Church Of St Thomas The Martyr, Monmouth
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Overmonnow Overmonnow is a suburb of the town of Monmouth, in Wales, which is located to the west of the River Monnow and the Monnow Bridge. It developed in the Middle Ages, when it was protected by a defensive ditch, the '' Clawdd-du'' or "Black Dyke", the ...
,
Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...
, south east
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, is located beside the medieval
Monnow Bridge Monnow Bridge ( ), in Monmouth, Wales, is the only remaining medieval fortification, fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge. Such bridge towers were common across Europe from Middle Ages, medieval t ...
across the
River Monnow The River Monnow () marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of Monmouth. The ...
. At least part of the building dates from around 1180, and it has a fine 12th-century
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
arch, though the exterior was largely rebuilt in the early 19th century. It is one of 24 buildings on the
Monmouth Heritage Trail The Monmouth Heritage Trail is a walking route which connects various sights in the town of Monmouth, Wales. History In 2009 Monmouth Civic Society identified 24 historic and interesting buildings in the town, and organised the production and fix ...
and is a
Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


History and architecture

The building is constructed of
Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...
. Dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, it became a
chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
to St Mary's Priory Church as it did not have its own
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
. It is listed in a papal edict by
Pope Urban III Pope Urban III (; died 20 October 1187), born Uberto Crivelli, reigned from 25 November 1185 to his death in 1187. Early career Crivelli was born in Cuggiono, Italy as the son of Guala Crivelli and had four brothers: Pietro, Domenico, Pastor ...
in 1186. It is thought to have existed in 1170 although
Charles Heath Charles Theodosius Heath (1 March 1785 – 18 November 1848) was a British Engraving, engraver, currency and stamp printer, book publisher and illustrator. Life and career He was the illegitimate son of James Heath (engraver), James Heath, a su ...
in 1800 reported evidence of earlier
Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
design in the shape of the architecture. Both St Thomas' and the nearby
Monnow Bridge Monnow Bridge ( ), in Monmouth, Wales, is the only remaining medieval fortification, fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge. Such bridge towers were common across Europe from Middle Ages, medieval t ...
were damaged by fire in the
Battle of Monmouth The Battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near the Village of Monmouth Court House, New Jersey, Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey and Manalapan, New Jersey, Manalapan, on J ...
in 1233, part of the series of uprisings against Henry III by his
baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
s. This required the church to be repaired using over a dozen oaks supplied by the Constable of
St Briavels St Briavels (pronounced ''Brevels'', once known as 'Ledenia Parva' (Little Lydney)), is a medium-sized village and civil parish in the Royal Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England; close to the England-Wales border, and south of Colefo ...
in Gloucestershire. The wood was delivered by royal command from the
Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...
the following year. In the year 1256
anchorites In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress); () is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Anchorites are frequ ...
were living in St Thomas's.Monmouth Civic Society, ''Guide to the Monmouth Heritage Blue Plaque Trail'', n.d., p.3 John Gilbert,
Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...
found a leaking
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
roof that was being ignored by the parish in 1397. In 1610 the church was still small with a tower.
John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.; superseding . The son of a citizen and Merchant Taylor in London,"Life of John Speed", ''The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compe ...
's map of Monmouth, 1610
It appears to have been badly neglected by the early 19th century; in 1829, Bishop Huntingford's inspection referred to it as "this
dilapidated Dilapidation is a term meaning a destructive event to a building, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for # the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living # the disrepair for which a leasehold estate, tenan ...
and forsaken church". His inspection also records the disproportionately small
turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
placed above the west gable when, in 1830, St Thomas's ceased to be a chapel of rest and it was given its own
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
distinct from St Mary's. A major restoration and extension of the church was completed by the London architect
Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects for 1870–1873 and being awarded its Royal Gold Me ...
, who added
box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...
s with raised galleries. The oak galleries, on both sides above the
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, are still present today. The vestries were constructed in 1887–8. The dog's tooth Norman
chancel arch 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 ...
is still untouched and the
piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...
in the south wall, and two doorways on the opposite wall also appear to be original. The church has two fonts. That on the south wall has a pillar base with scrollwork and a bowl with images of the faces of a man and a woman, pelicans and a serpent in a
Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...
theme. Scholarship as to its date has developed. Until the late 20th century, it was generally considered to be an unusually well preserved example of a 12th-century font. John Guy and Ewart Smith, in their 1979 study, ''Ancient Gwent Churches'', describe it as "very ancient". This dating echoes E. T. Davies, who suggests, in his 1977 booklet, ''The Ancient Churches of Gwent'', that the styling of the pillar indicates that the font "goes back to the end of the eleventh century". The church itself labels the font as "early". However, Davies noted that the pillar and bowl may be of different periods and suggested that "expert examination may modify this conclusion". John Newman, in his 2000 Pevsner ''Gwent/Monmouthshire'', does just that, recording the wooden conical cover as "clearly of the 1830s" and the font as "a pastiche of the same date".
Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...
follows Newman, describing the font as having a "19th century interlace stem and charming, possibly recut, Romanesque bowl". A second plain font may date from the 15th century. Further work by the Welsh architect
John Prichard John Prichard (6 May 1817 – 13 October 1886) was a Welsh architect in the neo-Gothic style. As diocesan architect of Llandaff, he was involved in the building or restoration of many churches in south Wales. Personal history John Prichard ...
was completed in 1875. The west turret was replaced by a bell arch. The east window dates from 1957, and the church was last restored in 1989–91. On the east side beside the road there is a garden of rest with a
calvary cross A calvary is a type of monumental public Christian cross, sometimes encased in an open shrine. Usually a calvary has three crosses, that of Jesus Christ and those of impenitent thief and penitent thief. History ''Calvaires'' in France The o ...
. The church sits on land between the road and the
river Monnow The River Monnow () marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of Monmouth. The ...
and a contemporary ceramic mosaic has been installed by Monmouth Town Council. The circular plinth is made of 40 tiles that illustrate and commemorate the Millennium showing over 2,000 years of local history.


