17207

 

II  

Designated  

18/01/1996  

18/01/1996  

Church of St Meilig  

 

Powys  

Glasbury  

 

Llowes  

319248  

241728  

 

The church is set in an oval churchyard at the centre of the small village, standing back from the A.438 Brecon to Hereford road.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The dedication to Meilig indicates an early origin, perhaps a daughter of the clas establishment of Glasbury. Meilig, abbott and confessor, was the son of Caw of Pictland and brother to the monk Gildas. He was born on Clydeside c. 650 and is mentioned in the C10 Culhwch and Olwen story, and in the Book of Llan Daf, [Liber Llandavensis], compiled c.1120-40, and The present building retains some C13-C14 fabric in the tower, but was largely rebuilt by W.J. and A.H. Worthington of London in 1853-55 at the cost of £943. The Revd Francis Kilvert was a friend of Revd. Thomas 'Tom' Williams, vicar of Llowes, 1859-1914.  

Mixed local stones, prominently a calcareous shale, with Bath stone dressings. Slate roof between raised gables. Nave with S porch, chancel with a vestry on the N side, and a west tower. The S porch is in early Decorated style; moulded outer arch with hood mould and nook shafts. Low buttressed in line with the front, and moulded and gabled springers to the coped gables. Iron gates and quarry tiles floor, with side benches and open roof. Boarded inner door to nave with decorative hinges. Two light limestone plate tracery windows with varied pierced heads, and hood mouldings with carved terminals. Discontinuous string course under each window. Moulded stone eaves. The chancel has lancets with trefoiled heads and a priest's door with a moulded head, its hood mould having dropped ends. Cusped 4-light traceried E window. The tower is of 3 stages, the top stage rebuilt in the C19. Two phases of early slit windows, all now blocked, and C19 window on the W face between diagonal west corner buttresses. Two light bell openings, and moulded string at the base of the crenellated parapet.  

Nave of 4 bays with an impressive open roof on orch-braced collar beam trusses springing from wall corbels. Each bay is divided by similar secondary trusses on higher set corbels. Boarded over rafters and ashlars. Walls are plastered and whitewashed. Door to tower has a heavy dropped hood mould, with a window above, relict of the medieval form but provided with a C19 stone balustrade. Tall chancel arch on impost columns springing from corbels. Small E window above the chancel arch. Chancel is raised 2 steps. Open trussed rafter roof with scissor braces and a deep oak cornice pierced with trefoils. Floor paved with tiles. A further step up to the sanctuary. No piscina or aumbry. Narrow door with moulded 2-centred head leads to the vestry. Fittings: Pulpit, on S side, of limestone, octagonal, approached by 6 steps with carved oak handrail on twisted iron supports. Lectern freestanding. Font, by S door, also C19, octagonal bowl carved with ballflowers, fleurons and chequer panels, all raised on four clustered columns. The earlier, C13 font, a simple round bowl with a horizontal flat central cordon, now bound with iron, on a tapered base, was recovered and reset at the W end in 1955. Organ of 1880, restored by Henry James, London. At the W end, also reset in the church in 1956, an important C11 cross slab said originally to have stood at Croes feilig and set up in the churchyard in the C12. A bold wheel-cross on one face, enriched with lozenge panels, and a similar but plainer cross without the ring, on the rear face. Glass: Second window on N, 1942 in Victorian tradition, E window, after 1852, memorial to Henry Beavan, the family who brought the church restoration to fruition, also some modern glass. On S side, Christ with children, to William Elmslie, † c.1853 in China; Christ walking on waters, commemorating Captain R.Collinson's survival of the arctic expedition of the ship Enterprise. N side, memorial to Octavia Ramsey of Maesllwch Castle, †1850. Monuments: Various wall monuments, including many from the previous church, reset after the rebuilding. In chancel, limestone Gothic aedicule, c.1870 to Hugh Beavan of Brynrhydd House, †1837; (b) white marble sarcophagus relief on black ground, by I.E.Thomas of London, to John Pugh of Porthgoley, †1824; (c) draped casket over white marble tablet set against veined marble, also by I.E.Thomas, to Ann Pugh of Porthgoley, †1846; (d) Gothic surround to marble tablet to John Pugh of Gare (Gaer), †1788; (e) white marble on grey, to Ann Gunter and William of Abergavenny †1805 and 1808 (descendants of Sir Peter Gunter of Tregunter). On S side of chancel (f) tablet with carved ends on gabled black field, to Thomas Powell of Traveley, †1846, arms over; (g) white tablet on black field, to John Phillips of Brynrhydd and London, †1817. In nave, S side, (h) Gothic limestone aedicule to Capt Arthur Beavan †1842 in Hong Kong and family; On N side (i) round headed cusped stone surround to marble tablet, to Revd. John Williams, †1853. Great War tablet. Against W wall, a canvas Royal Arms of George III, and one donation board.  

Listed as a well considered early Victorian design, retaining its original fittings and glass.