Church of St David

Cadw's description

Location

In a churchyard above and on the W side of the main road through the hamlet.

History

A medieval church, of which the nave is possibly C13, but the chancel is later. The church was restored in 1903 and repaired in 1958 by G Pace, architect, who rendered the exterior.

Exterior

A simple Gothic style church comprising nave with a wider chancel, of whitened roughcast walls and slate roof with overhanging eaves. The nave has a medieval pointed S doorway with continuous chamfer, and a boarded door. To its R is a 2-light Decorated window. The chancel S wall has 2 pointed lights and a boarded door R of centre. Three stepped cusped lights form the E window. On the N side are 3 pointed lights, one to the chancel and 2 to the nave. The W wall has a plain 2-light square-headed window. The gabled W bellcote stands in line with the nave. It has a roughcast W side, but the remainder is weatherboarded.

Interior

The 4-bay nave roof has 3 arched-brace trusses with tie beams, of which the E is plastered above the collar and the tie beam acted as the rood beam, and a queen-post truss at the W end supporting the bellcote. The roof has 2 tiers of diagonal braces. The chancel has a similar 3-bay arched-brace roof, with 2 tiers of uncusped windbraces and cambered tie beams. In the S wall is a simple corbelled piscina.

A rood screen is reconstructed and does not quite span the width of the nave. It has a central doorway flanked by slender pinnacled shafts, but the intricate tracery above the doorway is mostly missing. To the L and R are 3 bays retaining delicate cusped tracery heads, and boarded dado. The coving is missing, but a moulded beam was probably the original bressumer.

The plain round tub font, C12 or C13, stands on a later plinth. Pews, choir stalls, polygonal pulpit and communion rail on iron uprights are simple early C20 work. In the S wall is a tablet commemorating Thomas Sheen (d 1822) on a corbelled apron.

Reason for designation

Listed grade II* for its special architectural interest as a well-preserved small medieval parish church with an especially fine interior.