History

Small Gothic church with C13 origins and later C14 remodelling by Sir Guy De Brian, the Lord marcher of Laugharne. Victorian restoration.

Exterior

Aisless nave with squat and tapering 2-stage W tower and lower and narrower chancel. Local red sandstone, rubble with quoins and dressed window surrounds. Slate roofs, that to the tower is pyramidal with swept out overhanging eaves, gable parapets and crucifix finial to nave E end. Lancet openings to bell stage (W and S sides) with modern louvring; segmental headed windows below. Stepped out stair vice to N side. The entrance is to S side through pointed arch chamfered doorway with weathered spur bases and boarded doors. To left is a Perp. 2 light square headed window set into a larger blocked opening (see voussoirs). To right is a 2-light Decorated window with Victorian tracery repeating the medieval design of the N side. 2-light chancel windows, square headed to N and pointed to E and S both with renewed tracery but retaining medieval rere arches.

Partly overgrown at the time of inspection (January 1988).

Interior

Plain whitewashed interior with open trusses. 4-bay nave with deep segmental headed window splays; the Perp one has window seat. Pointed arch into tower chamber with boarded door opening onto stone vice. The church formerly had a roof loft, (see corbels and opening above semicircular chancel arch). 3 bay chancel; Perp hoodmoulds to S side window; pointed arched recess and piscina beyond, the former was probably for a tomb and has carved head stops and foliated apex. On the N side is a later C14 recumbent effigy probably of Margaret Marlos - tightly folded clothes and a wimple; broken in 3 places as a reference to the legend that she was cut into 3 pieces by robbers - placed here in 1902. At the end of the nave is an Early Christian carved stone slab (formerly doorstep) with Ogham and Roman inscriptions; probably C5/C6. One mid C19 wall tablet by Mainwaring of Carmarthen and two C18 floor monuments.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• St Odoceus' Church, Llandawke at Wikipedia
• St Odoceus' Church, Llandawke official website
• Wikidata Q7594984

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)