Church of St Padarn, Llanbadarn Fawr, Powys

History

An early medieval church said to have been visited by Giraldus Cambrensis in 1176. The church was completely rebuilt in 1878-9 by Stephen Williams, architect of Rhayader. Little was retained of the earlier church, except for 2 Norman corbels and the nationally important S doorway, an outlying example of the work of the Herefordshire school of carvers.

Exterior

A simple Gothic style church comprising nave with lower chancel and S porch-tower, of snecked rock-faced stone with lighter freestone dressings, and slate roofs behind coped gables on moulded kneelers. The 3-stage porch-tower has angle buttresses in the lower stage and a NW polygonal turret under a pyramidal stone roof. The pointed S doorway has continuous mouldings and a gabled hood, with double boarded doors. In the middle stage are a pair of hooded S windows. A string course is below the taller upper stage, in which windows are recessed between pilaster strips and beneath an arcaded frieze. Paired bell openings have louvres and are beneath a single pointed arch with string course at impost level. A freestone cornice, incorporating a billet frieze, is below a swept pyramidal slate roof with apex weathervane.

The nave has angle buttresses. To the R of the tower the nave has a single light below the eaves and 2 pairs of pointed lights further R. The chancel has 2 pairs of similar windows. In the E wall are 3 stepped narrow, pointed windows, a circular light in the gable, and a battered plinth. On the N side is a pointed window, and an outshut vestry, which has a pointed E doorway with boarded door, shouldered N window and pointed W window. The nave has 3 pairs of N windows similar to the S. A second vestry at the W end of the N wall, added in 1905, has a pointed, boarded E door, shouldered N window above a ramp to the basement boiler room, and a pair of pointed W windows. The W wall of the nave has 3 stepped pointed windows under a linked hood mould, which continues as a stepped string course.

Interior

The early-mid C12 S doorway is the exceptionally interesting feature of the church. It has a single order of nook shafts with cushion capitals. The L capital has male and female figures (possibly Adam and Eve and the woman with a long pony tail), with a head carved between them (possibly the head of the serpent). The R-hand capital depicts a dragon turning to devour a bird while its head is bitten by what is probably a dog. The abacus on the R side has a weathered chip-carved pattern above a row of balls, and on the L side a dragon with an interlacing body. The tympanum is supported on corbels, of which the L-hand is weathered but the R-hand retains a male head with pencil moustache and goatee beard. The tympanum has a lintel scored with a Tau-pattern frieze. The tympanum itself does not quite fit the space laterally, and is truncated vertically. (Originally the tympanum may have consisted of 2 stones, as at Kilpeck in Herefordshire and Pauntley in Gloucestershire.) The tympanum depicts a tree sprouting from the head of a cat. To the R is a lion and to the L an unidentifiable quadruped, both of which have tails through their hind legs that end in trefoils. To the L of the cat's head is a disc with an 8-pronged star pattern, probably representing the sun. The arch has 2 orders of zig-zag and a C19 hood mould.

Set high in the E wall of the porch are 2 Norman corbels, probably from a corbel table, comprising a double-headed Janus and a Sheila-na-gig. In the W wall of the porch is a small stone with the Roman inscription 'VAL FLAVINI'. It is said to have been found in the dismantled masonry of the previous church and may have been salvaged from nearby Castell Collen Roman fort.

The main interior is ashlar-faced, with a sill band in the W wall. The inner side of the S doorway has a continuous roll moulding. To its R is a shouldered lintel to a recessed boarded door to the turret. The nave has a 7-bay arched-brace roof on corbels, and windbraces. The 2-centred chancel arch has polygonal responds, hood mould and head stops. In the chancel is a boarded canted ceiling. A pointed N vestry doorway has 2 orders of chamfer and half-round responds.

There are 2 fonts. A plain octagonal C15 bowl is mounted on reconstructed masonry, and has a wooden cover inscribed 'IDV 1679'. The C19 octagonal font has a shaped bowl and stem. Pews have shaped ends, and the polygonal wooden pulpit has Gothic arched panels. The wooden communion rail is on scrolled iron uprights.

There are several wall tablets. In the nave N wall, beginning at the W end, is a polished stone tablet commemorating 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars. A tablet to David Williams (d 1793) comprises an inscription panel with apron, surmounted by an urn. A monument to Evan Williams Davies (d 1838) has a panel flanked by inverted torches, surmounted by a broken Ionic column and weeping willow. A monument to Evan Davies (d 1834) has an inscription panel with pilasters, entablature, and surmounted by a draped urn. In the chancel S wall is a monument to John Price (d 1798) by TB of Newbridge. It has an inscription panel with apron, fluted pilasters, entablature and swept pediment. A monument to James Jones (d 1733) is by Davies of Builth, an armorial tablet with inscription in a roundel. The chancel has 4 brass plaques to the Chesment Severn family (died in the period 1873-1907), all signed by Frank Smith & Co of London. Another (unsigned) plaque commemorates the rebuilding of the church in 1879.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* as a C19 rural parish church of national architectural interest for the retention from the earlier church of a C12 S doorway, an ambitious and extremely rare work of Romanesque carving in Wales.

External Links

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