The Church of St Nicholas in the village of Grosmont,

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, is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

dating from the 13th century. Its exceptional size reflects the importance and standing of the borough of Grosmont at the time of the church's construction and has led it to be called a "miniature cathedral". Largely unaltered from the time of its building, by the 19th century the church had seriously decayed and its tower was close to collapse. It was rescued from dereliction in a restoration undertaken by

John Pollard Seddon John Pollard Seddon FRIBA (19 September 1827 – 1 February 1906) was a British architect, working largely on churches. His father was a cabinetmaker, and his brother Thomas Seddon (1821–1856) a landscape painter. Born in London, he was educa ...

and financed by

John Etherington Welch Rolls John Etherington Welch Rolls (4 May 1807 – 27 May 1870) was a High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, art collector, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Rolls was President of, and co-founded the Monmouth Show. Life Rolls was born in 1807, a son ...

. An active parish church, it is a

Grade I 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 ...

History

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 ...

Grosmont, with its stone castle founded by

Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Justiciar, Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John, King of England, John and of his son and successor Kin ...

in the 13th century and site of the birth of

Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster (– 23 March 1361) was an English statesman, diplomat, soldier, and Christian writer. The owner of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, Grosmont was a member of the House of Plantagenet, which was ruling o ...

in the early 14th century, was an important medieval lordship.

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 s ...

records that the scale of the "great

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

church mark(ed) the important standing of Grosmont during the early medieval period. The church was constructed in the early 13th and the roof of the nave is datable to c.1232, making it the oldest scientifically datable roof in Wales. Tree-ring dating of the timbers show that they were felled in the period 1214–1244, which confirms the exceptionally early date of the roof's construction. It is considered "the only surviving pre-1400 church roof in Wales". The nave remains largely unrestored, but the rest of the church is later. By the late 19th century the church was close to collapse and was saved through an extensive reconstruction in 1869–79 by J. P. Seddon. The work was largely funded by John Etherington Welch Rolls of

The Hendre The Hendre, ( cy, Yr Hendre a farmer's winter residence; literally meaning old home) in Rockfield, is the only full-scale Victorian country house in the county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The ancestral estate of the Rolls family, it was the child ...

, a local landowner and benefactor. The church remains an active church in the parish of Grosmont. Morning prayers at held at the church each Tuesday, as are Sunday services.

Architecture and description

The church is a "noble Early English building crowned by an octagonal Decorated tower and spire". Simon Jenkins considers the "ambitious

plan" with octagonal tower to be "French" in inspiration. Cadw notes the tradition that the architect was French, employed by

Eleanor of Provence Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223 – 24/25 June 1291) was a French noblewoman who became Queen of England as the wife of King Henry III from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253. ...

but records that this "has no documentary basis". The church is built of

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 ...

with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

dressings and slate roofs. It comprises the nave,

transepts A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

, the central tower, a

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 ...

, a secondary chapel and a porch. The interior is "a shock to the modern visitor who encounters an uncluttered medieval interior dominated by the arcades and roof". The unfurnished nave demonstrates the "strong early thirteenth century arcades to the full". The architectural historian John Newman describes the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

as "a strange piece, an octagonal bowl with a thick circular stem". The choir stalls and the pulpit are 19th century. A stained-glass window in the chancel commemorates John Etherington Welch Rolls. In the transept is an unfinished memorial to a knight, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, "a rare survival of great technical interest".

Notes

Sources

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External links

*{{commons category-inline
Artworks at Church of St. Nicholas, Grosmont
Grosmont, Church of St Nicholas Grosmont, Church of St Nicholas Grosmont, Church of St Nicholas