Parish Church of St Hilary

Parish Church of St Hilary

The church is constructed of limestone rubble with a red clay tile roof, the chancel roof stepping down from the nave. The chancel arch, a pointed arch opening from the tower to the nave, is the earliest remaining internal feature, dating from the 12th century.

The east window was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1862 in a mannered Decorated style, featuring a chamfered hoodmould with foliate stops. The stained glass in this window is by Clayton and Bell. The south side of the chancel is lit by a single leaded lancet and a Perpendicular square-headed three-light cinquefoil window under ogee arches, beneath a row of medieval consecration crosses with a flat-headed priests' door between the two windows. The north face of the chancel has a single small lancet window with an ogee head, presumably of 12th-century date.

The south aisle is lit by three 19th-century windows in the Decorated style. The east end of the south aisle has a four-light window with intersecting tracery to the head in Perpendicular style. The south-east window is a three-light with cusped reticulated tracery and a row of fourteen medieval consecration crosses above. The south-west window is plain three-light with trefoil heads and cusped reticulated tracery with a hoodmould over. The west window of the south aisle was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and is square-headed with three cinquefoiled lights under ogee arches with cusped cinquefoils above, surmounted by a series of consecration crosses.

The south porch dates from the 1862 restoration, featuring a stone slab roof, coped gable and cross finial. It is buttressed with a two-centred outer doorway having a hoodmould and foliate labels, one carved with vine leaves, the other with brambles. Above stone benches on each side are circular windows with plate tracery and encaustic tiles upon the floor. The doorway has nail-head decoration to the head and jambs. The inner doorway is round-headed with plain chamfered jambs and broached stops, with a sunk-chamfered hoodmould above. An early decorated corbel above bears the Bassett arms.

The square tower is buttressed in the Perpendicular style with an embattled parapet rising from a corbel table. The tower has two string courses and stepped diagonal buttresses. The west doorway is two-centred with moulded jambs and broach stops. Above is an early three-light square-headed cusped leaded window with a hollow chamfered hoodmould beneath a relieving arch. At high level are two-light belfry windows with square heads and label stops on all faces.

The nave is lit on the north side by three square-headed windows. At the east end are two windows connected to the rood loft, one square and low-set, the upper one of two lights with an ogee head under a stilted hoodmould. To the west is a three-light cusped window with ogee-reticulated tracery and similarly stilted hoodmould. The window has a concave moulded surround decorated with ballflowers and foliate label stops.

Internally, the chancel contains a fine 19th-century carved alabaster altarpiece depicting the Last Supper. In the south-east corner is a memorial to Daniel Jones of New Beaupre. The 19th-century roof of the nave and south aisle is of crown-post form, uncommon in Glamorgan. At the east end of the south aisle is a recumbent effigy of Thomas Bassett, died 1423. On the south side of the nave is another recumbent effigy thought to represent the son of one of the lords of St Hilary, of the De Cardiff family, dating from the 14th century. The north side of the nave contains numerous memorials including members of the Traherne and Bassett families.

The pulpit, lectern, altar rails and pews are all contemporary with Scott's restoration of 1862. The font is of Norman date. The tower screen is in Tudor Revival style, designed by Clarke of Llandaff in 1913.

The churchyard is bounded by a 1-metre high rubble wall with two iron kissing gates on the east and west corners. On the east side stands a timber lychgate erected in 1900, in memory of George Montgomery Traherne and designed by Edwin Seward, architect of Cardiff. On the north side is a memorial to the 1914-18 war.