History
The nave and chancel of the church of St. Michael in Myddfai were erected at the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century. It were probably founded by the knightly family of the name Wroth, who in 1299 obtained the advowson. Around the 1500, the building was enlarged by a northern aisle, and in the seventeenth century by a porch. In the 19th century, during the renovation, the sacristy and the western bellcote were added.
Architecture
The medieval church consisted of a rectangular nave and a slightly narrower and lower, square chancel on the eastern side. On the north side, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, a rectangular northern aisle was added, which, interestingly, received its own presbytery or chapel from the east, with proportions similar to the southern one. The northern part of the aisle was opened by four pointed, moulded arcades, based on three octagonal pillars and two wall half-pillars. The whole church was distinguished by an extensive spatial program, for a village temple located away from large town centers. The entrance to it was located in a traditional place, in the western part of the southern wall, where it was preceded by a late-Gothic, vaulted porch.
Current state
The church has kept the layout obtained in the late Middle Ages, only slightly disturbed by the early modern sacristy from the north-west. The original medieval windows were made of red sandstone, which distinguishes them today from the modern ones, built of gray sandstone (Victorian windows in the southern and eastern walls). Inside the church, the original pillars and inter-nave arcades as well as the medieval roof truss (plastered timber barrel vaults) are remarkable.
bibliography:
Salter M., The old parish churches of South-West Wales, Malvern 2003.
The Royal Commission on The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire. An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, V County of Carmarthen, London 1917.
Wooding J., Yates N., A Guide to the churches and chapels of Wales, Cardiff 2011.
Website britishlistedbuildings.co.uk, Church of St Michael A Grade I Listed Building in Myddfai, Carmarthenshire.
Website coflein.gov.uk, St Michael’s church, Myddfai.