Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny

Last updated

Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Abergavenny Baptist Church, October 2018 (2).jpg
Our Lady and St Michael
Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny
51°49′32″N3°01′13″W / 51.8256°N 3.0204°W / 51.8256; -3.0204
Location Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
CountryWales
Denomination Roman Catholic
Website
History
Status Parish church
Founded1858
Founder(s)John Baker Gabb
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designationGrade II*
Designated27 September 2001
Architect(s) Benjamin Bucknall
Style Decorated Gothic
Groundbreaking 1858
Completed1860
Administration
Diocese Cardiff
Parish Abegavenny

The Church of Our Lady and St Michael in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, is a Roman Catholic parish church. A Grade II* listed building, it was built between 1858 and 1860 to a design by Benjamin Bucknall.

Contents

History and architecture

Abergavenny remained a Catholic stronghold in the years after the Reformation, and its first Catholic church built after the Reformation was on Frogmore Street. [1] This was replaced as the town's main Catholic church by Our Lady and St Michael's in 1860. [1] The construction of the church was funded by a local solicitor, John Baker Gabb, and the architect was Benjamin Bucknall. [2] Bucknall was engaged on the building of Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire, for another Catholic client, William Leigh, and, aged only 25, was seen as a coming man in Catholic architectural circles. Bucknall's intellectual and architectural influences were the work and ideas of Augustus Pugin – he converted to Catholicism in the year of Pugin's death – and the French Gothic Revival architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, with whom Bucknall was in regular correspondence. [3]

The church is constructed in Decorated Gothic style, with an accompanying Tudor Gothic presbytery. [2] Built of Old Red Sandstone, with Bath Stone dressings and slate roofs, [1] the church comprises a nave, North and South aisles and a chancel. [4] An intended "grand tower and spire" were never built. [2]

Internal features

Simon Jenkins describes the church as "a bold composition of church and presbytery." [5] The interior of the church is largely unchanged since its construction with all its original Victorian furniture and furnishings intact. [1] The presbytery is similarly unspoilt. [1] The church also has "an exceptionally fine collection of medieval and later vestments". [4]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cadw. "Church of Our Lady and St Michael R C, including attached Presbytery (No. 10), Abergavenny (Grade II*) (2467)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Newman 2000, p. 98-9.
  3. "Benjamin Bucknall". 18 September 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Our Lady and St Michael's Catholic Church, Pen-y-Pound Road, Abergavenny (12866)". Coflein. RCAHMW . Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. Jenkins 2008, p. 182.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Pugin</span> English architect and designer

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival style of architecture. His work culminated in designing the interior of the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London, and its renowned clock tower, the Elizabeth Tower, which houses the bell known as Big Ben. Pugin designed many churches in England, and some in Ireland and Australia. He was the son of Auguste Pugin, and the father of Edward Welby Pugin and Peter Paul Pugin, who continued his architectural firm as Pugin & Pugin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wardell</span> Australian civil engineer and architect

William Wilkinson Wardell (1823–1899) was a civil engineer and architect, notable not only for his work in Australia, the country to which he emigrated in 1858, but for a successful career as a surveyor and ecclesiastical architect in England and Scotland before his departure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. W. Pugin</span> English architect

Edward Welby Pugin was an English architect, the eldest son of architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton and part of the Pugin & Pugin family of church architects. His father was an architect and designer of Neo-Gothic architecture, and after his death in 1852 Edward took up his successful practice. At the time of his own early death in 1875, Pugin had designed and completed more than one hundred Catholic churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardman & Co.</span>

Hardman & Co., otherwise John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., founded 1838, began manufacturing stained glass in 1844 and became one of the world's leading manufacturers of stained glass and ecclesiastical fittings. The business closed in 2008.

Charles Francis Hansom was a prominent Roman Catholic Victorian architect who primarily designed in the Gothic Revival style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Derby</span> Church in Derbyshire, England

St Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Derby, England. A Grade II* listed building, it stands on Bridge Gate overlooking St Alkmund's Way. The church was designed by architect A. W. N. Pugin and according to Simon Jenkins, it is one of Pugin's "few complete works".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clytha Castle</span> Folly in Clytha, Monmouthshire

Clytha Castle is a folly near Clytha between Llanarth and Raglan in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. Dating from 1790, the castle was built by William Jones, owner of the Clytha Park estate as a memorial to his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 1787. The castle is an example of the Gothic Revival and comprises three towers, of which two are habitable, and linking, castellated curtain walls. Long attributed to John Nash, recent research has confirmed that the architect was John Davenport of Shrewsbury. The folly has views towards the Sugar Loaf and Skirrid mountains on the easternmost edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Described by the architectural historian John Newman as one of the two "outstanding examples of late eighteenth century fanciful Gothic in the county", Clytha Castle is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Prichard</span> British architect (1817–1886)

John Prichard 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Giles' Catholic Church, Cheadle</span> Church in England

