St James St Elidyr, Stackpole

The Church of Saints James and Elidyr (St Elidyr’s) is a Grade I Church in Wales parish church in the hamlet of Cheriton, about a kilometre north of Stackpole village, Pembrokeshire, in the Diocese of St Davids and the Monkton Rectorial Benefice.

Overview

Cadw lists the church as an important medieval church of regional type, restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott. It stands on a sloping site in a wooded valley. The plan is cruciform, with chancel, nave, north and south transepts, a slender fifteenth-century west tower of local type, a rib-vaulted south (Lort) chapel and an open south porch. Scott’s notebook recorded a twelfth-century or earlier chancel arch, removed without further record in 1851. The nave and porch were rebuilt then, and most of the remainder refaced, for John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor, at a cost of £1,804. New exterior masonry is snecked Cambrian sandstone imported from St Davids, with Carboniferous sandstone dressings; older limestone in large courses survives, notably on the west side of the north transept.

The church was the home church of the Cawdors of Stackpole Estate. Coflein notes mention by 1291, fourteenth-century transepts with barrel vaults, large squints to the chancel, and an early medieval inscribed stone in the porch. Monuments include a cross-legged knight traditionally associated with Sir Elidur de Stackpole, Jacobean monuments to the Lorts, and numerous Cawdor memorials. The south transept glass of 1862 depicts the first Earl as King Solomon. The church is open every day in daylight hours.

Further Information

• Cadw listed building 6020
• Wikipedia
• Coflein