Church Incumbents


Gallery


Historical images

File:Interior St. Thomas' Church, Monmouth. (3375365).jpg, engraving showing interior of church c. 1800 File:The Church of St. Thomas, Monmouth.jpeg, the church in 1845 File:Over Monnow & St. Thomas's Church, Monmouth. (3375367).jpg, engraving by C. Hough of 1845 File:Monmouth - St Thomas Square & Cross 1904.jpg, St Thomas Square & Cross 1904 File:Monmouth St Thomas Church 1937.jpg, the church in 1937


Church interior

Image:St.Thomas's church nave - geograph.org.uk - 1373701.jpg, nave Image:Church of St Thomas the Martyr Overmonnow.jpg, stained glass window Image:St.Thomas's Chancel Arch - geograph.org.uk - 1373708.jpg, chancel arch Image:Font at the Church of St Thomas the Martyr Monmouth.jpg, one of two church fonts Image:Font in Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth.JPG, the other font Image:Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth, ceiling.JPG, roof


Church exterior

Image:Weir and St. Thomas's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1241362.jpg, view of the church from across the
River Monnow The River Monnow () marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of Monmouth. The ...
Image:Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth.JPG, front entrance Image:St Thomass Church Monmouth Oct 2011 plaque.jpg, plaque Image:Celtic Cross at Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth.JPG, Celtic cross stone sett detail in the garden designed by Cheryl Cummings MSGD ( RHS Medal winner) Image:St Thomass Church Monmouth Oct 2011 3.jpg, cross and second entrance


References


Sources

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External links


Monmouth Parishes, St Thomas the Martyr

Artwork at Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monmouth, St Thomas the Martyr Grade II* listed churches in Monmouthshire Church in Wales church buildings in Monmouthshire 12th-century church buildings in Wales Saint Thomas John Prichard buildings Thomas Becket