The Church of St Mary and St Michael, Llanarth,

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, was built as the family chapel for

Llanarth Court Llanarth Court is a late-18th-century country house with substantial 19th-century alterations in Llanarth, Monmouthshire, Llanarth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The court was built for the Jones family of Treowen and was subsequently the home of Ivor Her ...

. It was the first

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church constructed in the county since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-16th century. Built circa 1790, some decades before the

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 ( 10 Geo. 4. c. 7), also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that removed the sacramental tests that barred Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom f ...

, it was designed to look like an

orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

, or barn, in order not to attract

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

hostility. It is considered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Catholic churches in Wales.

History

Following the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, and particularly the north of the county, became an area of significant

recusancy Recusancy (from ) 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 of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

. The Joneses of Llanarth Court were an old Catholic family, and had supported a priest at Llanarth since 1781. In the late 18th century, the family chapel at the Court became insufficient to accommodate the numbers of worshippers and the family constructed a larger church in the grounds. Tradition suggests the building was disguised as a tool-shed, although later authorities suggest the scale of the church indicates it is more likely to have been constructed to look like a barn or an orangery. Following the

, the Herberts felt able to be less circumspect as to their Catholic faith and the church was extended, and decorated internally, in 1829. In 1947, the last of the Herberts to live at Llanarth Court, Fflorens Roch left the Court, and the church, to the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

, which operated a school in the buildings. After closure in 1986, the church came under the responsibility of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff. St Mary and St Michael is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Wales.

Architecture and description

The building is a long, single-storeyed, structure covered in white render. The architectural historian John Newman suggests its design ensured the building; "could be mistaken for an orangery, as was doubtless intended." It has six, rounded, windows on its west façade. There is a small

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

at the western end, and a projecting

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

. The interior has much, original, 19th century work and

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

Notes

References

* {{Archdiocese of Cardiff-Menevia History of Monmouthshire Roman Catholic churches in Wales Llanarth Grade II* listed Roman Catholic churches in Wales Benedictine churches in the United Kingdom