Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin

Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin

This medieval parish church was substantially rebuilt in the 19th century and is constructed of local rubblestone with Welsh slate roofs. The medieval masonry is randomly coursed, while the tower is of coursed and roughly squared stone with dressed quoins. The 19th-century work matches the medieval fairly closely but features ashlar buttresses and Bath stone dressings.

The church comprises a nave, north aisle, chancel, south porch, an unbuttressed west tower with embattled parapet, and a north vestry.

The south wall of the nave is fully visible, while the north wall is entirely covered by the aisle. Two small pointed windows flank the porch, with a large 3-light Decorated window to its right featuring cusping to the lights. The left-hand lancet is 14th-century work; the right-hand is a Street copy (Street being the Victorian architect who undertook restoration circa 1860). The east gable is coped with an apex cross.

The chancel features two 2-light Decorated windows on both north and south walls, with trefoil-headed lights and trefoils above. A small pointed priest's door opens from the south side. The east gable is coped with an apex cross and has diagonal buttresses added by Street. The 3-light east window has a wheel head with trefoil-headed lights. A small vestry is positioned between the windows on the north wall, with a doorway and arched window above it, plus a small window in the return. The roof is very steeply pitched and gabled with a chimney where it joins the chancel.

The north aisle has diagonal corner buttresses and a central stepped buttress. Two 2-light north windows have trefoil heads; the east window matches this design. Paired lancets with trefoil heads appear in the west gable. The gables are coped and repeat the pitch of the nave roof.

The tower is square, tapering, and rises through three stages. A moulded plinth runs at the base. The pointed west door has a dripmould over it, with paired trefoil-headed lights above. A small light on the south wall serves the stair, and a slightly larger opening serves the ringing chamber. The bell chamber has paired arched louvred lights on each face. A string course above this carries gargoyle heads at the corners, surmounted by a battlemented parapet. According to Newman's records, the tower carries a shield dated after 1616 and a plaque dated 1730, though these were not observed at resurvey.

The south porch is wide and windowless, with a plain pointed entrance arch featuring a sunk chamfer and a coped gable with cross.

The interior is plastered and painted with masonry features revealed. The 12th-century origins are evident in the inner face of the Norman south doorway and the window rere-arches in the nave, as well as in the chancel where they were more recently exposed. Early 14th-century features include the rere-arches to the chancel windows, the priest's door, the tall chancel arch with its steeply pointed head, the tower arch, and the triple sedilia and piscina in the chancel. Newman noted that the early 14th-century work of the chancel and nave is "unmatched for its decorative finesse in the churches of Glamorgan". The left-hand jamb of the large south window in the nave receives similar treatment and may have supported the rood beam. The 15th-century chancel features a five-bay waggon roof and the bowl of the font dates from this period.

Street's restoration work of circa 1860 includes the tiled floors, the nave roof, possibly the tower screen (though this appears more likely to be circa 1880), and the furnishings, particularly the choir stalls and pulpit. The north arcade comprises three bays in Transitional style to match the chancel arch, with open roof featuring arch-braced tie beams. Two bells came from Leckwith church. A series of windows by Hardman dating from the 1860s were paid for by the Windsor family, who had connections with St Fagans Castle.