Church of St Dogfael

Cadw's description

Location

Situated some 500m down narrow lane to Castell Henllys, running N from A 487.

History

Anglican parish church of 1863-5 by R.J. Withers, Hughes of Newport builder, incorporating a carved medieval N door from previous church. The W rose window may have been originally made for Bronwydd, Cardiganshire, the house of the Lloyd family rebuilt in the 1850s and used here instead, Sir Thomas Lloyd being the patron of the restoration.

Exterior

Tooled sandstone with some Bath stone dressings. Slate single roof with canted apse end. Terracotta ridge tiles and iron cross finial to apse. Nave and chancel with small W bellcote sunk into gable, S porch and N vestry. Simple High Victorian design emphasising solid geometrical shape, sheer walls and flush window tracery. Chancel is inset slightly with higher eaves, three cusped single lights to canted end, 2-light window with Star-of-David head and sandstone voussoirs to S. N catslide-roof to vestry with trefoil-cusped head to W door and fine battered chimney at intersection of nave eaves and vestry roof. Idiosyncratic tracery to 2-light vestry E window. Nave has single bell-opening set well down in gable apex with gable and iron finial. Square-headed opening under blank cusped pointed head with hood. Slate coping to gable and also to short battered sides. W wall has high battered plinth with moulded string and large rose of five encircled cinquefoils. S side has simple porch with roll-moulded pointed doorway, stone voussoirs, and stone cross finial. Ledged pointed door within. To right, plain 2-light window to right with quatrefoil above. N side has fine inset medieval doorway with crude continuous roll mouldings with Celtic scroll at foot of left jamb, and bifurcated foot to right. Hoodmould and two crude head stops, possibly C13. Plain 2-light with trefoil above to right.

Interior

Three bay nave roof of arch-braced collar type but modified to give a shouldered profile below collars echoed in windbracing of side panels. Diagonal posts above collars. Ashlar chancel arch, double-chamfer and stopped. Plaster-panelled polygonal chancel roof with timber ribs. Pointed rear arches to windows, pointed cusped vestry door. Simple coloured tile and slate floors stepped 5 times from chancel arch to the communion table. Well-designed simple High Victorian fittings: octagonal ashlar font with moulded ring and stepped chamfered plinth, one step in slate. Pine pews, pine pulpit with vesica shaped panels. Stalls with open cusped frontals. Open sanctuary rails, arched-heads to panels with pointed indents in angles. Double gates with open cross motifs. Communion table similar to rails. Panelled ashlar reredos with blue diagonally-set small tiles below 5 panels with rich 5-colour tiles inset. Brattished cornice. Fine E single stained glass window of Crucifixion with SS Mary and John on blue background, 1865 by Lavers & Barraud.
In vestry, diagonally-set Gothic fireplace and moulded-stone locker.

Reason for designation

An excellent example of simple and economical High Victorian church design, in the manner of William Butterfield.