The Church of St Issui, Partrishow, Powys, Wales, is a parish church dating from 1060. The existing building was mainly constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries and was sensitively restored in 1908–1909. The church is most famous for its rood screen which dates from 1500. It is a Grade I listed building.

History

Issui was an early Welsh saint who lived by the well next to the site of the church. Following his murder, the well became a place of pilgrimage and the church was founded with the offerings of pilgrims in 1060. Gerald of Wales is reputed to have preached at the church in 1188 while on his tour of Wales. The church was undamaged during the Reformation, the dual

altars An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganism ...

being spared by the order of Edward VI in 1550. The church similarly escaped any large-scale Victorian reconstruction and was carefully restored by W. D. Caröe in 1908–1909. The church remains an active church in the parish of the Vale of Grwyne.

Architecture and description

The rood screen at Partrishow-Patricio - geograph

The church comprises a nave,

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and porch with a separate shrine-chapel to the West. The walls are of

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

and the roofs of slate. The style throughout is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. The wall to the right of the porch has a rare stone bench facing the preaching cross in the churchyard. The

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

holds two bells and is a stone replacement by Caröe for the timber original. The nave has a roof of the 16th century. It is windowless to the North, with windows of a Tudor date inserted in the South wall. The wagon roof of the chancel is a replacement by Caröe. The rood screen is the highlight of the interior. In the Powys volume of ''The Buildings of Wales'' series, the architectural historians Richard Scourfield and Robert Haslam record a description of it as, "the most perfect and elegant now standing in the kingdom". It dates from 1500 and was sensitively restored by Caröe. It stretches the entire nave, and has a frieze of dragons or wyverns expectorating vines. The writer

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

describes it as "exquisitely wrought". In addition to the rood screen, the church has a significant collection of wall paintings. They comprise four groups: a Stuart Coat of Arms which the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales considers are those of James I; two groups of Biblical texts, including the Lord's Prayer, the Decalogue and the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century Ga ...

; and a "Doom Figure" of Death as a skeleton with an

hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

in his left hand and a knife in his right, which dates from the 17th century. The church is a Grade I listed building. A number of structures in the vicinity of the church have their own Grade II listings including St Issui's Well, the churchyard cross, the former stable, and the lych gate.

Notes

References

* * {{Church in Wales template Partrishow Partrishow History of Powys Partrishow