25493

 

II  

Designated  

19/06/2001  

23/10/2003  

Church of St Cedwyn  

 

Powys  

Llangedwyn  

Oswestry  

Llangedwyn  

318825  

324142  

 

On S side of B 4396, in large churchyard (extended 1870), opposite the entrance to Llangedwyn Hall. Stone churchyard wall with iron gates.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The west porch is in Norman style, using terracotta dressings. This is likely to be by Thoman Penson the younger, who used such dressings lavishly at St Agatha's, Llanymynech c.1845.  

A church in brown stone with Bath stone dressings; slate roof with cresting; dormers to north and south sides. Nave, with west bellcote and weathervane; south aisle, west porch, south-east vestry. North side of nave has two lancets to chancel (hoodmoulds with head stops); three two-light windows to nave, hoodmoulds with floral stops. South aisle has central three-light window flanked by two-light windows, hoodmoulds with floral stops. South-east vestry with south doorway, shouldered arch, and two-light window to east. Three-light east window to chancel. West porch in Norman style, rendered, with details in brick and terra-cotta. South doorway with two shafts to each side, two-light west window, arcading on north wall. Against the east wall is a stone simply carved with an early double circle cross; this appears to include a hammer and nails. It is said to have been discovered in the walling of the old church taken down in 1869.  

The church is entered by the west porch. This has an octagonal mediaeval font, a wooden poorbox dated 1741 and on the west side a painted creed, decalogue and Lord's prayer, all in English. On the north side is a small wood and copper war memorial with Art Nouveau detailing by the Arts and Crafts designer JHM Bonnor (Bonnor died in 1916, but the memorial was carried out by his staff at Chiswick. There are also Bonnor family tombstones to his design in churchyard, and family memorials in the church). A plain door leads to the nave, which has a single aisle to the south with a three-arch arcade. The interior is dominated by the lightly constructed roof with arched wind braces of unusual design; extra illumination is provided by North's dormer windows added in c.1907, giving the whole interior a bright effect. The pews in the nave and aisle are plain, in pine, in three banks, with black and red quarry tile passages. The pulpit at left is in C17 oak panelling. To the south west of the nave is a late C19 octagonal Gothic font, probably by Ferrey, on clustered black supporting colonettes. One step leads up to the chancel and two more to the sanctuary. Plain pine choirstalls. The Communion rails, also to the design of JHM Bonnor but carried out posthumously, have a vine trail beneath and stand on iron and brass standards. Simple Gothic reredos. To the right is the effigy of a C14 cleric with his missal, feet resting on a lion. Boarded chancel ceiling of pointed barrel form with re-used woodwork in its cornice dated 1527 but with the rebuild date 1869 added. There is a large collection of monuments, including many to the Williams-Wynn and Bonnor families. To left of the east window is a monument in figured marble with an open pediment and arms, to Edward Vaughan [1718] adopted heir of Edward Vaughan of Llwydiarth, and the style of this monument has been copied in the later Williams-Wynn monument on the south side. Bonnor of Brynygwalia memorials are mostly on the west wall. The east window is as restored in 1853 in memory of Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn [1850], showing the nativity and the four evangelists. The central window to north of the nave (by Ward and Hughes) is to the memory of Marie Nesta Williams Wynn, who died in childhood in 1883, and includes a representation of the church as rebuilt by Ferrey.  

A good Victorian church, architecturally simple but coherent, and with strong links to local gentry families demonstrated in a fine series of monuments.