Church of St Michael and All Angels, Llangynwyd with Maesteg, including enclosing graveyard wall.

Cadw's description

Location

Located on the N side of Bryn-mawr Place, off Neath Road, parallel to and lying above Commercial Street.

History

Built 1895-8, on the eve of the heyday of development in Maesteg to plans by G E Halliday of Cardiff, which were considerably simplified after the death of the patron, Miss Olive Talbot, in 1894. Built by William McGaul, contractors.

Exterior

Built of pick-dressed mountain stone, with greenish Bridgend stone dressings. Slate roofs. Aisled nave of 6 bays, short chancel with side chapels, and tower on the N side of the chancel. Broad plain W front with a central moulded doorway, and arches between buttresses, and above, 5 lancet windows. In the gable a statue of St Michael slaying the Dragon in a mandorla. Nave of 6 bays, with paired lancets between gabled buttresses. Cinquefoiled round lights to the clerestoreys between pilasters. Three stage tower with crenellated parapet and louvred bell openings, and an octagonal stair tower in the NE corner rising above the parapet. The chancel E window is of 3 stepped lancets. The tower, which was completed in 1958, is faced with stone reclaimed from the Llynfi blast furnaces.
The graveyard is surrounded by a low stone wall carrying bold cast iron railings between stone piers.

Interior

Plain interior in a Decorated Gothic style. Dignified broad nave with passage side aisles behind the arcades of six bays. Open roof on alternate hammer beam trusses. Moulded tripartite chancel arch, the side arches lower, and behind, raised over 3 steps, the square chancel, and a single sanctuary arch. The sanctuary has painted and stencilled walls. Organ chamber on the N with a vestry behind, with stair to the crypt. The windows have rere-arches on colonnettes. The nave is flagged. At the W end, a plain tub font is set over an unusual immersion baptismal font.
Furnishings: Pulpit, on a pedestal and accessible from the chancel; octagonal and inlaid with pink marble. Colonnetes at the angles. Good Altar and reredos of oak enlivened with gilding, extends the full width of the sanctuary, all of 1949. Pews of pine, with umbrella stands.
Glass: Chancel E and side windows, by R J Newbery, c.1920, in a Dureresque style (Newman). In nave, N window by J Petts, 1985.

Reason for designation

Included as a large and well preserved Gothic design by a well-known church architect as a memorial to Miss Olive Talbot, a generous benefactress to church-building.