History
Church of St. Michael was built as a parish building under the patronage of the monks of Talley Abbey. It was probably erected in the 12th century and in the 13th century it was enlarged with a chancel. In the 15th century the chancel was slightly widened and the nave was rebuilt. Then, at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, a new roof truss was built over the church. In the 17th century the building was enlarged with an early modern porch. The first Victorian renovations probably took place in 1869. The church was thoroughly renovated in 1887 and again in 1957.
Architecture
The church was situated on the edge of a hill, on a slope falling on the eastern side towards a valley with a stream flowing into the sea. It was built as a simple aisleless building, typical of a Welsh village from the 12th century, consisting only of a long, four-bay, rectangular nave, without an externally separated chancel and without a tower, only with a simple bellcote above the western gable. The chancel, added in the 13th century or possibly in the 14th century, was situated on the axis from the eastern side. It was shorter and lower, two-bay, ended on the eastern side with a straight wall. In the 15th century, after the northern and partly eastern walls were dismantled, it was widened to the north, so that the entire building lost symmetry.
The walls of the church were originally pierced with very simple slit windows, splayed to the interior, but letting in a small amount of sunlight. Two such openings were placed in the northern wall of the nave, while there could have been three more in the southern wall (two opposite the northern ones and one western one). The eastern wall before the chancel was added could have been distinguished by a slightly larger, although probably simple window. In the Gothic chancel, pointed windows were placed on the north and south, splayed towards the interior. The eastern window illuminating the altar must have been distinguished by its size. In the 15th or 16th century, late Gothic windows were inserted into the nave. A two-light quadrangular window with trefoils in pointed arches was placed in the eastern part of the northern wall. Presumably, a similar window or windows were also in the southern wall of the nave, which was significantly rebuilt at that time.
The entrance to the church led from the west, initially through a 12th century and then through an early Gothic portal, originally exposed to weather conditions, not covered by a vestibule. Inside, after the chancel was built, it was connected to the nave by an arcade with a pointed arch, without moulding, with archivolt supported on imposts. The interior of the nave and chancel was covered in the late Middle Ages with an open roof truss. The arch-collar beams and rafters of the truss were profiled in such a way that after joining, the openings between them formed the shapes of trefoils with two pointed petals and one more semicircular one.
Current state
The church has preserved the perimeter walls of the nave and chancel, dating from different periods of the Middle Ages. The porch added to the western façade is probably an early modern element, although stylistically not different from the medieval parts. Some of the windows have been transformed (eastern one in the chancel, southern ones in the nave), while some come from the medieval period (northern windows in the nave and chancel). The western portal and the bellcote are also medieval. Inside the nave and chancel, there is a preserved roof truss from the 15th century, one of only two surviving in the south-west of Wales (in the chancel it is currently hidden under the 19th century ceiling). Also worthy of note is the 12th/13th century font in the porch, moved to Penbryn from Cenarth, another 13th century, square font in the church, the piscina, the 13th century chancel arcade and the tomb niche.
bibliography:
Glynne S.R., Notes on the Older Churches in the Four Welsh Dioceses, „Archaeologia Cambrensis”, 2/1885.
Ludlow N., Ceredigion Churches, An Overview of the Churches in Ceredigion, Llandeilo 2000.
Ludlow N., Ceredigion Churches, Church Reports, Llandeilo 2000.
Salter M., The old parish churches of South-West Wales, Malvern 2003.
Wooding J., Yates N., A Guide to the churches and chapels of Wales, Cardiff 2011.