Priory Church of St Mary, Abergavenny

Coordinates: 51°49′17″N 3°00′55″W / 51.8214°N 3.0154°W / 51.8214; -3.0154
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Abergavenny Priory" redirects here. For the Priory electoral division of Abergavenny, see Priory (Abergavenny ward).

Priory Church of St Mary
Archdeacon of Monmouth
Laity
Director of musicTim Pratt
Organist(s)Judith Pendrous

The Priory Church of St Mary, Abergavenny is a parish church in the centre of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales.

St. Mary's has been called "the

Grade I listed building on 1 July 1952.[1]

History

The nave, looking east.

Although the Norman building was built around 1070, a previous

Samian ware pottery, and a church named "The church of the Holy Rood" is known to have existed in the town, but its exact location is not known.[2][3]

The current structure was originally the church of the

King John I of England in 1199. Successive Lords of Abergavenny were by necessity also benefactors, including William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber. In 1320 John Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, called on the Pope
to set up an investigation into the Priory, in which the monks were accused of failing to maintain the Benedictine Rule. The prior, Fulk Gaston, absconded to the mother Abbey with the church silver.

By the time of the

Tudor dynasty the priory was spared and became the parish church.[4]

Description

Abergavenny Church from the Priory Mead, October 1837 (watercolour)

The church is cruciform in layout and impressively large with a chancel and nave 172 feet (52 m) in length. The central tower has ten bells.

The church is mainly in the

Baptist minister, John Abbot, on the grounds that he did not believe in infant baptism.[citation needed
]

The

choir stalls with carved misericords and carved lattice work backs, however, are 15th-century survivals. They bear the name of the prior at that time Wynchestre and his own stall remains, slightly raised and surmounted by a mitre
.

Effigies

The church has a notable collection of memorial

chainmail
.

Lewis Chapel or Joseph Chapel

The chapel is named after

Blessed Virgin Mary, by Bishop Richard Pain
in November 2017.

Herbert or Benedict Chapel

Tombs with effigies in the Herbert Chapel

The Herbert Chapel contains recumbent monuments and effigies, in both alabaster and marble, associated with the ap Thomas and Herbert families. These include

Battle of Edgecote in 1469 and William's illegitimate son Richard Herbert of Ewyas. The latter was brought up with Pembroke's ward Henry Tudor, later Henry VII, and fought on his side at Bosworth in 1485.[6]

Within the chapel are also monumental brasses dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 2018 the chapel was dedicated to St Benedict whose rule the Priory monks followed.

Burials in the Priory

The Jesse

The Jesse is an elaborate, very large, 15th-century wooden carving which would have once been part of an even larger carving forming a

Charles, Prince of Wales, on 7 July 2016.[12]
The Jesse effigy was placed on a newly designed plinth in position below the Jesse Window in 2017.

Organ

Around 1830 a secondhand organ, built by John Byfield in 1760 for the

National Pipe Organ Register.[16]
It was moved from its original position in the north aisle to the north chancel around 1910.

The organ was rebuilt again in 1981 by E. A. Cawston but in 1998 the floor of the church beneath it subsided, and was dismantled and removed. The full cost of restoration initially prevented its return, but unfortunately the building in which it was stored leaked, and all the wooden elements (Casework, console, wind-chests and wooden pipes rotted and had to be destroyed. As a result, the cost of replacing it became prohibitive and the decision was taken to install a 2-manual Viscount digital organ, subsequently replaced by a three manual instrument that remains in use to the present day.

A small 5 stop, one manual chamber pipe organ, originally from

St Nicholas' Church, Durham
has been in use for small-scale services since 2015. One rank of pipes from the old organ (4' Gemshorn) has been incorporated into this instrument.

Organists

Bells

When the parishioners took ownership of the church around 1536–39, they bought the existing four bells, weighing a total of 45.5 long hundredweight (2,310 kg). Three bells were re-cast in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The tenor in 1603 and the 3rd in 1666, by Purdues of Bristol, and the treble in 1706 by Abraham Rudall. The bells were augmented to five in 1835 and then to six in 1845 by Jeffries & Price of Bristol.

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, the bells were rehung and augmented to eight by Llewellins & James of Bristol.[22] The tenor of 19 long hundredweight (970 kg) was recast by Llewellins & James in 1893.

All the bells were recast in 1947 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough and the ring augmented to 10 bells.[23] The new tenor now weighs 25 long hundredweight (1,300 kg).

The Church today

The restored

Charles, Prince of Wales on 23 October 2008 and houses the large 24 feet (7.3 m) tapestry depicting the history of Abergavenny and embroidered by volunteers to mark the 2000 Millennium
. It is now the Priory's Heritage Centre and offers interpretative information open to the public and visitors.

After 18 years as vicar

Feast of the Epiphany
2012. Fr Mark was made Prior in September 2014 and installed as a Canon of Newport Cathedral in November 2014.Fr Mark left the Priory in March 2020.

After a nearly five hundred-year gap a new Monastic Community – the Holywell Community – was established on 2 September 2014.[24]

Gallery

  • The tower
    The tower
  • West front
    West front
  • From the North
    From the North
  • Tower detail
    Tower detail

References

  1. National Historic Assets of Wales
    . Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ^ Gray, Madeleine (2008). The pre-Reformation Church in Wales. p. 339.
  3. ^ Silk, Huw (15 May 2015). "New book sheds light on the history of Abergavenny's 'Westminster Abbey of Wales'". Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  4. ISBN 9781445626178
    .
  5. ^ a b "Historic Monuments". St Mary's Priory. Abergavenny. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  6. ^ "St Mary's Priory". St Mary's. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  7. ^ Adams, Muriel (19 January 2015). "The Tree of Jesse". History Today. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Plans for memorial window take step forward". Abergavenny Chronicle. 5 April 2013.
  9. ^ "The Jesse Window explained". St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  10. ^ Crampin, Martin (23 June 2016). "The Jesse Window explained". Stained glass from Welsh churches. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  11. ^ "St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny". Stmarysprioryabergavenny.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  12. ^ "The Jesse Window is dedicated in the presence of the Prince of Wales". St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  13. ISBN 9780838718940
    . Retrieved 3 June 2017 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "Re-opening of the organ at St Mary's Abergavenny". Western Mail. England. 22 February 1884. Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Abergavenny. Reopening of the organ". South Wales Daily News. Wales. 22 February 1884. Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. National Pipe Organ Register. British Institute of Organ Studies
    . Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Abergavenny". Monmouthshire Merlin. Wales. 10 July 1830. Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ISBN 9780720123302
    .
  19. ^ "Abergavenny. Appointment of Organist". Monmouthshire Beacon. Wales. 24 January 1857. Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ^ "The Proposed Testimonial to Mr. Howells". Abergavenny Chronicle. Wales. 7 September 1883. Retrieved 2 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ^ "Success of a Lichfield Organist". Lichfield Mercury. England. 23 November 1883. Retrieved 29 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ "Abergavenny. St Mary's Church". South Wales Daily News. Wales. 11 April 1887. Retrieved 30 May 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. ^ "Abergavenny, Monmths, S Mary". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Dovemaster. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  24. ^ "ST MARY'S PARISH CHURCH HOLYWELL COMMUNITY: St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny". Stmarys-priory.org. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2016.

Further reading

External links

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