1943

 

II  

Designated  

09/01/1956  

29/01/1998  

Church of St Michael  

 

Monmouthshire  

Crucorney  

Abergavenny  

Llanvihangel Crucorney  

332505  

220587  

 

In the centre of Llanvihangel Crucorney village.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

There are some indications of a Norman origin in the C12 in the west wall of the nave. The tower base and the chancel may be C13/C14. The tower was probably heightened in the C16 when the porch was built. There was a refitting by William Powell of Abergavenny in 1833-5, but nothing of this seems to survive. The Victorian restoration dates from the 1884-7 (windows, chancel arch etc.). The nave roof was removed in 1974 and only partially rebuilt. In 1844 it was transferred from the Diocese of St Davids to Llandaff, and in 1921 to Monmouth. The historic parish was expanded into the much larger parish of Llanvihangel Crucorney in 1969, when Cwmyoy, Llanthony and Oldcastle were added.  

Red sandstone rubble with some ashlar dressings, stone tile roofs. Nave, chancel, west tower, south porch. The nave is in four and a half bays, of which only the two eastern ones are roofed. The nave south wall has the porch in the first bay. This is gabled with a stilted entrance arch and an elaborate waggon roof with moulded ribs and rose and fleur-de-lys bosses. To the right of this are three paired lancet windows with dripmoulds over, and a single one, the third along is a late C20 copy, the others are Victorian. Corner buttresses with off-sets. The north wall has a 3-light flat headed C17 type mullioned window, but this may be an early C20 insertion. The other windows are as the south wall. The ghost of the previous nave roof shows it to have been a much steeper pitch than the present one. The chancel has a C20 4-light C17 type window on the south wall, also a small pointed arch doorway. The north wall is blind, the east wall has a stepped triple lancet with dripmould, plinth, corner buttresses with off-sets, roof verge. Four stage tapered tower with paired louvred openings on each face at the bell stage, otherwise only small chamfered windows at each stage. Heightened and given castellated parapet, partly rebuilt, with two merlons on each face and a gargoyle projecting at each corner. Polished red granite tomb to Rev Price, died 1875, in the angle between the porch and the nave. This has wrought iron spear head railings with vases on the main stanchions, and these are attached at either end to the church itself. The church stands in a churchyard with a good variety of well preserved early and mid C19 memorials, with some examples of locally carved headstones and good chest tombs of which two have been selected for individual listing.  

The interior of the unroofed part shows nothing but rubble walls and the inside of the windows, small tower arch and lancet above. The roofed nave and chancel also have stripped walls, modern ceiling to nave, 1887 waggon roof to chancel, chancel arch and east window of same date, also the pews. Notable wall memorial in the chancel of 1667 to Richard Sidnee; and there is a remarkable relief tomb slab in the nave, rather weathered from being outside but seemingly Elizabethan.  

Included as an historic church with surviving medieval fabric, including a good tower.