St Mary the Virgin is the former parish

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

for Llanfair Kilgeddin, near

Usk Usk ( cy, Brynbuga) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, northeast of Newport. It is located on the River Usk, which is spanned by an arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. Usk Castle, above the town, overlooks th ...

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 ...

, south east Wales. 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 ...

, notable for its significant

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

interior. The church was declared redundant in the 1980s and is now in the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As of April ...

History and architecture

The church is located on farmland close to the river, about 1 mile north of the village. It was originally

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 ...

but was rebuilt in 1875–76 by the architect

John Dando Sedding John Dando Sedding (13 April 1838 – 7 April 1891) was an English church architect, working on new buildings and repair work, with an interest in a "crafted Gothic" style. He was an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, many of wh ...

, commissioned by the local

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, Rev. William John Coussmaker Lindsay (1832–1912). The church contains some mediaeval features including a

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 ...

, but is best known for its

style ''

sgraffito ''Sgraffito'' (; plural: ''sgraffiti'') is a technique either of wall decor, produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, or in pottery, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive laye ...

'' decorations which cover the interior walls. These were commissioned by Lindsay at a cost of £500 in memory of his wife Rosamund, and were designed by

Heywood Sumner George Heywood Maunoir Sumner (1853–1940) was originally an English painter, illustrator and craftsman, closely involved with the Arts and Crafts movement and the late-Victorian London art world. In his mid-forties he relocated to Cuckoo Hill, ...

. Taking the

Benedicite The Benedicite (also Benedicite, omnia opera Domini or A Song of Creation) is a canticle that is used in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and is also used in Anglican and Lutheran worship. The text is either verses 35–65 or verses 35–66 of ...

as his theme, Sumner used thin layers of different coloured plaster cut back to reveal colour underneath. His designs included local features, including the

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it fl ...

, the Sugar Loaf and nearby

Llanvihangel Gobion Llanfihangel Gobion ( cy, Llanfihangel-y-gofion) is a village and rural parish of Monmouthshire, Wales, lying within the administrative community of Llanover. Location Llanfihangel Gobion is located approximately 5 miles east of Abergavenny ...

church tower. Sumner's work was completed in 1888. In the 1980s, the church was declared redundant and threatened with demolition. It was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

the

in 1989, and the charity has held the

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

since 22 November 1989. The charity was supported by the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

and received financial support from Cadw and the

Pilgrim Trust The Pilgrim Trust is a national grant-making trust in the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law. It was founded in 1930 with a two million pound grant by Edward Harkness, an American philanthropist. T ...

. The graveyard contains a private burial ground dedicated to members of the family of

Richard Crawshay Richard Crawshay (1739 – 27 June 1810) was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster; he was one of ten known British millionaires in 1799. Early life and marriage Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of ...

, and his nephew,

Crawshay Bailey Crawshay Bailey (1789 – 9 January 1872) was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales. Early life Bailey was born in 1789 in Great Wenham, Suffolk, the son of John Bailey, of Wakefield and his wife Susannah ...

, the ironmasters of the

Cyfarthfa Ironworks The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales. The beginning The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in L ...

who had a house nearby, Maindiff Court,

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...

. The wall paintings were restored in 2006–07 in memory of

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

. The architectural historian John Newman wrote of Sumner's decoration; "it should make Llanfair Kilgeddin a place of pilgrimage for disciples of the Arts and Crafts movement". The Church of St Mary is a

Gallery

Llanfair Kilgeddin 1.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 2.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 3.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 4.jpg Llanfair Kilgeddin 5.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 7.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 10.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 11.jpg, Llanfair Kilgeddin 12.jpg,

Notes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary the Virgins Church Llanfair Kilgeddin Grade I listed churches in Monmouthshire Llanfair Kilgeddin, St Mary Churches completed in 1876 Llanfair Kilgeddin Llanfair Kilgeddin Arts and Crafts architecture in Wales Llanfair Kilgeddin, St Mary