Church of St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St Dyfodwg

Church of St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St Dyfodwg

This substantial medieval church comprises a west tower, nave without clerestory, south and north aisles, south and north porches, chancel, and north vestry. The walls are constructed of rubble sandstone under slate roofs, with fenestration largely dating from the 19th century in red and grey stone.

The massive 15th-century tower stands in two stages divided by a string course, raised on a high moulded plinth and finished with battlemented parapets. Heavy diagonal buttresses, each with four offsets and decorative pinnacles, rise up the tower faces. Above these are large, crude gargoyles attached to the parapet string course. An octagonal stair turret at the north-east angle comprises three stages with battlemented parapets and small rectangular stair lights.

The tower's west doorway was rebuilt in 1894 in yellow stone with a triangular head, a pointed arched opening, and three orders of continuous mouldings. It is reached by five swept steps. The jambs of an earlier doorway remain visible. Above the door sits a three-light window with a square hoodmould beneath a relieving arch of voussoirs; the lights have Tudor-style heads. A small rectangular light appears on the south face just above the string course. Two-light belfry openings, all with Tudor arches and plain hollow mouldings, occupy each face of the tower.

The south aisle features a gabled porch at its centre, flanked by two windows on each side. Angle buttresses with offsets separate the windows and stand at the porch ends. The porch has a high plinth and corbelled eaves. The 19th-century windows possess segmental heads of voussoirs containing three lights with trefoiled heads. The porch's front face displays a round-headed doorway with a moulded arch on imposts, containing a ribbed door. A square hoodmould crowns the doorway, above which is a rectangular recess. The porch has no side openings.

The chancel is lower and narrower than the nave. It contains two single lights with trefoiled heads and hoodmoulds; to the right of the left window are two grave slabs mounted on the wall, dated 1751 and 1716, though hard to read. The east end features a three-light window with cusped intersecting tracery and a hoodmould with head bosses depicting a man and woman. To the left is a shallow rectangular recess with narrow stone sill and lintel, which may once have held another grave slab. A lean-to vestry has been added to the left of the chancel's north side, containing a trefoil-headed light in its east end.

The north aisle mirrors the south aisle's arrangement, with a central porch flanked by paired windows separated by angle buttresses. This porch is constructed of snecked stone with dressed quoins and features a chamfered pointed arched doorway with hoodmould containing a late 20th-century door. Inside, a round-arched doorway with 20th-century double doors leads to stone side benches and an arch-braced roof.

The nave contains five-bay arcades with alternating circular and octagonal piers. The piers carry moulded capitals supporting pointed arches with double chamfers. A nine-bay roof features arched braces, arched wind braces, low-set tie beams, and moulded wall plates with dentils. Benches line either side of a central aisle and possess moulded arm rests.

A pointed chamfered doorway at the east end of the north aisle leads to the vestry. The tower arch is four-centred with narrow mouldings. A half-glazed wood-panelled screen spans the tower arch, decorated with stained glass and a dentilled cornice. This screen is a memorial to the Reverend Canon John Powell Jones, vicar of the parish from 1865 to 1883. A baptistery is said to exist beneath the tower floor. A small chamfered pointed arched doorway in the north wall of the tower chamber opens to the stair turret, with 20th-century stairs on the south side.

A tall pointed chancel arch with double chamfers rises on triple shafts bearing foliate capitals and wide polygonal bases. The chancel roof comprises three bays; the east bay features sound-boarding whilst the other two bays display arched braces and a central ridge piece. A wood-panelled reredos with cusped blind arches and ogee heads decorates the chancel's east wall.

A 15th-century octagonal stone font on a square base displays broach stops and chip-carved circular designs to each face, similar to fonts at Pyle and Llanharry. A small organ occupies the left front of the nave, whilst a polygonal wooden pulpit by George Pace, designed in 1967, stands to the right. The south aisle contains an altar, behind which sits an Early Christian grave slab incised with a circular cross flanked by smaller crosses.

The east window's stained glass, dated 1873, depicts the Crucifixion with Mary and John, executed by Morris & Company to a design by Edward Burne-Jones. It was commissioned by John Prichard in memory of his relatives resident in the parish. Two contemporary lancets on the south side of the chancel, by Clayton & Bell, memorialise the Reverend Evan Morgan and his wife Letitia (died 1864 and 1868), depicting the Charge to Peter and Noli me Tangere. The left window of the south aisle, showing Saints Peter, Paul, and John, was presented by Evan Evans in memory of his brothers and dates to 1873, made by G H Cook. The right window of the south aisle is a First World War memorial depicting soldiers. The right window of the north aisle commemorates David Henry Simon, vicar of the parish from 1923 to 1939. The remaining windows contain pink and yellow glass.

A 13th-century effigy of a warrior wearing a simple tunic and head-dress, set into the wall at the east end of the north aisle, depicts Cadwgan Fawr of Miskin, a Welsh opponent of Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan, in the period 1217–1230. The effigy was moved to this position in 1873. Numerous stone and marble wall monuments embellish the church interior. Above the effigy hangs a marble tablet with fluted pilasters and cornice, dated 1742, though difficult to read. At the west end of the north aisle sits a black slate tablet with a round arched head and decorated with scrolls and vases, commemorating Ann, daughter of Morgan David (died 1740), aged 36. The Barrett family of Miskin receives memorial in the south aisle with a stone tablet of arched head in the form of a scroll to the right of the doorway, listing family members who died in the 17th and 18th centuries. A memorial scroll in the south aisle honours the Lewis family. A marble tablet with shield to the left commemorates Richard Evans (died 1866) of Watling Street, London. To the right of the chancel arch stands a tablet bearing a draped urn to Anne Thomas of Ynys y Plwm (died 1845), signed by Porter. A tall stone tablet in the chancel, raised from the ground, commemorates Mary, wife of Evan Prichard (died 1740), and other family members. The south wall of the chancel displays a large marble tablet with arched head and scrollwork to Dr Richard Thomas (died 1733). To the right is a plaque with a head boss commemorating Mary, wife of Henry Nichols (died 1735).