17421

 

II*  

Designated  

27/11/1953  

27/10/2000  

Church of St Cadoc  

 

Monmouthshire  

Whitecastle  

Raglan  

Penrhos  

341599  

211742  

 

In a gently sloping churchyard in the centre of village of Penrhos.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Although the present church is largely late C15 Perpendicular in style, the dedication to the Welsh Saint Cattwg suggests pre-Norman origins. Bradney claims that during the extensive Victorian restoration of 1848 the vicar, Arthur Montague Wyatt ‘denuded the church of much of its oak panelling, taking it to his residence, Cefn-y-glaigoed, where it now adorns the dining room'. N aisle, arcade and vestry were added in 1878 to designs by John Prichard, diocesan architect of Llandaff. The tower and porch were restored in 1905.  

Rubble stone, with some ashlar dressings; stone tiles, laid in diminishing courses. Nave, N aisle, chancel, W tower and S porch. Porch side walls are stone to a height of 2m; upper walls are timber-framed with arch braces from short wall posts to wall plate. Porch gable has scalloped bargeboards with ornamental finial; roof truss over entry is arch-braced with a cambered tie-beam. Inner pointed arched entrance doorway is chamfered and has C19 door with applied fillets and ornate strap hinges. To left of porch, nave S wall has late C15 2-light cinquefoil window with flat head. To right, is a C15 3-light cinquefoil with tracery of ribbed panels under a flat head, and then a C15 window with three ogee headed lights each with cinquefoils, and traceried lights under a flat head. Chancel S wall has similar but smaller 3-light window with ogee headed lights, and (to left) a pointed-arched chamfered doorway with C19 boarded door; a trefoil headed lancet; and a broad, squat buttress at the junction with the nave. C15 E window with 3-light trefoil and Perpendicular tracery. Chancel N wall has trefoil headed lancet. To right, C19 N aisle has lean-to roof. Side walls to left and right have C15 2-light and 3-light ogee headed windows with cinquefoils as described (presumably salvaged from nave N wall and relocated by Prichard in 1878). N aisle wall with (l to r) a pointed arched doorway, a buttress with offsets, a lancet pair with trefoils, a second buttress, and another lancet pair. W tower rises in three stages. Battlemented parapet with three merlons on each face projects on corbels. Each face of bell chamber has louvred 2-light openings with flat head. A string course runs across the middle tower. On the W side of the tower, a small single light window rises above the string, and at ground level is a large pointed arched doorway with chamfered stone surround and C20 oak door decorated with blind Perpendicular panels. On S side at ground-level is a single light trefoil.  

Plastered walls, encaustic tile floor. Nave and chancel have C15 wagon roofs, with moulded ribs and elaborately moulded wall plates; chancel roof with square bosses with floral paterae. Pointed tower arch has double chamfer which dies into walls on each side. Chancel arch is similar but broader. To left is a chamfered Tudor arched doorway with steps leading to the former rood loft. Nave N wall has C19 arcade of two double-chamfered pointed arches which spring each side from ribbed corbels and are supported in the centre by a circular column with moulded octagonal capital. Chancel piscina is chamfered with pointed arch and pyramid stops. At E end of N aisle is C19 wooden screen; lower part is boarded, above are tall open trefoil headed panels supported on slender columns with shaft rings, surmounted by an embattled cornice. Early C20 pews have rectangular ends with blind, Perpendicular traceried panels. Choir stall with carved fish at each end of sloping desk, also probably early C20. C19 communion rail has wrought iron supports with scrolled brackets. C19 font with deep octagonal bowl, supported by short compound pier of four shafts springing from chamfered octagonal plinth. Stained Glass: W window, probably of 1848, includes small crucifixion scene in centre light in style of Wailes; N chancel, angel and child, in memory of E J M Feetham; S chancel, window of 1848 with arms of archbishop of Llandaff. Few wall monuments survived the C19 restoration, and these are in the lower walls of the W tower, including: to James Davies (died 1788) and William Williams (died 1782).  

Included as small medieval church with good C15 character, including a fine interior.