Church of St Barnabas

Cadw's description

Location

Situated in centre of village just SW of the junction of the roads from Waungilwen and Henllan.

History

Built 1862-3 at the expense of Earl Cawdor, to designs by David Brandon of London, architect, by the builder, James Rogers of Tenby. It cost £2,000.

Exterior

Mid to late C19 Anglican church, in early English style, by D. Brandon. Constructed of dressed local stone, with steeply pitched, banded, Pembrokeshire slate roof with raised, coped gables. Bath stone dressings to narrow lancet windows. Raised sill band and plinth. Wooden bell-cote to nave. Shorter, lower, apsidal chancel. Nave has 5 bays of lancets, separated by stepped, sloping buttresses, with light trefoiled Gothic heads and drip mould hoods, terminating alternately in ornately carved human heads or florets. Gable fronted S porch with pointed-headed Gothic arch to S, with splayed moulding to arch and jamb. Similar raised string course and small buttresses beneath to sides, near angles. Pitched, banded Pembrokeshire slate roof with raised, coped gable. Belfry to W of nave, of timber construction with pierced wooden side panels consisting of trefoiled Gothic heads beneath small tripartite arcade of spandrels and steep, slated spirelet. Small pointed-headed openings to spire sides with similar Gothic trefoiled heads and bearing small decorative cast iron finials with interlacing circles and pointed heads. Similar, larger finial to apex, terminating in narrow cross. Bipartite W window with lights separated by stone columns.
Narrower chancel has similar lancets and butresses, with one light to each face of the apsidal end. Small lean-to vestry to N concealing one bay. Similar stone work, but with slated roof on a gentler pitch. Small bipartite window to N with sandstone dressings. Roof finial in cast iron forming a six-pointed star beneath a barbed spearhead.

Interior

Single aisled 1863 interior to seat 250, with plastered walls and open rafter ceilings, rising from lightly carved corbels - with foliate detail to same in chancel. Arch braced collar trussed roof with trefoil spandrels to braces and Gothic style arch braces to apse. Pointed gothic chancel arch springing from foliate corbels. Above arch is the painted inscription 'Gogoniant i Dduw yn y Goruchafiod'. Much stained glass - apse windows depicting Crucifixion, Ressurection and Ascension, by Heater, Butler and Bayne, 1863. E window a memorial to James Lewes Lloyd and Joyce Maria Lloyd of Dolhaidd. N and S nave windows by Celtic Studios, 1960's. 1863 octagonal Caen stone font on quadripartite pillared base, carved detail to 4 sides - florid decoration within quatrefoil recess, all within a sun motif. Small, plain 1863 Bath stone pulpit carved by Peter Ford of Cheadle, Staffordshire. Above the stone base is a projecting 3-sided timber front, of tall Gothic-headed panels. Pitch pine pews, with panelled rears and plain ends. Brass eagle lectern in memory of Rev. Canon Samuel Evans, B. A., former rector of the parish (1940-62). Pair of small timber reading desks, dating from 1953, with attached seats, paired panels to base with quatrefoil spandrels, and open fronts. Light carving with foliate detail to upper sections. Small pipe organ, with 3 large pipes to outer flanks - higher to centre, with 5 pipes to inner flanks, ascending from centre section, which has 3 pipes - taller to centre. Sections divided by upright timbers with cross decoration to heads. Single horizontal timber bars with light trefoil decoration to middle flanks. Plaque reads 'In Loving Memory of Daniel Jenkins who laboured faithfully in the parish as headmaster, conductor and organist for 25 years March 1892 to September 6th 1917'. Voix Celeste stop added 1917. Pitch pine pulpit table and reredos with 8 enamelled figures to small upper panels, and carved top bar. Tiled floors throughout, raised to chancel. Small pointed-headed gothic arched doorway to small vestry to chancel N. S nave wall between SE and centre window has marble memorial to Corporal William Frederick Jones, lost at the Relief of Mafeking, February 13th 1900. Elaborately carved heads with much florid and foliate detail with gothic central arch on corbels and columns.

Reason for designation

Included as a good C19 Anglican church, constructed of predominantly local materials, in the Early English style.