St Elvan's Church

St Elvan's Church is a Decorated Gothic aisled church, likely dating to the 18th century, with a shallow north transept and an additional south aisle. The exterior is constructed of snecked (Dyffryn) rubble with Bath stone dressings, featuring slate roofs with cresting and mostly ogee tracery windows. The design is dominated by a tall west tower topped with an octagonal spire and lucarnes. The tower includes paired, louvered bell stage openings above clock faces, and a three-light west window, the processional doorway adorned with carved headstops. Two-light windows are found in the aisles, also with headstops, alongside a gabled north porch with buttresses. Clerestory windows are two-light, and the north transept window is four-light, featuring a cinquefoil oculus over impaled trefoils. The chancel north aisle boasts a single lancet window to the south and a three-light east window with reticulated tracery. The sanctuary contains a single lancet window to the north and a fine five-light east window. A later organ chamber is located on the south side, featuring a six-pane, trefoil-traceried circular window within a gable. Set back from the main structure is a vestry with a lean-to porch, sharing similar glazing with the south aisle.

The interior is broad and lofty, with whitewashed walls and five-bay arcades dividing the nave and the space between the inner and outer south aisles. The roof features scissor trusses with principals springing from stone corbels. Piers alternate between octagonal and cylindrical forms, and the arches are two-order with dying mouldings, supported by a stringcourse below the clerestory. The tall tower arch has been largely infilled, beyond which a glazed screen with a crenellated top and cusped ogee arches encloses the bell ringing platform; beneath is a lobby supported by a broad arch carried on deeply foliated capitals and truncated shafts. Narrower octagonal piers are found in the south aisle arcade, which has collar and queen strut trusses with mock hammerbeams supporting the principals. The chancel ceiling is panelled and ribbed, with small bosses, and the Lady Chapel has a canted ceiling. The church's significant fittings are a highlight. The nave contains an octagonal wooden pulpit (likely by W D Caroe), with an inverted cone base and intricate carving of foliage and animals. The north transept is home to a circular stone font supported by a green marble drum, with a wooden cover and detached stone shafts resembling tree trunks. The choir screen, designed by William Tate in the office of William Kempe, is highly colourful, incorporating ogee arches and a canopy with a rood. A simpler screen is located within the Lady Chapel, featuring double doors and a lock bar band bearing bosses and fleurons. The Lady Chapel also houses a panelled reredos and a linenfold panelled War Memorial, characterized by palm-tree-like columns at each end and in the centre. A crenellated top and a design resembling an altarpiece complement this memorial, depicting St George and the Dragon beneath a vaguely Jacobean canopy with Ionic columns and ‘Dutch’ gables. A tabernacle dedicated to the Virgin is positioned at the top. The chancel includes a fabric reredos, a screen to the right, a three-seat sedilia with a canopy, and Gothic altar rails. The church also contains several pieces of fine stained glass, including work by R J Newbery of London and Clayton and Bell.