The Church of

St Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

and All Angels,

Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern ( cy, Llanfihangel-Ystum-Llywern) is a village in the community of Whitecastle, in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located between Abergavenny and Monmouth and north of Raglan. The River Trothy passes close by. ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) 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 ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, is a parish church with its origins in the 15th century. Renovations took place in the 19th century under the direction of

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 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and an active parish church.

History

The church dates from the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

period but the building fabric cannot be dated with certainty. 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 ...

roof and the windows are late 15th century. An extensive restoration was carried out by T. H. Wyatt in 1874, the belfry, with its timber base, dating from this restoration. Refurbishment of the interior in the early 20th century saw the addition of a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window depicting

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

, which dates from 1906 to 1907. A tablet in the church commemorates the Monmouthshire historian and antiquarian Sir

Joseph Bradney Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and archaeologist, best known for his multivolume ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present T ...

, who lived nearby at

Tal-y-coed Court Tal-y-coed Court,, Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a Victorian country house. Constructed in 1881–1883, it was built for the Monmouthshire antiquarian Joseph Bradney, author of '' A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming ...

and wrote a 12-volume history of the county, ''

A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time'' is a study of the county of Monmouthshire written by Sir Joseph Bradney and published by Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke of London between 1904 and 19 ...

''. St Michael's remains an active parish church.

Architecture and description

The church is built of "all-too friable"

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone 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 northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

. The nave,

chancel 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 ...

and belfry are all by Wyatt, the porch being slightly later, of 1895. The nave has an original medieval

wagon vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

roof. The church is a

, its listing noting its "fine 15th century wagon roof and unusual 19th century timber-framed belfry".

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern, Saint Michael and All Angels Grade II* listed churches in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Church in Wales church buildings 15th-century church buildings in Wales