St Arvan's Church

Heritage listing

Reason for designation: Included for its architectural interest as a three period church with medieval chancel, west tower of 1820 and Victorian nave and restoration by J P Seddon in 1883. History: A medieval church of which only the chancel is fully medieval, the nave having been very heavily rebuilt in 1883 by J P Seddon, while the tower dates from 1820 and was paid for by Nathaniel Wells of Piercefield Park. The earliest feature is the Norman priest s door which could be C12, but it too has been restored. The parish of St Arvans was combined with those of Devauden, Itton, Penterry and Kilgwrrwg in 1981. Exterior: The church is constructed of local sandstone apart from the openings of the 1883 structure and the tower windows which are of Bath limestone; it has Welsh slate roofs, those on the tower roof are thicker. It has a nave with north and south aisles, separate chancel, octagonal west tower, south porch, vestry on the chancel north wall and a sexton s store in the angle between the tower and the south aisle. The nave walls are almost entirely covered by the aisles, the chancel and the tower, only a small section of the east and west gables can be seen. Steeply pitched roofs with coped gables, east gable cross. The north and south aisles are identical except for the projecting south porch which takes the place of the left hand window. This has a 3-centred arch and a steeply pitched gable with a cross. Low wall with 2-light windows with trefoil heads, two on the south and three on the north. Three gabled dormers on each side, with timber fronts each with two trefoil headed lights and trefoil light over. Steeply pitched gable with bargeboards. The end walls of the aisles have unusual stepped triple light windows with trefoil heads. The chancel south wall has the pri

From Cadw under OGL v3.