Monmouth Methodist Church | |
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51°48′45″N2°42′42″W / 51.8126°N 2.7117°W Coordinates: 51°48′45″N2°42′42″W / 51.8126°N 2.7117°W | |
OS grid reference | SO 5094 1295 |
Location | St James Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire NP25 3DL |
Country | Wales |
Denomination | Methodist |
Website | monmouthmethodist |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | Grade II* listed |
Architect(s) | George Vaughan Maddox |
Style | neoclassical |
Years built | 1837 |
Clergy | |
Minister(s) | Rev Bethany Willers |
Monmouth Methodist Church is located in Monmouth, south east Wales. It is set well back from St James Street between buildings. Designed by George Vaughan Maddox and built in 1837, it retains its original galleries, organ loft and sophisticated pulpit. [1]
In common with many non-conformist places of worship in the town built when town authority lay very much with the established church, it was deliberately set back behind the houses to avoid making too prominent a challenge to the established order. This is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail and is Grade II* listed. [2]
In the eighteenth century the new Methodists were challenging the presumption of the established churches in Monmouth. Visiting Methodist ministers were stoned and abused by unruly crowds who were encouraged by the churchwardens and gentlefolk. [3] They were sometimes seriously injured – a preacher was killed by a blow in an open-air service near Hay-on-Wye in 1840. They persevered however and established their first chapel in Inch Lane, now called Bell Lane, a narrow alley off Church Street. John Wesley came to preach in the town, firstly in 1779, and four more times in later years, and a larger chapel was built in Weirhead Street as Wesleyan Methodism grew.
Finally, as this chapel proved too small, the present church was designed by George Vaughan Maddox, a local architect who had worked on The Hendre. [4] The 340 seated church with its impressive façade was built in 1837. [5] Maddox included Ionic pilasters with round-headed Georgian windows on the first floor but with triangular window heads on the ground floor, and a fine pediment over all. The church is enhanced by the later Ionic porch. The box pews allow 340 worshippers in sit in three sections below and in a gallery that follows three sides of the interior. The pulpit was much higher than it appears today; it was lowered in 1885 while the floor was raised by two feet. As a consequence, the internal columns bases are not visible as they are covered by the raised floor.
The Reverend Peter Mackenzie was employed as preacher and he drew a large following; he had a personal relationship with many Methodists, whilst his sermons were filled with "grotesque descriptions and extremely funny stories". [6] Mackenzie arrived from Burnley, Lancashire, and lived at Coleford with his wife and two children using a donkey to travel around the circuit. A lady visitor, Mrs Bullock, commented whilst waiting for the minister to arrive for the service that she would buy an organ if ever the church was full. The minister arrived and immediately the church had reached its capacity. True to her word an organ was purchased and installed in celebration of this achievement. [6] This church is considered to be one of the most architecturally distinguished Methodist chapels in South Wales with an interior that reflects its purpose and design. According to the local Pevsner architectural guide: [7] "The interior, quite exceptionally for an early C19 chapel, is a coherent piece of considered architecture." The church as a whole is described as "a most satisfying work." [7]
The church has morning and evening services every week with a family service every month. [8] The Monmouth church is part of the Newport and Lower Wye Circuit that includes other Methodist churches at Trellech, Broadoak, Llancloudy and Gwern-y-Saint. [9] [10]
Trellech is a village and parish in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales. Located 5 miles (8 km) south of Monmouth and 4 miles (6.4 km) north-north-west of Tintern, Trellech lies on a plateau above the Wye Valley on the southern fringes of 320 acres (130 ha) of woodland in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three Bronze Age standing stones are situated in the village, known as Harold's Stones, which overlook the historic church of St Nicholas, a Grade I listed building.
Monmouthshire is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with other towns and large villages being: Caldicot, Chepstow, Monmouth, Magor and Usk. It borders Torfaen, Newport and Blaenau Gwent to the west; Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the east; and Powys to the north.
Llandogo is a small village in Monmouthshire, south Wales, between Monmouth and Chepstow in the lower reaches of the Wye Valley AONB, two miles north of Tintern. It is set on a steep hillside overlooking the River Wye and across into the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The 2011 census population was 547.
The A466, also known as the Wye Valley Road, is a road from Hereford, England to Chepstow, Wales via Monmouth, Tintern and the Wye Valley.
Cwmcarvan is a small rural village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located 4 miles south west of Monmouth and about 4 miles east of Raglan, off the old A40 road two miles NW of Trellech.
