Church of St Aidan

Cadw's description

Location

Situated towards the western end of High Street opposite junction with road to Whitchurch.

History

Church was designed 1875-6 and cost £1,600. 1877-9 by J L Pearson for Rev Rees Williams.

Exterior

Parish church in green Middle Mil granite rubble with Doulting stone window heads and sills, and red brick string course, eaves, reveals and bellcote. Single slate roof with terracotta ridge. Nave and chancel in one with north porch and south east vestry/organ chamber. Plain lancet windows joined by continuous moulded brick sill course.

N side has steep roofed porch with moulded, pointed, ashlar headed doorway and single order of columns. Brick plinth and eaves with slate angles. Collar rafter roof and inner door with ashlar pointed head and brick hoodmould. Two lancets to right, then sill course steps up to mark chancel. One chancel N window and sill course stepped up at NE angle. Granite NE cornerstone. E end has red brick gable coping, sill course stepped up under triplet of stepped lancets with brick hoods. Lean-to SE vestry with small, plate-traceried, pointed E window, cross-mullioned with apex roundel. Brick hood, sill course stepped down. S side of vestry has 2, 2-light, square-headed windows to right with blank ashlar trefoil heads and similar single light to left under organ-chamber gable. Sill and eaves courses, W side door with sill course carried over as hoodmould. Ashlar pointed head. Nave S wall has 3 lancets. Sill course has eroded and been cemented over. Wend has red brick double bellcote with square-headed openings and steep hipped slate roof with gablets. Terracotta ridge and iron cross finial. Two tall W lancets with sill course stepped up brick hoods and blank ashlar quatrefoil roundel above in brick surround.

Interior

Undivided plastered interior with moulded brick sill course. Fine, open timber, 8-bay roof with double purlins and arch-braced collar trusses. Bracketed rood-beam marks chancel and chancel roof has windbracing. Complete set of original pews, matching panelled pulpit and choir rails of 1889 with Gothic panelling. Pulpit has figured wood colonnettes to panels and rails have poppyhead finials and pierced panels. Chancel has plastered S arch to organ chamber and pointed vestry door adjoining, sill course stepped under E window. Panelled ashlar reredos, since painted white, with centre coss and quatrefoil panels each side. At west end C12 scalloped font on C19 plain cylindrical base, from lost church of St Teilo, St Elvis. In porch, large, cross-inscribed stone, also from St Elvis Farm, pre-Norman, found 1925.