83673

 

II*  

Designated  

16/02/2005  

16/02/2005  

Church of Saint Maelog  

 

Powys  

Honddu Isaf  

Brecon  

Llandefaelog Fach  

303398  

232387  

E  

In a prominent position in the centre of Llandefaelog Fach between the B4520 and the Afon Honddu.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Anglican parish church, late medieval or C16 tower, the body of the church rebuilt 1831 by John Maund of Brecon (recorded on Tithe map as owner of Llandefaelog House), and again in 1856-7 by W. G. & E. Habershon of Newport for the Rev. Gilbert Harries. Altered between 1878 and 1890 for £1, 877/12/1d (£1,877.60), the lavish refitting of the chancel is said to date from 1889-90, in memory of Anne E. Lewis-Lloyd of Glanhonddu, died 1881, aged 87. The work was paid for by Mrs Williams, wife of the rector Prebendary W. Williams and her sisters, Mrs Rhys Lloyd and the Misses Lewis-Lloyd of Glanhonddu. S porch added, nave oak pews and nave mosaic dado added in 1894-5 for £450. Structural movement in chancel arrested 1991, engineer Brian Morton of the Victorian Society, tower roof repaired 1998.  

Church, grey stone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. Tower, nave and chancel, S porch and NE vestry/ organ chamber. Plain rubble stone W tower with pyramid slate roof. Small rectangular louvred bell-opening each side under eaves, with chamfered red sandstone jambs. Two vent loops on S, one on W over 1857 flush ashlar pointed 2-light with cusped lights and quatrefoil in head. Stone voussoirs. Blocked pointed arched door on tower S, with stone voussoirs, right of centre. Nave of C19 squared stone with 2-light similar 1857 windows with stone voussoirs. Raised plinth. Porch and two windows on S, two windows on N. Nave W end has tooled stone buttress each side up to eaves, with plinth and shallow offset, nave E has shorter buttress each side with three chamfered offsets. Ashlar quoins above. 1894-5 gabled porch with bargeboards, red sandstone roundel with cross in gable and chamfered pointed door with hoodmould and carved stops. Side walls have single red sandstone lancet. C19 lower chancel, squared stone with plinth, coped E gable and cross finial. Two ashlar S small cusped lancets, diagonal E corner buttresses with plinth, gable on upper face and chamfered ashlar top. Large ashlar pointed 3-light E window with hoodmould and three stepped lancets. Stone voussoirs. N side has large gabled organ chamber and vestry, rock-faced stone, with ashlar chamfered plinth, quoins, deep-eaved roof and moulded sill course. Sill course runs under paired E lancets, steps up before NE corner and at higher level under N long lancet and is carried around W side as hoodmould over pointed ashlar door to left, and under single lancet to right.  

Plastered walls, ashlar pointed reveals to openings. Nave has broad scissor-rafter roof. Ashlar W tower arch, double-chamfered pointed arch dying into jambs. Tower has high ceiling, walls stepped in at about 3m height. Nave has later C19 band of mosaic each side above pews, vine trail. Ashlar chancel arch of two orders, the inner one carried on corbelled wall shafts. Fine later C19 chancel detail including low red marble wall and chancel step with very ornate wrought iron and bass screen by Skidmore (see below). Boarded panelled chancel roof with moulded ribs and bosses, 7-sided, with moulded brattiched wallplate. Pointed arch to N organ-chamber dying into jambs. Fine mosaic chancel floor in blue, red, white and yellow with IHS motif in centre. Marble step to sanctuary. Fine mosaic floor with two mosaic round panels each with 5 roundels (Evangelist symbols, pelican and doves). Green marble altar step. E end wall has exceptional alabaster reredos and flanking wall-cladding. Two-bay sides have pointed arches with marble shafts and brattished cornice. Triple gabled reredos has gables on short columns, over cusped pointed sculpture niches. Centre gable has crockets and finial. Three carved alabaster scenes in niches: Entombment, Deposition, and Resurrection. Ashlar triple lancets to E window in splayed pointed reveal with moulded arch dying into jambs. Alabaster cusped pointed recess on N wall with hoodmould and red marble shelves. Organ chamber is lined in red brick banded in black, with scissor-rafter roof. Fittings: Medieval round stone font, tapered in below to round shaft. Medieval stoup in porch, with incised bands. Oak later C19 nave pews with shaped bench ends and fielded-panelled backs. Two earlier C19 painted boards with 10 Commandments. Late C19 fittings include fine brass pelican lectern on twisted stem with polished semiprecious stones. Alabaster pulpit with 3 red marble steps up, curved base and curved front with leaf bosses in upper and lower cornices, and niche with carved Good Shepherd. Exceptional wrought-iron and brass chancel screen by Skidmore of Coventry, of three bays each side of centre. Centre is gabled with scrollwork, scrolled crockets, and supports a large, ornate brass cross inset with large semiprecious stones. Scrolled double gates and lower panels to side bays, which have thin shafts and scrolled pointed heads, and scrolled top rail with cresting and finials. Oak chancel stalls with pierced Gothic arcaded fronts, inscribed 'And our mouths shall show forth thy praise', scrolled tops to bench ends and carvings of musical instruments, and band of foiled circles. N stalls have wrought-iron screen by Skidmore behind. Two hanging chancel lamps, and 2 wall lamps. Altar rails with twisted standards and scrolls. Inscribed stones: On tower E wall, (formerly built into wall of the Watkins mausoleum) an important incised stone (possibly a cross shaft), C10-11, of some 7 to 8 feet (2 to 2.5 metres) with Latin cross with knotted ends, and plaitwork in each corner, over a crude relief figure holding ?club and dagger, with knotwork in surround. Rope-mould panel below with inscription ? '+ BRIAMAIL FLOU' and panel of plaitwork below. (Another stone, inscribed Catuc, was found built face-inwards to tower arch, but had been lost by the 1870s). Memorials: Eleven incised floor slabs reset against tower walls: C17 and C18, including on N one of 1601, one to Abigail Davies died 1769, by Games, one to William Prytherch died 1776. One on S to Margaret Jones of Loeger, died 1795, painted classical low relief decoration, by Samuel Williams of Builth. Nave N memorial of 1793 to William Prytherch of Llandefaelog House, died 1776, with Adam-style urns, in grey and white marble. Marble plaque to Penoyre Watkins 1721-92 erected 1819 by his son the Rev. Thomas Watkins of Penoyre, commemorating also his two children Pen'aur and Julia, who died young 1812 and 1818. Stained Glass: E three-light 1857 by Thomas Ward with seven scenes from life of Christ, on blue grounds. Nave has four 2-light windows with patterned quarries of c. 1857. Tower W window has 2-light of angels, in style of Kempe, death-date 1902. Late C19 patterned glass in porch. Organ: Removed from St Mary's Brecon c. 1890. Bells: Two C15 from Gloucester, two of 1715 from Brecon, one recast in 1981, and two of 1889.  

Graded II* as a church of more than special interest with medieval W tower and fine late C19 chancel fittings of definite quality.