

Shallow clasping buttresses at the angles of the nave were raised above sill band level in the 19th century to form square turrets with decorative capitals supported on corbels. Each face bears a frieze of blind round-headed arches with ringed shafts and foliate capitals: three arches to the west and east sides, two to the north and south. The turrets are topped with shallow pyramidal caps.

North and South Aisles

The aisles, mainly rebuilt in the early 19th century, have shallow lean-to roofs. The sill band continues across from the nave, with a further band at eaves level. The end of each aisle contains a single-light round-headed window with continuous roll moulding under a hoodmould.

The north side has six identical window openings faced in Quarella sandstone, respecting the six bays of the church, though the westernmost is blocked. These are tall round-headed windows containing plate tracery, pierced by two round-headed lights and a roundel, all glazed with diamond quarries. The openings have two orders of roll mouldings with narrow circular shafts with three rings and decorated bell capitals. A single shaft without rings stands between the two lights.

The south side similarly has six windows with matching detail. After the fourth window from the west end is a round-headed doorway in the same style as the windows, containing a 20th-century panelled door with overlight.

East End

The east end is entirely early 19th century. It features a stepped three-light window with continuous sill band. Each round-headed light has two orders of mouldings, ringed shafts and decorated capitals. In the apex is a circular vent with interlaced work matching that at the west end. The roof is supported on decorated, mainly foliate, modillions and bears a cross finial.

Clasping buttresses rise to turrets matching those at the west end, but with different heads: projecting flat stones on a decorated corbel table, surmounted by capitals with three blind square panels to each side and pyramidal caps. The aisles terminate as at the west end with blind round-headed window openings with one order of continuous roll mouldings and a hoodmould.

Interior: Nave and Aisles

The interior features six-bay Norman arcades with plain cruciform piers and round arches with a chamfered impost band and relieving arches. The aisles have 19th-century quadripartite vaulted roofs to each bay. To the west of the north aisle are the remains of three blocked clerestory windows with quoins. The aisle windows sit within high blind arches.

The three round-headed windows above the west door have steeply raked sills and narrow roll mouldings. The nave and chancel have a shallow pitched timber-panelled ceiling supported on a corbel table. The floor is flagstone, except around the benches where it is wood planked. The wooden benches have carved ends with quatrefoils.

Chancel and Chapels

The chancel is separated from the nave by two steps and ornate iron railings with scroll-work and large fleur-de-lis finials. The reredos is of pink marble with a blind arcade of round arches. Half-glazed Gothic screens with intersecting tracery divide the chancel from the chapels at the east ends of the aisles.

Mansel Chapel (South Aisle Chapel)

The Mansel chapel in the south aisle contains four large marble chest tombs, each bearing two or three recumbent effigies. The three aligned tombs to the east are contemporary, dating to the period 1611 to 1631. They are dedicated to Sir Rice Mansel (died 1559), Sir Edward Mansel (died 1585) and Sir Thomas Mansel (died 1631) and their wives. The children of the deceased are depicted as free-standing weepers: sons in alabaster at the ends, and daughters in stone, mainly to the sides. Obelisks project from the top angles of the tombs.

The tomb set back to the west is later and has no weepers. It is of white alabaster and black marble, with recumbent effigies of Sir Lewis Mansel (died 1638) and his wife, decorated in classical style with festoons, books and shields.

Marble wall monuments commemorate other members of the family. On the east wall is a memorial to Rauleigh Bussye, stepson of Thomas Mansel, and his wife, showing two figures at a prayer desk between Corinthian columns supporting an entablature with a heraldic emblem rising above. On the south wall is a monument to Katherine Bussye (died 1625 aged 17), depicting a woman praying within a round arch.

North Chapel

The north chapel contains a single prominent tomb in the centre to Theodore Mansel Talbot (1839 to 1876), who tragically died in a hunting accident. By H H Armstead and dated 1881, it shows a recumbent and life-like effigy in a nightshirt holding a crucifix under an Early English-style gabled stone canopy. The canopy is supported on black marble columns with foliate capitals forming three-bay arcades with moulded trefoil-headed arches. The canopy has tall gables to each bay and to the ends, with blind trefoiled arches and surmounted by pinnacles, decorated with angels, shields and head bosses.

Against the east end is an almost full-height marble wall monument, dating from after 1711, to Thomas Mansel (died 1705). It has four marble pilasters on a plinth supporting a cornice and triangular pediment. Between the pilasters, recessed tablets record the history of the Mansel family, with heraldic emblems in the centre of the pediment. In front stands a plain marble chest tomb dedicated to Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747 to 1813) and his two daughters, Maria Theresa and Eleanor.

To the south is a wall monument to Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1847 to 1894) and his daughters, Emily Charlotte and Olivia: a rectangular tablet between pilasters decorated with festoons supporting a swan-necked pediment from which a shield rises.

Furnishings

The font dates to the restoration of circa 1810 and is of pink-grey marble from Caen. It has a bowl with dog-tooth frieze to the rim, pink marble stem and tiered stone base. The polygonal pulpit is of Caen stone but dates to the restoration of 1872 to 1873. It is decorated with blind round arches and coloured marble inlay and stands on a red marble stem.

The choir stalls are ornately carved mahogany with Romanesque detail including arcades, by William Clarke of Llandaff, 1904. These were a gift of Emily Charlotte Talbot in memory of her sister, Olivia (died 1894). The organ in the fourth bay of the north arcade was rebuilt by Emily Talbot in 1903.

Stained Glass

The west end lights were designed by Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co in 1873, showing the Madonna and child to the centre flanked by St David and St Bernard. The west end of the south aisle has a memorial window to Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of Thomas Mansel Talbot (died 1861). The east end lights have colourful stained glass of 1904 to 1905 by Sir William Lawrence and made by Powell's, depicting Christ, the Annunciation and St Michael.

Monuments and Memorials

Below the west window of the north aisle is a gravestone to John Williams (died 1811), supported on moulded stone fragments. To the left of the organ is a white marble tablet with swags and books to Reverend William Bruce Knight, dean of Llandaff and minister of Margam parish (died 1845), signed P Rogers, Swansea. Two bronze plaques are attached to piers of the north arcade, commemorating those who died in the First World War, one specifically to members of the Glamorgan Royal Horse Artillery.