St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, in St Mary's Street near the centre of

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. ...

, is the earliest post-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

public place of worship to be permitted in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The church is a late Georgian Roman Catholic church with later Victorian additions by the Catholic convert architect

Benjamin Bucknall Benjamin Bucknall (1833 – 16 November 1895) 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 Mansi ...

.John Newman, ''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire'', Penguin Books, 2000, , p.398 It has been designated as 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 I ...

since 15 August 1974, and is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.

History and architecture

After the sixteenth century, Monmouth was a centre for

recusancy Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

Keith Kissack Keith Edward Kissack MBE (18 November 1913 – 31 March 2010) was a British schoolteacher and historian. He is notable for his many publications on the history of Monmouth and Monmouthshire. Life Kissack was born in Clun, Shropshire, to Rev. ...

''Nonconformity in Monmouth''
Capel: The Chapels Heritage Society Newsletter, no.29, 1997 The town had, in 1773, one of the highest proportions of

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

. The Penal Laws against Catholics were relaxed in 1778, through the Papists Act, and Monmouth magistrates were petitioned to erect a "Public Catholick Chapel in the Town". One of the petitioners, Michael Watkins, was then the landlord of the Robin Hood Inn in Monnow Street, where

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

had been celebrated hitherto in an upper room.Keith Kissack, ''Monmouth and its Buildings'', Logaston Press, 2003, , p.79Monmouth Civic Society, ''Monmouth Heritage Blue Plaque Trail'', n.d., p.18 Lobbying resulted in permission being given for this church three years before a similar church in

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

. However, because of a local

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authori ...

aimed at making Nonconformist and Catholic buildings as inconspicuous as possible, it had to concede that the building should not look like a church. The entrance was not allowed to open on to the highway and Catholic worshippers were required to arrive at the chapel one at a time. The church was originally set back discreetly from the road, concealed by a row of cottages. The cottages were demolished in Bucknall's rebuilding, after discrimination against Catholics had been eased. The original building forms the area of the present

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

and

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually locate ...

, and the

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 to the left of the sanctuary is Georgian Gothic in style. The earliest part of the church is the east end, of 1793. In 1829 came

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, and the chapel was extended in 1837 with the completion of the

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. ...

, half the length of the present

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-typ ...

. This was followed in 1871 by an extensive rebuilding by Benjamin Bucknall. This included the demolition of the cottages fronting the church and the erection of the tower and an elaborate frontage in

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 ...

. Newman describes the "double bellcote crowned by a precipitously steep slate roof." Internally, 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 mo ...

depicts the serpent of Eden entwined around the stem.St Mary's Catholic Church, Monmouth: A Short History 1793–2009
Retrieved 16 January 2012 From 1835 to 1851 the Roman Catholic priest in Monmouth was Thomas Burgess who went on to be the

Bishop of Clifton The Bishop of Clifton is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton in the Province of Birmingham, England. The see is in the suburb of Clifton in the city of Bristol where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of S ...

Internal features

The church includes many features, but of especial note is its association with Saint John Kemble, who was a missionary in Monmouthshire and

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouths ...

. He was martyred for his faith at

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

on 22 August 1679 and lies buried at nearby

Welsh Newton Welsh Newton is a small village and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England. It is located close to the border with Wales to which the parish extends towards Monmouthshire. It should not be confused with Newton, a township-chapelry ...

. The

Marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

were an area where the old faith continued long after the

, and many of the local big houses gave sanctuary to Catholic services conducted clandestinely by priests who could suffer extreme penalties if they were discovered. The parish of St Mary's organises a pilgrimage to St John Kemble's tomb on the Sunday nearest to the date of his martyrdom. The church also includes an altar dedicated to the saint's memory, which was used for the celebration of Mass during penal times at Pembridge Castle: this consists of two benches that could be separated to disguise its purpose. St Mary's Catholic Church, Monmouth: St John Kemble
Retrieved 16 January 2012 These historic buildings were refurbished in 2009/2010. The church possesses a fourteenth-century

processional cross A processional cross is a crucifix or cross which is carried in Christian processions. Such crosses have a long history: the Gregorian mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury to England carried one before them "like a standard", according t ...

; an embroidered red chasuble dating from about 1502; and a hinged cross, possibly of Spanish origin, dating from the seventeenth century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monmouth, Saint Marys Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic churches in Wales Mary, Monmouth Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in Wales Buildings and structures in Monmouth, Wales