St Idloes, Llanidloes
St Idloes, Llanidloes
St Idloes is the Grade II* parish church of Llanidloes, standing at the north-west edge of the town above the River Severn. It is the only church dedicated to the seventh-century saint Idloes and belongs to the Diocese of Bangor and the Bro Arwystli Ministry Area.
- Location
- Llanidloes, Powys
- Country
- Wales
- County
- Powys
- City / town
- Llanidloes
- Address
- Church Place, Llanidloes, Powys, SY18 6AN
- Postcode
- SY18 6AN
- Built
- West tower late 1300s; nave rebuilt c.1542; restored 1880-82
- Architect
- G E Street (restoration 1880-82)
- Denomination
- Church in Wales
- Dedication
- Idloes
- Diocese
- Bangor
- Parish
- Llanidloes
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Perpendicular, with Early English arcade from Abbey Cwmhir
- Materials
- Rubble masonry with freestone dressings; slate roofs
- Grid reference
- SN 953 846
- Opening hours
- Open 10.30am to 3.30pm.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Cadw records a sixteenth-century Perpendicular church with an earlier tower, incorporating early thirteenth-century material from Abbey Cwmhir, and restored in the nineteenth century. The late-1300s west tower is the oldest fabric original to the site. After the suppression of Abbey Cwmhir in 1537, St Idloes was substantially rebuilt around 1542 to take a five-bay arcade removed from the abbey. A hammerbeam roof, decorated with carved angels holding shields of the Instruments of the Passion, used timber felled in 1539; Cadw calls it the last roof of its kind built in Wales. The pyramidal belfry was added to the tower in 1593-94.
The south wall was rebuilt in 1816. G. E. Street enlarged the chancel and restored the church in 1880-82. The interior is undivided from west to east under the spectacular 19-bay hammerbeam roof. The Abbey Cwmhir arcade shows West Country mason-craft comparable with Wells and Glastonbury. Stained glass includes Clayton and Bell's 1886 east window of Christ in Majesty and Geoffrey Webb's 1932 north-aisle figures of Welsh saints, among them St Idloes at his well.