Rockfield is a small village in the community of Whitecastle,

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 ...

, Southeast

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is located beside the

River Monnow The River Monnow () marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of Monmouth. The ...

, about north-west of

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, at the junction of the B4233 to

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

and the B4347 to Grosmont.

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Recording studios Rockfield is a two-stu ...

is situated just south of the village.

Placename

The use of the English name, Rockfield, is first documented in 1566. However, it is believed that the name dates back to the 11th century, being derived from the French, Rocheville. The pre- Norman name for the settlement was Llanoronwy, and the Welsh Academy dictionary still gives the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

name for the village as ''Llanoronwy Carn Cenhedlon''. There was some controversy late in 2010, when

Monmouthshire County Council Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) () is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The current unitary authority was created in 1996 and covers the eastern ...

reintroduced the Welsh name on local signage. The name was removed from the signs in 2011 after complaints from villagers.

Church of St Cenedlon

The village church is dedicated to an early Welsh saint, Cenedlon, who may have been the wife of Arthfael ab Ithel, king of Gwent in the 7th century. Some old sources show it as being also dedicated to Saint Kenelm, a 9th-century

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

n martyr. However, the Welsh name ''Llanoronwy'' appears to derive from a third name, Goronwy. The church tower is mediaeval, but the rest of the church was rebuilt and refitted in 1859–60 by John Prichard and John Pollard Seddon in the Early English and Perpendicular styles. It contains a painted

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of William III, dated 1700.John Newman, ''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire'', Penguin Books, 2000, , pp. 517–518 It also contains, beneath the altar, the grave of Bishop Matthew Pritchard, the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Vicar Apostolic of the Western District between 1713 and 1744. In retirement, he lived with a Catholic family in a mediaeval mansion, Perthîr, beside the river; the house was demolished around 1830. The Catholic Registers of Perthîr in the County of Monmouth, 1758–1818
Accessed 5 February 2012 File:St Cenedlon's Church, Rockfield, Monmouth 2.jpg File:St Cenedlon's Church, Rockfield, Monmouth.jpg File:Rockfield Church - geograph.org.uk - 245816.jpg

Other notable buildings

Several buildings in and around the village were constructed as part of the

Rolls Rolls may refer to: People * Charles Rolls (engraver) (1799–1885), engraver * Charles Rolls (1877–1910), Welsh motoring and aviation pioneer, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited * John Etherington Welch Rolls (1807–1870), British jurist and art ...

estate. One of the entrance lodges to the family home at The Hendre, to the west, is sited immediately north of the village. Almshouses, provided in 1906 by Lord Llangattock for retired estate workers, are located beside the main road south of the village. They were designed by

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb, (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...

and built in local

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 ...

with

half-timber Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

ing. To the north of the village, Pentwyn is a house designed and occupied from 1837 by the Monmouth architect George Vaughan Maddox, and later extended as a parsonage.

Politics

The village falls under the community of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel and the constituency of Monmouth.

Gallery

File:St Cenedlon's church, Rockfield - geograph.org.uk - 1009746.jpg, St Cenedlon church File:Rockfield Lodge - geograph.org.uk - 1241381.jpg, Gateway at Rockfield leading to The Hendre Image:Entering Rockfield, or Llanoronwy - geograph.org.uk - 1241400 sign only.tif, Road sign containing English and the contentious Welsh name

References

{{authority control Villages in Monmouthshire