St Mary Magdalene's Church, Goldcliff | |
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51°32′38″N2°55′00″W / 51.5439°N 2.9168°W | |
OS grid reference | ST 365 831 |
Location | Goldcliff, Newport |
Country | Wales |
Denomination | Church in Wales |
Website | Netherwent Ministry |
History | |
Status | Active |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade II |
Designated | 1 March 1963 |
Architectural type | Church |
Specifications | |
Materials | Stone, slate roof |
St Mary Magdalene's Church stands in the village of Goldcliff, to the southeast of the city of Newport, Wales. An active parish church and a Grade II listed building, it is situated directly behind the Farmer's Arms public house.
Cadw dates the church to the 12th century. [1] It was rebuilt in the 14th century and afterwards, possibly using material from Goldcliff Priory after that was destroyed in a storm in 1424. [lower-alpha 1] [4] The priory had been given to Eton College by Henry VI shortly after he had founded the school in 1440, and the connection between the church and the college continued into the early 20th century. [lower-alpha 2] [6]
The tower is probably an 18th- or 19th-century addition. It contains one bell, recast by Taylors of Loughborough in 1969. [7] In the 19th century, the church was subject to an "austere" Victorian reconstruction. [1]
The church contains a plaque, installed by the churchwardens in 1609, commemorating the losses, material and human, which occurred during the 1607 Bristol Channel floods. It also has a modest memorial to the three men of Goldcliff who died in the First World War. [8] There is a medieval font with an 18th-century cover. [9]
The church is described by local historian Fred Hando in his 1958 Out and About in Monmouthshire. He includes a sketch of the church, with its avenue of pollarded lime trees [2] and notes that above the porch is a sundial inscribed "C.W. 1729". [10]
St Mary Magdalene's is an active parish church within the Netherwent Ministry Area, [11] which covers the area between Newport and Chepstow, from Portskewett and Sudbrook on the Severn Estuary in the east to Nash on the Gwent Levels in the west. [12] Services are held fortnightly. [13]
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales echoes Cadw's description of the Victorian efforts, considering them an "austere" example of the Decorated Gothic Revival. [3] The church is of stone with a slate roof. The battlemented tower is of three storeys. The church is a Grade II listed building. [1] Its churchyard cross is a scheduled monument. [14]
The Diocese of Monmouth is a diocese of the Church in Wales. Despite the name, its cathedral is located not in Monmouth but in Newport — the Cathedral Church of St Woolos. Reasons for not choosing the title of Newport included the existence of a Catholic Bishop of Newport until 1916. This apparent anomaly arose in 1921 when the diocese was created with no location for the cathedral yet chosen. Various options were being considered, such as restoring Tintern Abbey, building from scratch on Ridgeway Hill in Newport, and upgrading St Woolos, then a parish church; in the meantime the new diocese, as it covers more or less the territory of the county of Monmouth, was named the "Diocese of Monmouth". Prior to 1921 the area had been the archdeaconry of Monmouth.
Whitson is a village on the outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is located about 7 miles (11 km) south east of Newport city centre on the Caldicot Levels, a large area of coastal land reclaimed from the sea. Administratively, Whitson is part of the community of Goldcliff.
Langstone is a community and village of the city of Newport, Wales. The area is governed by the Newport City Council. The community had a population of 3,279 in 2011.
Bishton or Bishopston is a small rural community in the east of the city of Newport, South Wales. It lies in the Llanwern electoral district (ward) and contains the eastern end of Llanwern steelworks, the Underwood estate as well as Bishton itself. The population in the 2001 census was 2,181; dropping to 2,137 in 2011.
Goldcliff is a village, parish and community to the south east of the city of Newport in South Wales. It lies within the Newport city boundaries in the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Administratively, the community of Goldcliff includes the village/parish of Whitson. The population in 2001 was 233; by 2011 it had risen to 329.
Nash is a village and community to the south of the city of Newport, South Wales, in the Lliswerry ward.
Goldcliff Priory was a Benedictine monastery in Goldcliff, Newport, South Wales. It was established in 1113 by Robert de Chandos as a subsidiary house of the Abbey of Bec in Normandy. The priory was built on a coastal site, now the land of Hill Farm. In the 1950s, the Monmouthshire writer Hando noted the outlines of buildings visible as grass patterns or crop marks, but by the 1970s the only remaining structural element was part of a cellar in the farm house.
St Mary's Priory Church, in Whitecross Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, is an Anglican church founded as a Benedictine priory in 1075. The current church dates mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1952. It is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
Treowen is an early 17th-century house in Monmouthshire, Wales, regarded as "the most important gentry house in the county". It is located in open countryside within the parish of Wonastow, about ½ mile (1 km) north-east of the village of Dingestow, and 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Monmouth. After being used as a farmhouse for three centuries, Treowen now operates as a conference and functions venue and holds the annual Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. It is a Grade I listed building, and its gardens are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Llanarth Court is a late-18th-century country house with substantial 19th-century alterations in Llanarth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The court was built for the Jones family of Treowen and was subsequently the home of Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen, whose family still owns much of the Llanarth estate, although not the court itself. The court is a Grade II* listed building and is now a private hospital. The gardens are included on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
The Church of St Mary stands in the centre of the village of Magor, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1963. The church is the lead church of the Netherwent Ministry Area, led by Rev. Canon Jeremy Harris, and administers to a population of around 32,000.
The Church of St Martin, Cwmyoy, Monmouthshire, Wales, was begun in the 12th century, although most of the current structure dates from the 13th century. The church is most notable for its extreme tilt, the result of a landslide. This has led to many attempts to strengthen the church and prevent its collapse, through the use of massive tie beams and buttresses. The church is in the Gothic style, and has a chancel, nave, south porch, and western tower. A round-headed north window dates to the 12th century, and the nave roof has been dated to the late 13th or early 14th century. St Martin's is a Grade I listed building and an active parish church. It is dedicated to St Martin of Tours.
Monmouthshire is a county and principal area of Wales. It borders Torfaen and Newport to the west; Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the east; and Powys to the north. The largest town is Abergavenny, with the other major towns being Chepstow, Monmouth, and Usk. The county is 850 km2 in extent, with a population of 95,200 as of 2020. The present county was formed under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which came into effect in 1996, and comprises some sixty percent of the historic county. Between 1974 and 1996, the county was known by the ancient title of Gwent, recalling the medieval Welsh kingdom. In his essay on local government in the fifth and final volume of the Gwent County History, Robert McCloy suggests that the governance of "no county in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century was so transformed as that of Monmouthshire".
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.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Nash is the parish church of the village of Nash, situated about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the city of Newport, Wales. Described as "the cathedral of the moors" by Monmouthshire historian Fred Hando, the large church is medieval in origin, with additions and restorations dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Newman describes the 15th-century steeple as "unique in South East Wales". Since 3 January 1963 it has been designated a Grade I listed building primarily due to its "medieval tower with fine spire."
Allt-y-Bela in Llangwm, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a house of late medieval origin with additions from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. During the early seventeenth century, it was owned by Roger Edwards, a wealthy Midlands merchant and the founder of Usk Grammar School. Edwards made significant alterations in the Renaissance style to the medieval cruck house. By the twentieth century, the house was in ruins until restored by the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust in the early twenty-first century. Now owned by the garden designer Arne Maynard, the house is a Grade II* listed building recognising its significance as an "exceptionally important sub-medieval house with ambitious early renaissance additions".
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