Earlswood is a rural area of scattered settlement in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. It is located five miles northwest of Chepstow, within the parish of Shirenewton and immediately east of the forested area of Wentwood.
Llanishen is a village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. It is located 7 miles (11 km) south west of Monmouth and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Trellech on the B4293 road, although the main part of the village is set immediately to the west of the road, overlooking the Vale of Usk.
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.
The Market Hall, in Priory Street, Monmouth, Wales, is an early Victorian building by the prolific Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox. It was constructed in the years 1837–39 as the centrepiece of a redevelopment of part of Monmouth town centre. After being severely damaged by fire in 1963, it was partly rebuilt and is now the home of Monmouth Museum. At the rear of the building are original slaughterhouses, called The Shambles, opening onto the River Monnow. The building is Grade II listed as at 27 June 1952, and it is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail. The Shambles slaughterhouses are separately listed as Grade II*.
The Beaufort Arms Hotel, Agincourt Square, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south-east Wales is a former coaching inn dating from the early eighteenth century, though the frontage may have been modified by the prolific early Victorian architect George Vaughan Maddox in the 1830s. A stone cornice on the central block still carries the inscription "The Beaufort Arms". It is a Grade II* listed building as of 27 June 1952. It is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.
George Vaughan Maddox was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, his extensive output made a significant contribution to the Monmouth townscape. The architectural historian John Newman considers that Monmouth owes to Maddox "its particular architectural flavour. For two decades from the mid-1820s he put up a sequence of public buildings and private houses in the town, in a style deft, cultured, and only occasionally unresolved." The Market Hall and 1-6 Priory Street are considered his "most important projects".
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.
Lydart is a dispersed hamlet within the community of Mitchel Troy, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Monmouth, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Trellech, and 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of Mitchel Troy village, on the top of an escarpment which slopes steeply down to the valley of the River Trothy. The B4293 road passes through the area.
Monk Street is an historic street in the town of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. A portion of it was in existence by the 14th century, and appears on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed. It runs in a north-south direction, extending northward from its intersection with Whitecross Street. The name of the street relates to the nearby Priory, as well as the gate which was originally on this road and provided part of the town's defences, Monk's Gate. Monk Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
The Masonic Hall is a grade II listed building on Monk Street in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was designed by architect George Vaughan Maddox. The building is believed to mark the site of Monk's Gate, part of the original defences of the town of Monmouth. Before its 1846 conversion to the Masonic Hall, the building served as the Monk Street Theatre. After more than 150 years of housing the Loyal Monmouth Lodge No. 457, the Masonic Hall sustained fire and smoke damage from suspected arson. The Lodge of Freemasons housed in the building is the oldest surviving Masonic Lodge in Monmouthshire.
Kingsley House and Hendre House are a pair of 19th-century, semi-detached houses on the North Parade section of Monk Street in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The grade II listed houses were designed by noted Monmouth architect and builder George Vaughan Maddox, who also designed at least two of the twenty-four blue plaque buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail, including the Market Hall and the Monmouth Methodist Church. Hendre House should be distinguished from The Hendre, the estate of the Rolls family.
St James Street is a historic street in the town centre of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales. It appears as a segment of Whitecross Street on the 1610 map of the town by cartographer John Speed and is within the medieval town walls. On more recent maps, it extends from St James Square southwest to Almshouse Street. In 2010, the street was the site of discovery of Mesolithic era artefacts. St James Street is lined with numerous listed buildings.
1–6 Priory Street in Monmouth, Wales, is a row of six shop houses designed by the architect George Vaughan Maddox and constructed c. 1837. They form part of Maddox's redevelopment of the centre of Monmouth and stand opposite his Market Hall. The architectural historian John Newman has written that Maddox's work "gives Monmouth its particular architectural flavour," and considers Priory Street to be "his greatest work."
12–16 Church Street in Monmouth, Wales, is a row of three shop houses designed by the architect George Vaughan Maddox and constructed c. 1837. They form part of Maddox's redevelopment of the centre of Monmouth and stand on Church Street, to the rear of Maddox's Priory Street. The architectural historian John Newman has written that Maddox's work "gives Monmouth its particular architectural flavour" and Cadw describes the grouping of 12–16 Church Street as "the best preserved early 19th century shopfront in Monmouth."
Pentwyn, Rockfield, Monmouthshire is a Victorian villa dating from the mid 19th century. Its origins are older but the present building was constructed by the Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox for himself in 1834–1837, and subsequently altered by him after a later sale. It was converted into apartments in the 20th century. The house is Grade II* listed.