The Church of St Cadoc, Llangattock Vibon Avel,

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 ...

is a parish church of medieval origins which was heavily restored in the 19th century. The estate church of

The Hendre The Hendre, ( a farmer's winter residence; literally meaning old home) in Rockfield, is the only full-scale Victorian country house in the county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The ancestral estate of the Rolls family, it was the childhood home of Ch ...

, it is closely connected with the

Rolls family The Rolls family were substantial landowners and benefactors in and around Monmouth in south-east Wales. The ascent of the family to the aristocracy was through marriage. A prominent member of the family was Charles Stewart Rolls, who co-founded ...

and the grave of

Charles Stewart Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident wit ...

, the motoring and aviation pioneer, is located in the churchyard. The church is a

Grade II* 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 ...

and is now in the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) 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 ...

History

The church is dedicated to St Cadoc and is of

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 ...

origin. Early medieval charters describe the church as a ''clas''; that is, a mother church served by a community of priests, with responsibilities for several subordinate churches in nearby villages. It was dedicated to the Welsh saint Cadoc by someone who admired, or knew, Cadoc, not necessarily by Cadoc himself. The first church was probably built of timber,

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite material, composite building method in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called "wattle (construction), wattle" is "daubed" with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, and ...

, and was later rebuilt in stone. Madeleine Gray, "Llangatwg Feibion Afel: An Ancient Clas Church", ''Friends of Friendless Churches''
Retrieved 25 April 2021 The porch tower is all that now remains of the original stone church. The architectural historian John Newman considers the door is circa 1300 in date. In the 19th century, the church became the estate church for the Rolls family of The Hendre, later Barons Llangattock. During their time, the church was extensively restored, first by

John Etherington Welch Rolls John Etherington Welch Rolls (4 May 1807 – 27 May 1870) was a Sheriff of Monmouthshire, art collector, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Rolls was President of, and co-founded the Monmouth Show. Life Rolls was born in 1807, a son of ...

and subsequently by his son,

John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock John Allan Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, (19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912) was a British landowner, Conservative Party politician, socialite, local benefactor and agriculturalist. He lived at The Hendre, a Victorian country house ...

. On both occasions, the architect was

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects for 1870–1873 and being awarded its Royal Gold Me ...

. Between the two periods of renovation and rebuilding, a major decoration of the interior was undertaken. Lord Llangattock's eldest son, John Maclean, who inherited the title in 1912, was killed in 1916 and the title died with him. The grave of his younger brother, Charles Rolls, of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

fame, who predeceased him, dying in a plane crash in 1910, stands in the church's graveyard, beside the graves of their

mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

and father. The church continued as an estate church until The Hendre was sold in the 1980s. It remained an active parish church until December 2020 when ownership was transferred to the

charity.

Architecture and description

Apart from the 15th century porch tower, the entire building dates from the 19th century. The first reconstruction was undertaken in 1852–53 and the second in 1875. These works saw the construction of the nave and chancel in what Newman calls a "mixed Decorated and Perpendicular style". The church is constructed 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 ...

rubble, with roofing in red clay tiles. The interior contains

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 ...

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...

. The church is Grade II* listed, the listing noting it as "a fine High Victorian rural church with a good interior, of special interest for its association with the Rolls family of The Hendre".

Notes

References

External links

Article from the FFC on the stained glass
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llangattock Vibon Avel, Saint Cadoc 14th-century church buildings in Wales Church in Wales church buildings in Monmouthshire Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches Churchyards in Wales Grade II* listed churches in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire

History

Architecture and description

Notes

References

Further reading

External links