The Church of St Mapley,

Llanvapley Llanvapley () is a village in the Community (Wales), community of Gobion Fawr, in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom. ''Llan'' has replaced the (earlier) ''Eglwys'' (1254). This village lies 4 miles north east of 2023’s Best Places ...

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 with its origins in the 15th century. Dedicated to St Mable, variants of the dedication include St Mapley, St Mabli and St Mafli. 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 ...

History

The church dates from the 15th century, and was restored in 1861 and 1950. The chancel and tower arches may be earlier, from the 13th or 14th centuries. The Monmouthshire antiquarian

Joseph Bradney Colonel Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney, (11 January 1859 – 21 July 1933) was a British soldier, historian and antiquarian, best known for his multi-volume ''A History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present T ...

recorded that two of the bells dated from 1626.

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 ...

and the style is Early English. The tower has a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led parapet.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Llanvapley, Saint Mapley Grade II* listed churches in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Church in Wales church buildings in Monmouthshire 15th-century church buildings in Wales