St Michael's Church, Rudbaxton
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St Michael's Church is a Grade I
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
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
church in the
community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
and parish of Rudbaxton in
Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...
, Wales. The building dates from the 15th century, and has a 12th-century font. It was listed on 1 March 1963 as a fine example of a substantial mediaeval double-nave church with important memorials.


Parish history

The ancient parish of Rudbaxton was in the
hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of
Dungleddy image:LDDeugleddyfCymydau.png, 200px, Ancient Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed showing Deugleddyf Cantref and its "commotes" image:LDDungleddyHundred.png, 200px, Pembrokeshire showing Dungleddy Hundred The Hundred of Dungleddy was a hundred (country subd ...
, a corruption of the Welsh for ''two Cleddau'', referring to the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers, which form part of the parish boundary. It appeared as ''Redbaxton'' on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. The Haverfordwest to Fishguard turnpike (now the A40) ran through the western half of the parish. Once entirely rural and agricultural, the parish now includes the northeastern part of the expanding county town of Haverfordwest. There were two chapels of ease in the parish, dedicated to St Margaret and St Catherine, but both were in ruins before the 1830s. The former parish of Rudbaxton is now in the combined parish of Daugleddau in the
Diocese of St Davids The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The ...
. Opposite the church is Rudbaxton Rath, the remains of a prehistoric fortification whose origins are obscure.


Church

The earliest record of a church on the site was made by Wizo, one-time lord of Wiston, in a grant to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem in the 12th century, referring to it as ''Ecclesia Rudepagstona''. Before it was dedicated to St Michael, a church on the site was dedicated to St Madoc. A royal commission in 1920 listed the church as having 13th century origins with a later added aisle and a two-storey tower with 24 stairs, and noted that a spring outside the churchyard was named St Madoc's Well.


Structure

The parish church of St Michael was originally established prior to the fifteenth century (there is a 12th-century font), but the present building, built of rubble stone with slate roofing, retains some late-15th or early-16th century features. The building was restored ''"from a state of ruin"'' by the rector in the 19th century. The tower has a vaulted base. The nave is probably earlier than the chancel, the arch of which, along with the roofs, was replaced in 1845 by
Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery (London), National Portrait Gallery. He was Arch ...
. In 1892, the church was further restored by R. G. Pinder of Bournemouth, who replaced all the roofs and many of the fittings, bringing the building to its present state whilst retaining many parts of the earlier structures. The internal walls are plastered and painted. The tower was lime-rendered in 2000.


Fittings

The oak pulpit is 20th century. The font, rectangular and scalloped with a round base, is 12th century. The 1892 renovation added simple pine pews to the nave and chancel; the pews in the aisle are earlier, grained wood. Several windows have stained or coloured glass fitted in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.


Memorials


Howard

There is a significant monument to the local Howard family, probably commissioned by Joanna, wife of the Reverend James Howard in 1685 and depicting several family members and described as one of the finest memorials in the county. Pevsner describes it as "splendidly large" and notes that the carved figures have no parallels in Pembrokeshire, suggesting that they may have been imported from Bristol. The authors criticise the modern repainting, undertaken "without research as to the original scheme".


Picton

Lieutenant-General Sir
Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and died at Waterloo. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respecte ...
, the most senior officer to die at the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
, has a memorial slab in the chancel floor and a Romanesque bust in the wall. Picton was born in Haverfordwest in 1758, and grew up at Poyston Hall in the parish. Other Pictons are memorialised in the church, including Thomas's brother John, also a general in the army, who is buried in the church, and another General Picton, William, who died in 1811 and was buried in the family vault in
St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Church of England, Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London ...
. John Picton's memorial is framed by a lion, a shield and banners, although Pevsner notes that the sculptor, Daniel Mainwaring of Carmarthen, had "clearly never seen a lion".


Others

There are numerous other 18th, 19th and 20th century monuments and memorials dating from 1665 to 1909 to local people from servant to architect to archbishop, this last being a brass plate to
William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...
, who was rector from 1622 to 1626, during his time as
Bishop of St Davids The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...
. There is a plaque remembering six parishioners who lost their lives during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.


References


External links

* – Additional images, including aerial
Further historical information and links on GENUKI
{{authority control Carew Rudbaxton