History
The church at St Athanwas built in the 13th century, probably on the site of an early medieval church from the 6th century. It may have been founded by Philip de Nerber of Castleton, whose body was interred in the church after his death. Significant expansions and alterations were made to the building in the 14th century (transept) and in the 15th century (porch and upper part of the tower). In 1888, a thorough renovation was carried out, which unfortunately led to the destruction of the medieval wall paintings.
Architecture
By the 14th century, the church had adopted a Latin cross plan, in the style of English Decorated Gothic. It consisted of a rectangular, elongated nave, southern and northern transepts, a rectangular chancel on the eastern side, and a quadrangular tower placed at the crossing, culminating from the 15th century in a high battlemented parapet, typical of Wales. The latter had primarily representative and symbolic significance, not defensive, as at the time of the reconstruction, the Welsh territories were not disturbed by warfare. Furthermore, the southern entrance to the nave was preceded by a small porch in the late Middle Ages.
The medieval evolution of the building was particularly evident in the shape of the windows. The original windows were small, narrow lancet-shaped openings, typical of the Early Gothic period, replaced by larger, pointed windows in the 14th century. Since than, windows were filled with elaborate tracery, especially in the eastern and western façades, where it were additionally framed by decorative hood moulds set on consoles shaped like human heads. Large windows also illuminated the transept, where were filled with tracery featuring primarily ogree arch motifs from the 15th or early 16th century.
The church was entered through two portals located in the nave. The western portal, on the façade axis, had a double chamfer separated by a groove, running continuously from the archivolt to the very bottom. Like Gothic windows, it was topped with a mould hood on two consoles, matching the pointed arch of the archivolt. The portal in the western part of the southern wall of the nave was formed by three orders constructed of massive blocks, with the inner archivolt set on the sides of the central order. Although relatively simple at first glance, the portal acquired a sophisticated form, thanks to the varying steepness of chamfering of the individual orders. The porch in front of the portal was accessed by a relatively simple entrance with a moulded surround and an arch formed of flat voussoirs.
Inside the church, the ground floor of the tower opened to the east and west with unmoulded arcades with slightly flattened pointed archivolts. No part of the building was vaulted; only wagon roofs and open roof trusses were used. In the late Middle Ages, the interior of the nave was divided by a rood screen, defining the western section accessible to the congregation and the eastern section for the clergy. The upper loft of Welsh rood screens were most often accessed by stairs in the thickness of the north wall, but at St. Athan, access was via the tower and the northern section of the east wall of the nave.
Current state
The church has preserved to this day architectural elements from many periods. The oldest, thirteenth-century, although renovated in the early modern period, are the windows in the southern wall of the chancel. The western nave window, the eastern window of the chancel and the piscina inside the transept date from the mid-fourteenth century. Worth seeing are the magnificent 14th-century effigies of Sir William Berkerolles and his wife Phelice de Vere and Sir Roger Berkerolles and his wife Catherine Turberville de Coity. The 15th-century wooden roof truss in the nave also has survived, while the north and south windows of the nave, the west window of the south transept, all the windows of the north transept and the north windows of the chancel are the result of 19th-century intervention by Victorian builders.
bibliography:
Newman J., The buildings of Wales, Glamorgan, London 1995.
Salter M., The old parish churches of Gwent, Glamorgan & Gower, Malvern 2002.
Wooding J., Yates N., A Guide to the churches and chapels of Wales, Cardiff 2011.