Church of Saint Mapley/ Mabli

Church of Saint Mapley (Mabli)

An Anglican parish church of rubble stone with sandstone dressings and stone-tiled roofs. The building comprises a west tower, nave, south porch, chancel, and a 19th-century north vestry. The gables are finished with 19th-century coping and cross finials in Bath stone.

The west tower features pink stone quoins and a corbelled embattled parapet with corner rainwater spouts. Two-light small flat-headed Perpendicular bell-openings appear on three sides, equipped with stone louvres and arched heads to the lights. A small loop occupies the east side, with additional small loops at mid-height on the south and west sides. The west front displays a two-light window with flush Y-tracery above a plain chamfered pointed door. The nave roof sits lower than the crease on the east face of the tower.

The south porch, much restored, has a pointed chamfered entry in pink sandstone and a small cross-shaped opening on its east wall. The interior contains timber gates, plastered walls and ceiling, two bench seats, and a stoup in the corner by the door. A 19th-century outer door and double doors are set within. The nave's south wall is battered at its base west of the porch and features moulded late medieval timber eaves. At the former rood site to the right of the porch, the wall projects outward with a large Perpendicular three-light window set deep within a hollow-moulded flat-headed surround. The nave's north side likewise has moulded eaves and a battered wall base, with a large Perpendicular flat-headed three-light window set deep in a hollow-moulded surround with ogee heads to the lights. A projection for the rood stands to the left, with the roof carried over it.

The chancel displays moulded timber eaves boards on a chamfered stone course. Its south wall contains a narrow chamfered pointed door, a flat-headed Perpendicular-style three-light window (much renewed), and a single 19th-century lancet. The east wall, restored in the 19th century, features a pair of lancets with a cinquefoil roundel above. The north side has an added lean-to vestry and one chamfered lancet to the left.

Interior

The plastered interior walls are spanned by a west tower arch with a single chamfer, fitted with 19th-century timber infill. Moulded 15th-century wallplates support a panelled segmental pointed roof of eight by ten panels with ogee-moulded ribs. The south door is topped by a 19th-century ashlar head, and the south window is recessed, splayed to the right and straight to the left with a large corbel. A narrow depressed-arched rood-stair door on the north side contains stone winding stairs within; the upper door is blocked. A single-chamfer chancel arch spans the eastern bay, with corbels for the rood screen on either side. The chancel roof is similar in design to the nave, comprising eight by six panels with moulded wallplates that are less deep than those in the nave. A 19th-century north vestry door is set within a triangular-headed recess, presumably replacing a former window, similar in head design to the lancet to its right and the south lancet and door. The renewed east window comprises two lancets with pointed recesses on either side.

A fine trefoil-headed plastered piscina with a double bowl on paired conical supports occupies the chancel. One bowl features a rosette; the other is plain. The font is a bowl with a zigzag frieze and a rounded stem with column shafts on a round base. A floor slab bears a foliate cross and the initials WL SL TL WL. An eight-sided timber pulpit, possibly 18th-century but altered in the 19th century, has panels framed with rebated moulding. Nineteenth-century bench pews furnish the church. The altar rails, dated CM Wrdn 1724, feature a moulded rail and base with four turned posts and turned balusters. Adjacent to the south door is a plaque to Anne Williams (died 1780), signed by James Jones, with three crude flat urns and a winged cherub head beneath.

The chancel south wall contains a crude memorial to William Parry, barrister (1703), with elaborate scroll work and a winged cherub head below. Late 17th- and early 18th-century carved floor slabs commemorate William James (died 1731), J. Powell (died 1716), Elizabeth Parry (died 1716), and Peter Powell of Cefngwyn (died 1696). A painted plaque honours John Williams (died 1767), with winged cherubs at the upper corners and flowers at the lower corners. Another painted plaque, signed by J. Brule, commemorates Thomas Lewis (died 1769) and Reverend John Lewis (died 1787).