The church of St Samlet is located on the west side of Church Road. It was built in 1878-9 to designs of local architect H.Francis Clarke of Briton Ferry (his major work), on the immediate north side of an earlier church. A tower by Glendinning Moxham of Swansea was added in 1914-15. The church is constructed of rock-faced Pennant sandstone with Bath stone dressings under slate roofs. It comprises five-bay clerestoried nave with lean-to porch in second bay, seven-bay lean-to aisle on north side, and chancel with south tower in four stages. The north view is one of enormous length, the aisle continuing unbroken to the east end. The interior is tall with plastered walls. Notable features are the high arch-braced scissor-trusses to the nave roof, the massive chancel arch with corbelled columns, huge naturalistic leaf capitals on short round piers, panelled diagonally-boarded chancel roof with transverse ribs on corbels, and the tiled floor to the sanctuary. Fittings include an immersion font with two flights of steps down, brass eagle lectern, and an oak traceried panelled pulpit of c.1930 on a nineteenth-century base with trilobe shaft. Memorial plaques from the mid-eighteenth century onwards were presumably salvaged from the earlier church.

Sources:
Extracts from Cadw Listing database.
J.Newman, Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan (1995), p.397.
Ordnance Survey County Series 25-inch maps: sheet Glamorgan XV.10, editions of 1879 & 1899.

David Leighton, RCAHMW, 7 May 2015