13163

 

II  

Designated  

22/02/1963  

26/10/1995  

Parish Church of St Tydfil  

 

Vale of Glamorgan  

Llandow  

 

LLysworney  

296185  

174102  

 

Located at the centre of the village of Llysworney, immediately to the W of the village pond.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

C12 origins, thought to be a chapel of ease of Llantwit Major at the end of the C12. The nave and the tower probably date from the C15. The church was heavily restored between 1893 and 1894 by the diocesan architect F.R. Kempson when the roof of the nave, chancel and sanctuary were replaced, along with all of the fenestration, the pews, the pulpit and the floors. A modern vestry has been erected on the N side of the chancel.  

The church consists of chancel, central tower, nave, S porch and vestry. Constructed of limestone rubble with Welsh slate roofs. The windows are all C19 replacements with sandstone dressings. The E end of the chancel is lit by a three-light window with trefoil heads, which steps up at the centre, beneath a hoodmould. The S elevation of the chancel is lit by a single lancet with trefoil head. The central tower is broad with a corbel table above. The tower has paired belfry louvres to N and S with narrow slot openings beneath. On south side is an inset stone with chevron, nail head, birds and arabesque detailing. Gabled porch with round-headed outer doorway, flanking stone benches and modern timber collar roof. The W end of the nave is lit by stained glass, round-headed windows. The central tower has a narrow staircase tower with a conical stone slab roof on the E side with two staggered square-headed stairlights with single boarded door beneath. The stair tower has a tall stone chimney. The N face of the vestry has a boarded priests door with single, square-headed light under a square label to the right hand side. The E face of the vestry has a two-light window under a square label.  

The plan of the church is notable for its crossing tower. The chancel and sanctuary arches are not in alignment; the tower/chancel arch is an obtuse, two-centred arch without mouldings, possibly of C12 origin and the chancel/sanctuary arch is a narrower, more pointed two-centred arch, similarly unadorned; squint to E wall. E end has piscina with Romanesque cushion capital embedded in a recess in the S wall. The roof of the sanctuary and nave is of C19 collar-purlin type, carried on massive stone corbels. The chancel roof is flat and boarded. C19 choir stalls and pulpit. The N wall of the nave has a number of memorials to members of the Carne family. The easternmost one is to Sarah Jane who died in 1861, wife of R.C Nicholl Carne of Nash Manor, who donated the Village School to the W of the church, and the central memorial is to John Carne, Lord of the Manor, who died in1762. The Norman font is located by the S door on a square base with broach stops.