Church of St Illtyd

The Church of St Illtyd is a building constructed in several phases, primarily using local red and grey sandstone in coursed rubble walls, with quoins of squared sandstone and coarser sandstone window dressings. Some areas feature narrow blocks, although the timing of their use is unclear. The roof is stone slab. The walls were fully plastered and limewashed in 2000, obscuring their original appearance.

The church comprises a nave with a gallery over the west end, a separate chancel set off-centre, a south and west porch (the west porch functioning as a vestry), and a west bellcote.

The gabled south porch has a pointed arch with a trefoil above it, and small lancet windows in the return walls, topped with a coped gable. The nave has a single-light cusped head window to the left of the porch and a two-light window to the right, set in a flat-headed frame. Adjacent to this, the chancel has a plain arched priest’s door and another two-light window similar to the previous one. Rafter ends are exposed above. The east gable features a three-light Perpendicular window with cusped heads to the lights, topped with a coped gable and a cross. The north side of the chancel wall is blind. The north wall of the nave has two two-light, flat-headed windows. The west gable is coped and supports a gabled belfry with two bell openings. A gabled west porch features coping, a cross, a pointed arch doorway, and single-light windows in the returns. A Victorian quatrefoil is set above the porch ridge on the nave gable.

The interior is plastered and painted throughout. The nave has a waggon roof with four faces, featuring narrow ribs that delineate square panels, likely dating to the late medieval period. Evidence of an earlier roofline was visible on the west wall before plastering. A smaller, similar roof covers the chancel. The chancel arch has a semi-circular head, although the moulding suggests a late medieval origin. It is filled by a Victorian timber screen in the Perpendicular style, incorporating some medieval elements. The west gallery is constructed from fragments of the original Rood Loft, notably the main moulded and brattished bressumer beam, and has a pierced, panelled Perpendicular balustrade – a remarkably rare survival. The furnishings are predominantly Victorian, likely from a restoration by Prichard and Seddon, with the exception of the re-cut Norman font. Other fittings include reused Jacobean panelling. Fragments of medieval glass are found in the east window. Two incised effigies, dating from around 1600, are located in the chancel, alongside a neo-classical memorial to William Morgan (died 1772) in white marble, signed Tyley, Bristol, and probably dating from 1823, likely the work of the younger Thomas Tyley who was active from 1811.