St Cybi

The church is dedicated to one of the wandering Welsh missionary saints. It is tucked into the slope of the hill, so there are steps down from the main door to the nave. Inside, it is full of light, with a very wide chancel arch built to frame the rood screen. The screen has long gone, but you can see the stairs which led to it and the windows which would have illuminated the gallery. 

The church has some faded but fascinating medieval wall paintings. In the chancel is a ‘Sunday Christ’, the figure of Jesus surrounded by craft implements and symbols of entertainment, musical instruments, a crossbow, a hunting horn. The message is that using these on a Sunday recrucifies Christ. They seem to be linked to the local area: the hunting horn and musical instruments must be a warning to the lords and ladies of nearby Usk and Tregrug Castles. In the nave is the ‘Weighing of Souls’, the archangel Michael holding the scales of judgement and the Virgin Mary holding the balance down on the side of salvation. The other side probably had a demon struggling for possession of the souls, but it is overlaid by part of the Ten Commandments. These would have been painted after the Reformation, like the Apostles’ Creed on the facing wall.

The pulpit is wonderful, a massive 17th century structure with ornamental panels and a sounding board to amplify the preacher’s voice. Six feet above all contradiction, as a former rector said. The church seems to have lost its font in the civil war of the 17th century: the new font has a date of 1662 and the names of the churchwardens who installed it.

Walk down the lane towards the river and you will find St Cybi’s Well, a little stone structure over a spring. This has recently been restored by the local community.