The Church of St Deinst,

Llangarron Llangarron is a small village and civil parish in southwest Herefordshire within of both Ross-on-Wye (Herefordshire, England) and Monmouth (Monmouthshire, Wales). The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,053. The civil paris ...

, Herefordshire is a church of the

Diocese of Hereford The Diocese of Hereford is a Church of England diocese based in Hereford, covering Herefordshire, southern Shropshire and a few parishes within Worcestershire in England, and a few parishes within Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales. The cathedral i ...

, England. The church is dedicated to the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

saint

Deiniol Saint Deiniol (died 572) was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is veneration, venerated in Bri ...

and is the only church in England to bear such a dedication. It is an active

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

and a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

St Deiniol Saint Deiniol (died 572) was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is venerated in Brittany as Sai ...

was a

6th century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the prev ...

ecclesiastic, traditionally recorded as the first

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Diocese of Bangor of the Church in Wales. The Episcopal see, see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Bangor Cathedral, Cathedral Church of Sa ...

. His name is variously rendered as Denoual, Deinst, and Daniel. Church dedications to the saint are rare, St Deinst's in Llangarron being the only such occurrence in England. The origins of the church at Llangarron were as a possession of

Monmouth Priory Monmouth Priory, in Priory Street, Monmouth, Wales, is a building that incorporates the remains of the monastic buildings attached to St Mary's Priory Church, Monmouth, St Mary's Priory Church. The priory was a Benedictine foundation of 1075, and ...

. The present structure was mostly constructed in the 14th century, with restorations in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 14th century work was probably a reconstruction of an earlier wooden church, dating from the 11th century. The later restorations were undertaken by George Pearson in 1841 and by John Pollard Seddon in 1900–1901. The church remains an active parish church in the

. Refurbishment of the building took place in 2009, supported by a grant from the National Churches Trust. The redevelopment included the construction of a community hub, the Garron Centre. The church is part of 'The Borders Group of Parishes'. The

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

comprises Goodrich with

Welsh Bicknor Welsh Bicknor () is an area in the far south of the English county of Herefordshire. Despite its name, it is not now in Wales, but it was historically a detached parish (exclave) of the county of Monmouthshire. It lies within a loop of the Riv ...

, Marstow, Llangarron, Llangrove and Welsh Newton with Llanrothal. In recent years the church has held a number of concerts, including a Baroque Concert "The Am’rous Flute", Hereford Concert Band who performed the

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

sound, Chepstow Male Voice Choir, the Charles Medlam

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

lunchtime recital and the Liberty Street Jazz Band. In 2010 the church was the venue for a Medieval

Mystery Play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

Architecture and description

The church is built of

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, 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 eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

, in part carved

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

and in part

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 Dictionar ...

infill. The building comprises a

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 ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, and a tower with an external stair turret. The style is

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

. Alan Brooks, in his 2012 ''Herefordshire'' Pevsner, notes the "substantial"

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

and the Jacobean

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

. The 14th-century font is octagonal in shape and perpendicular in design, with carved quatrefoils,

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

and fleurons. The church contains an early carving, originally thought to be

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

tombstone commemorating a child, but also believed to be

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

in date. It is possibly a depiction of Deiniol.

Listing designations

The church is a

. The interior, and the churchyard, contain an unusually large number of listed memorials, all designated Grade II. These include memorials to: Edward Tovey, Richard Knight, Silvaus Taner, the Mathews family, and two named family members, James and William, Edward, Benjamin, and William, all of the Watkins family, the Godwin family, Kate Hartland, Edmund Miles, Hannah Smith, Thomas and Elizabeth Smith, Thomas Wood, two memorials to members of the Woodward family, the Jones family, Walter and Mary Mayos, Mary Miles, Mary Philpotts, Mary Evans, another Mary Evans, Mary Williams, Thomas Carrier, Edward Taylor, two members of the Peake family, and the Gunters. Other Grade II structures include a sundial which originally formed the tip of the spire and which was removed and reconfigured by Seddon, and three unidentified chest tombs.

Gallery

At the 3rd stroke... - geograph.org.uk - 998419.jpg, Sundial on top of the former spire

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

Baptism of fire - geograph.org.uk - 992466.jpg, The 14th-century

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

Inscription on the old spire top, St Deinst, Llangarron - geograph.org.uk - 678237.jpg, Top of the former spire Weathered chest tomb, St Deinst's churchyard - geograph.org.uk - 998411.jpg ,

Chest tomb Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

in the churchyard

Notes

References

Sources

* {{Commons category, St Deinst's, Llangarron

14th-century church buildings in England