Chapel of ease to the Church of St Margaret

Cadw's description

Location

Near the centre of Crynant on the E side of Main Road just S of the Church of Saint Margaret.

History

Anglican chapel of ease of medieval origins rebuilt in late C18 to early C19, and functioning as the parish church for Crynant until the building of the adjacent church in 1908-10. The chapel-of-ease is recorded as having been restored in 1878, possibly the gables, the interior fittings and roof panelling of that date, and was restored again in 2002 when the windows and door were renewed, and the render redone. It stands in a remarkably crowded graveyard.

Exterior

Anglican chapel of ease, coursed thin rubble stone with whitewashed render on W and S walls and slate roof. Simple Gothic style single vessel with W bellcote and W porch. Base of walls is slightly battered, windows are pointed with stone voussoirs and stone sills, apparently early C19, one window to N, two to S and one larger to E. Windows and door of 2002, the windows Y-traceried, the E window 3-light with intersecting Y-tracery. W end has stone bellcote with single triangular-headed opening and coped gable. W porch has pointed doorway, stone voussoirs, and coped shouldered gable. C20 double doors. S side of porch has an inset C18 gravestone. S side of church has two windows with exposed stone voussoirs and crude keystones, and the stone voussoirs of a very roughly pointed head of a blocked door exposed to left, voussoirs of a shallow cambered head set low in wall to right. E end has 3-light window with C20 wooden glazing and stone voussoirs and tooled stone sill.

Interior

Inner W door has plain square head. Church interior has plastered walls and plastered deep cove to the ceiling around a wood-panelled centre rectangle of late C19 date, with diagonal boarding. Small red and buff quarry tiles to floors, crude timber pulpit of later C19 with diagonal-boarding to lower panels and pierced panels above, to 4 canted sides. Late C19 iron Gothic standards to altar rails. Highly unusual and presumably C18 font whitewashed stone with semi-sphere bowl, moulded around rim and bowl striated in a crude gadrooning. the base is a tapering column with moulded big cap over a shaft that tapers downward to a moulded base. The lid of wood has a shallow octagonal ogee dome with finial.

Reason for designation

Included as a small chapel of ease of ancient origins, with unusual and rare survival of what appears to be a Georgian font.