St Giles' Church is a Roman Catholic church in the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire, England. The Grade I listed Gothic Revival church was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and built between 1841 and 1846 for the Earl of Shrewsbury. It is in Decorated style, and is highly decorated on the outside and the inside, and has a tall steeple. The interior is painted throughout, and is floored with patterned tiles. Almost all the furniture and fittings were designed by Pugin, including the piscina, sedilia, a recess for an Easter Sepulchre, the reredos, font, font cover, pulpit, and screen. The spire is 200 feet (61 m) high and the church by far the tallest building in the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Bucknall</span> English architect

Benjamin Bucknall was an English architect of the Gothic Revival in South West England and South Wales, and then of neo-Moorish architecture in Algeria. His most noted works include the uncompleted Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire, England and his restoration of the Villa Montfeld in El Biar, Algiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Mary the Virgin, Llanfair Kilgeddin</span> Church in Monmouthshire, Wales

St Mary the Virgin is the former parish church for Llanfair Kilgeddin, near Usk in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is a Grade I listed building, notable for its significant Arts and Crafts interior. The church was declared redundant in the 1980s and is now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Monmouth</span> Church in Monmouthshire, Wales

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, in St Mary's Street near the centre of Monmouth, is the earliest post-Reformation Catholic public place of worship to be permitted in Wales. The church is a late Georgian Roman Catholic church with later Victorian additions by the Catholic convert architect Benjamin Bucknall. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building since 15 August 1974, and is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Nicholas, Trellech</span> Church in Monmouthshire, Wales

The Church of St Nicholas, Trellech, Monmouthshire is a parish church with its origins in the 14th century. The historical and architectural evidence suggests that it was constructed largely in a single building period c.1300. The style is Decorated Gothic. The church was extended and repaired in the 18th century, and underwent two major reconstructions in 1893 and 1992. An "exceptionally fine and well preserved medieval church", it is a Grade I listed building. It remains an active parish church in the parish of Trellech and Penallt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Cenedlon's Church, Rockfield</span> Church located in Monmouthshire, Wales

St Cenedlon's is a parish church in the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. The dedication to St Cenedlon is unusual and the history of the saint is obscure. Some sources suggest that she was a daughter of Brychan king of Brycheiniog while others identify her as the wife of King Arthfael ab Ithel, king of Glywysing. The existing church dates from the Middle Ages but only the tower remains from that period. After the English Reformation, the surrounding area of north Monmouthshire became a refuge for Catholics and Matthew Pritchard (1669-1750), Roman Catholic bishop and Vicar Apostolic of the Western District is buried at the church. By the mid-19th century the church was in ruins and a complete reconstruction was undertaken by the ecclesiastical architects John Pollard Seddon and John Prichard in around 1860. St Cenedlon's is an active parish church in the Diocese of Monmouth. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Woolwich</span> Church in London, UK

St Peter's Church is a Catholic church in Woolwich, South East London. It is situated between Woolwich New Road and Brookhill Road, the main entrance being on Woolwich New Road. The church was designed by Augustus Pugin in 1841–42 in the style of the Gothic Revival and is one of only three Pugin churches in London. Pugin's design remained unfinished as the projected tower and spire were never built. The parish of St Peter the Apostle serves the Catholic community of central Woolwich and surrounding areas, and is part of the Archdiocese of Southwark which is in the Province of Southwark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Mary and St Michael, Llanarth</span> Church in Monmouthshire, Wales

The Church of St Mary and St Michael, Llanarth, Monmouthshire, was built as the family chapel for Llanarth Court. It was the first Roman Catholic church constructed in the county since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century. Built circa 1790, some decades before the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, it was designed to look like an orangery, or barn, in order not to attract anti-Catholic hostility. It is considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Catholic churches in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Fulham</span> Church in London , United Kingdom

St Thomas of Canterbury Church, also known as St Thomas's, Rylston Road, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Fulham, central London. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by Augustus Pugin in 1847, the building is Grade II* listed with Historic England. It stands at 60 Rylston Road, Fulham, next to Pugin's Grade II listed presbytery, the churchyard, and St Thomas's primary school, also largely by Pugin, close to the junction with Lillie Road in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Lady of the Annunciation Church, King's Lynn</span> Church in Kings Lynn, United Kingdom

Our Lady of the Annunciation Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. It was built in 1897, but incorporates parts of the former church on the same site that was built in 1845 and designed by Augustus Pugin. It is located on the corner of London Road and North Everard Street in the centre of the town. Its construction was partially paid for by the then Prince of Wales, Edward VII. It was also the national shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham until 1934. It is now a pontifical shrine, and was awarded Grade II listed status in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Osmund's Church, Salisbury</span> Church in Salisbury, United Kingdom

St Osmund's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It was designed by Augustus Pugin in the Gothic Revival style and built in 1847–1848. It is on Exeter Street, opposite Bishop Wordsworth's School, in the city centre. It is a Grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Austin's Church, Stafford</span> Church in Stafford, United Kingdom

St Austin's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. It was built from 1861 to 1862 and designed by E. W. Pugin in the Gothic Revival style. It is located on Wolverhampton Road to the south of the town centre. It was later added to by Peter Paul Pugin and it is a Grade II listed building.

References