Church of St Cadoc

Church of St Cadoc

This is a small church of low proportions built in a mixed Decorated and Perpendicular style, constructed of sandstone rubble with red tiled roofs. The building consists of a 3-bay nave with a north aisle under a carried-down roof, a 3-bay chancel with a small 1-bay transept, and a priest's porch in the east angle. The tower, which incorporates the porch, stands on the south side close to the west end.

The tower is square on plan with four internal stages but presents an externally sheer and plain appearance, topped with a tiled pyramidal roof bearing a weathervane finial. The south doorway is of red sandstone with chamfered reveals and a double-chamfered 2-centred arch. Above it is a 15th-century mullioned window of 3 depressed-arched lights with roll-moulding to the mullions and heads, and hollow spandrels. A small 1-light window of similar character sits on the east side at this level. The only other openings are very small 2-light mullioned windows in the centre of the west, south and east sides of the top stage, and a pair of low oblong belfry openings in all four sides immediately under the oversailing eaves.

The west end of the nave has a 4-light window with Perpendicular tracery, renewed by Wyatt, while the adjoining end of the aisle has a 2-light window with Y-tracery. On the south side, the east bay of the nave contains a Perpendicular-style window of 3 cusped ogee lights with tracery. The chancel, which is slightly lower than the nave, has a low transept with a 4-light window mimicking the style of the 3-light tower window, and above this a small square window containing a recessed cusped quatrefoil. In the angle to the right stands a 3-sided flat-roofed porch with a 2-centred arched doorway with hoodmould, a moulded band and a parapet with ridged coping. To the right of this is a square-headed window of 2 cusped lights. The chancel's gable features a traceried 3-light Perpendicular east window with a hoodmould. The north aisle has sturdy buttresses with offsets, and a small window of 2 cusped lights in each bay.

The interior is dignified and solid, making much use of Bath stone and some veined white marble. The nave has a 3-bay aisle arcade of octagonal columns with moulded caps and broad moulded 2-centred arches. The roof consists of arch-braced collar trusses carried on wall corbels with curved Y-struts from kingposts to principals, and a painted lettered frieze runs below the moulded wall-plate of each bay. The west window contains stained glass by C.E. Kempe dating to 1879.

At the east end is a generously-proportioned and heavily-moulded chancel arch with hoodmould, partly closed by dado-height "screen" walls of veined alabaster in Renaissance style, between which 3 steps rise into the chancel. The chancel has a wooden wagon roof with Tudor-style moulded ribs and carved bosses. The altar is raised up 4 steps, with painted biblical texts on the risers, and features a delicately arched and foliated communion rail of wrought iron, and a carved alabaster reredos inlaid with brass. The east window contains stained glass depicting the crucifixion with the three Marys, by Lavers and Barraud.

A large 2-centred arch in the north wall contains the organ, its case of painted pipes corbelled out across the top of the arch. On the north wall next to the vestry door is a brass plate commemorating that the church was "restored by John Allan Rolls of The Hendre in 1875 in affectionate remembrance of his Father John Etherington Welch Rolls, who died 7th May 1870".

The church retains various wall monuments from the earlier building, commemorating members of the Evans family from the 17th and 18th centuries, and other members of the Rolls family dating from around 1794 onwards.