This building is no longer in regular use for worship and is owned and maintained by the Friends of Friendless Churches. You will find more information about the building on their website and many internal photographs. Sadly we were not organised enough to arrange entry, so had to content ourselves with exterior views and having discovered since what is contained within regret not seeking the key.
This simple medieval church was rebuilt in 1875-6 by the architect John Dando Sedding who carefully reused some of the original fabric.
The chancel roof and much of the window tracery are medieval, whilst the 15th century chancel screen and Norman font are survivors from the earlier building.
The north chancel window contains fragments of medieval glass whilst some monuments and floor slabs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were also incorporated into the rebuilding. In the churchyard is a late medieval cross to which Sedding added a new top.
In 1885 the Vicar’s wife, Rosamund Lindsay died. Her husband - who had instigated the rebuilding of the church ten years earlier - decided to decorate the interior in her memory. The artist chosen, Heywood Sumner, came from an ecclesiastical family. His father was Bishop of Winchester and his mother the founder of The Mother’s Union. At Llanfair Kilgeddin he introduced graffito panels to enhance the interior, taking The Benedicite as his theme. True to medieval tradition, Sumner included local features in his designs - for example in ‘O Ye Mountains and Hills’ on the north wall of the nave the nearby River Usk, the Sugar Loaf and Llanvihangel Gobion church tower are all included.
By the 1980’s the Parochial Church Council had received several architects reports that made the future of the building look bleak and the church was declared redundant. In order to save this remarkable - and much loved - church, the Friends of Friendless Churches took it on with the offer of an 100% grant from Cadw towards the essential repairs.
Digital photographs
Visitors to this album since June 2003
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