Church of St Cynon

Cadw's description

Location

Located on raised ground on W side of village, overlooking Bechan valley. The church is sited in a churchyard with rubble retaining wall to S.

History

The earliest dateable feature is the restored C14 S doorway. A bell turret was added probably C17. Medieval in origin. The walls were said to have been substantially rebuilt in 1787 at the expense of Arthur Blayney of Gregynog, at which time the interior was re-furnished. The church was thoroughly restored in 1892 by William Scott Owen, agent to Lord Sudeley at Gregynog. Owen inserted new windows in Perpendicular style, altered the ceiled wagon roof by introducing windbraces and panelling, and introduced new pews, pulpit and font. He also restored the S porch and the original S doorway. The stained glass of the E window was made in 1875 for Helperthorpe, Yorkshire, and brought to Tregynon by Lord Sudeley in the 1880s. Early C20 lean-tos were added as a boiler room and to allow insertion of an organ.

Exterior

Nave and chancel under a single roof with S porch and W bellcote, in Perpendicular style. Random rubble with red Alveley stone dressings, slate roof. The S wall has, to R of porch, 3 stepped buttresses and 3x3-light windows with square heads. To L of the porch is a similar single-light window and a tablet to the Richards family (1796). The porch has a snecked stone plinth below an open timber frame, slate roof, and cast iron Celtic cross on the ridge. The S doorway has a single order of roll moulding and no capitals. The E wall has a 5-light Perpendicular window and a Celtic cross on the ridge. The N side has buttresses balancing the S wall but no fenestration. (A shallow lean-to in the chancel, and
a lean-to for the boiler to the R, are C20.) The W wall has a 3-light window in a timber frame, of 1787. The restored timber bellcote has a pyramidal slate roof with a weathervane (engraved AB 1787), a louvered bell stage incorporating ogee-headed openings on S and N faces, with weatherboarding below. An earlier, large timber sundial is set into weatherboarding on S face.

Interior

Undivided nave and chancel, although the chancel was raised by the insertion of steps in 1892. Restored arch-braced roof on moulded cornice and shield bosses, with cusped windbraces and boarded panels behind. A vestry was created at the W end, beneath the belfry, in C18 by a partition from the nave; it houses base of bellcote, consisting of a rubble plinth with timber sills, posts and scissor-braces. The nave has 2 monuments to the Blayney family of Gregynog: a painted wooden tablet with oval inscription panel to David Lloyd Blayney (1709); a Neo-Classical tablet to Arthur Blayney by John Bacon the Elder (1796) with mourning lady holding nest with pious Pelican, a draped urn above and inscription below. Also a tablet to Thomas Colley (1812) is in Neo-Classical style with a draped urn. Stained glass E window by Clayton & Bell, S chancel window by Leonard Walker c1921. Alabaster reredos of 1902, with white alabaster figures beneath pink canopies. Heptagonal Perpendicular-style font.

Reason for designation

Listed as a prominently-sited church of medieval origin, especially notable for its C15-style roof and monuments to the Blayney family of Gregynog.