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St Teilo's Church, Brechfa

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NPRN310022
Map ReferenceSN53SW
Grid ReferenceSN5246330245
Unitary (Local) AuthorityCarmarthenshire
Old CountyCarmarthenshire
CommunityLlanegwad
Type Of SiteCHURCH
PeriodPost Medieval
Description
St Teilo's Church is situated within the north-east angle of a crossroads. It is thought that the church may be referred to in the eighth century Lichfield Gospels. During the medieval period the church was a chapelry, belonging to the Deanery of Stradtowy. By 1324 the church was a grange chapel of Talley Abbey. After the dissolution the patronage fell to the Crown. By 1833 brechfa was a parish, and the living was in the alternate patronage of George Morgan Esq. and Mrs Elizabeth Hughes. The church was rebuilt in 1893, to the north-east of its predecessor, and the churchyard appears to have been extended to the north-east to accomodate the new building.

The earlier church is described as a long, low, single-celled building, with a single western bellcote and simple, early-mid-nineteenth-century, two-centred windows with timber frames. In 1833 dimensions were given as 45ft x 16ft. An organ was installed in 1796, and part of the ceiling was raised in order to accomodate it. The church was repaired in 1848-1851, when the bellcote was rebuilt and the roof reslated. The former church was not demolished until 1907, when its materials were used to construct a church hall. The site is no longer visible above ground, but reportedly survives as below-ground walling and is cut by later burials.

The present church was constructed in 1893, to the designs of E.H. Lingen Barker, Hereford. It consists of three-bayed chancel, two-bayed nave, north porch and vestry (south of the chancel east bay). Its plain font bowl is medieval, but sits ona stem and base dating to 1893. The bell was also taken from the old church, but a further two bells were added before 1918.

Sources include:
Cambria Archaeology, 2000, Carmarthenshire Churches, gazetteer, 48

N Vousden, RCAHMW, 10 June 2013