Church of St. Isan

Church of St. Isan

This is a medieval church substantially enlarged in the early 20th century. It comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle and chapel, south porch, southwest tower, west porch, north aisle and vestry. The medieval sections are built of rubble sandstone and limestone, while the early 20th-century additions are of multicoloured stone in a ragstone effect. All sections are covered with slate roofs and decorated with cross finials to the gables.

The southwest tower is a narrow four-stage structure without buttresses, rising from a splayed base. It has corbelled battlements with pinnacles at the angles. On the west side is a doorway with a chamfered pointed arch containing a planked door, above which is a large irregular stone that may once have carried an inscription. The second and third stages have small rectangular lights with ovolo-moulded jambs. The fourth stage contains paired belfry openings on all four sides, each with a trefoiled head and central colonnette. The east side has a rectangular light to the third stage, while the south side has smaller rectangular lights, possibly stairlights, with replaced sills and lintels. A clock is mounted on the wall above these southern lights.

The medieval sections have battered walls and corbelled eaves. The former nave, now the south aisle, is three bays long with a porch to the right and replaced two-light Perpendicular windows to the left and centre. These windows have flat heads with hoodmoulds and lights with cinquefoiled heads. The south porch is gabled with a chamfered pointed-arched doorway containing planked double doors. The former chancel, now a chapel, is lower and slightly narrower than the nave, with a single lancet to the left featuring a hollow moulding. To the right are a pair of trefoiled ogee-headed lancets with incised spandrels and a roughly square head under a shallow relieving arch. The east end has a three-light Perpendicular window with cinquefoiled heads and a hoodmould with diamond end stops.

The early 20th-century sections feature Bathstone quoins and corbelled eaves with Perpendicular-style windows. The main nave and chancel are tall and wide, with the chancel advanced to the east end. The three-light east window has cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights, a hoodmould with ball flower end stops, and a continuous stepped sill band. To the right return is a two-light flat-headed window with cinquefoil-headed lights and four small circles above. The north aisle is narrower, with a single-storey flat-roofed vestry to its east, featuring a moulded stone cornice. The vestry has flat-headed windows with cinquefoiled lights to the east and north. The north aisle's east window is three lights with trefoiled ogee heads and diamond end stops to the hoodmould, with a small louvre to the apex. The north side of the north aisle has four two-light Perpendicular-style windows matching those to the south, with buttresses with offsets. To the left of these is a shorter similar window, and further left is a doorway with a four-centred arch and heavy moulding containing a planked door.

The west end has two gables with the tower adjoining to the right. The west end of the north aisle has a three-light Perpendicular-style window matching the east end, with what may be a truncated stack to its right. The nave has a four-light Decorated window with trefoiled ogee-headed lights. Below this is a single-storey flat-roofed west porch with openwork stone parapets featuring a trefoil frieze and pinnacles to the angles. The porch has a pointed-arched doorway to the south with a hoodmould decorated with flower bosses and containing double planked doors. The west and north sides have flat-headed three-light and two-light windows respectively, both with cinquefoiled heads.

The interior has four-bay arcades to the north and south aisles with shallow pointed arches featuring several orders of mouldings on short shafts of quatrefoil plan, with ringed capitals and bases. The chancel arch is similarly styled with short shafts bearing foliage capitals. Both aisles have boarded and panelled wagon roofs with decorative bosses. The aisle windows have splayed reveals and sills, and the west porch has a segmental stone head. The medieval chancel arch between the south aisle and chapel is shallow with two orders of chamfers dying into chamfered imposts. The doorway to the tower has a segmental head of narrow voussoirs and contains a door with pierced quatrefoils. An original Decorated window on the north side of the former sanctuary is retained internally, featuring two trefoiled ogee-headed lights under a later segmental head with an original relieving arch of voussoirs.

Church furnishings include 19th and 20th-century pews to the nave and aisles with shaped foliate bench ends. An octagonal wooden pulpit to the left of the nave has blind arched panels with cusped ogee heads and openwork above. The north aisle contains a similar-style screen to the vestry. A bronze reading lectern stands to the right. The chancel has a diaper marble floor and probably 20th-century choir stalls with decorative fronts. A highly decorative stone reredos dominates with two tiers of blind arches with cusped ogee heads and pinnacles. Behind the altar are three cinquefoiled arches with ballflower ornament containing a painting of the last supper, flanked by statues of angels in niches with ornate canopies. To their right are two niches containing a piscina and sedilia in the same style.

An octagonal stone font to the west end of the south aisle is pierced with quatrefoils and flowers, standing on an octagonal stem and stone plinth. A brass tablet records that it was donated in 1872 by the Wilson family of Abergavenny. A rood screen stands under the medieval chancel arch, featuring ornate ogee and cusped openwork.

The chapel has an encaustic tile floor and 20th-century choir stalls. Its reredos, by Halliday, is of pink marble with a foliate frieze to the top. Immediately behind the altar are three niches under a cusped ogee canopy with pinnacles, containing white stone reliefs of Christ to the centre flanked by angels.

The church contains extensive early 20th-century stained glass. The chancel east window depicts Noli me Tangere, dated 1908. To the left of the chancel is a World War I memorial depicting St Chad by Hardman & Co. Further World War I memorials appear at the west end, including work in the nave by Morris & Co. dated 1920. The chapel east window shows a Crucifixion, with nativity and Christ the good shepherd to the south. The south aisle left window commemorates Martha Maria Lewis (d. 1924) by Kempe & Tower, while to the right is Suffer the little children, to William Henry Lewis (d. 1905) by Jones & Willis. The north aisle contains glass by Powell's, Clayton & Bell, A L Moore & Son, and Heaton, Butler & Bayne.

Numerous wall monuments are present. The chancel contains plain marble tablets to William Nicholl (d. 1756) and his son-in-law Thomas Williams (d. 1810), and an urn with drape on grey marble to Marianne Jones (d. 1821) and her husband William. The south wall features, from left: a casket-shaped tablet to Wyndham Lewis of Green Meadow (d. 1838) and William Price Lewis of New House (d. 1840); a square tablet above with scrolled cornice to Margaret Knight (d. 1809) and relatives; a plain tablet on corbels to other Lewis family members; and further similar tablets to the Jacob family and John Williams of Fair Oak (d. 1795). The north aisle contains, from left, a casket with urn to Samuel Lewis (d. 1814); a monument with pilasters and open pediment to Thomas Lewis of New House (d. 1764); and a monument depicting a seated woman in grief to John Lewis (d. 1850) of New House, erected by his widow and executed by John Evan Thomas, a pupil of Chantrey.