The parish church is dedicated to St James. It was extensively renovated in 1777 and again in Victorian times. A notable feature of its churchyard is the "pulpit in a tree" built into an ancient yew, which traditionally was once used by John Wesley. A memorial to the fallen of the two World Wars sits at the centre of the village.

There are now no shops remaining in Nantglyn. But previously there was a blacksmith's forge, a post office, a pub and a leather-craft shop that also sold candles (located in the old smithy). There was also a local infant / junior school, but a decline in the number of pupils led to its closure in the 1990s. There were also several Nonconformist chapels in the village, including Capel-y-Waen (Waen Nantglyn is a secondary settlement about a mile northwest of the main village), Capel Soar and Capel Salem. One of the corn mills, Segrwyd Mill, served the neighbourhood farmers until 1960.

Nantglyn has had several notable residents over the centuries, including David Samwell (1751–98), the ship's surgeon aboard the Discovery during Captain Cook's final voyage of exploration. Samwell kept a journal that provides a detailed record of the voyage, and he witnessed Cook's death at the hands of hostile natives in Hawaii in 1779. Dr. William Owen Pughe (1759–1835), a well-known literary figure who compiled a Welsh-English dictionary and a Welsh grammar, among other works, lived in the village for the last 10 years of his life, although he was not born there. His son Aneurin Owen also lived here.

• Twm o'r Nant, composer, was born in Llannefydd but grew up in Nantglyn
• Robert Davies, poet and author
• Tom Pryce, Formula 1 racing driver, spent his youth in the village

• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Nantglyn and surrounding area