1976

 

II*  

Designated  

09/01/1956  

15/03/2000  

Church of Saint Mapley/ Mabli  

 

Monmouthshire  

Gobion Fawr  

Abergavenny  

Llanvapley  

336679  

214088  

 

Situated at E side of Llanvapley village, on N side of road.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Anglican parish church dedicated to St Mabli, mostly C15. Restored and reseated 1861 by A.M. Wyatt of Monmouth, fittings including font cover, pulpit, stalls, altar and rails by E.M. Bruce Vaughan of Cardiff 1904. ICBS plaque in porch records restorations in 1861 and 1950. Sir Stephen Glynne described the church in 1861, mentioning the E window and cinquefoil but in 1854 the cinquefoil was described as a 'plain circle'. Bradney noted two bells of 1626 and from the parish records that the church was reroofed in 1758 and a churchyard gate made in 1763.  

Anglican parish church, rubble stone with sandstone dressings and stone-tiled roofs. W tower, nave, S porch, chancel and C19 N vestry. C19 coping to gables and cross finials in Bath stone. W tower has pink stone quoins, corbelled embattled parapet with corner rainwater spouts. Two-light small flat-headed Perp bell-openings on 3 sides, stone louvres and arched heads to lights, small loop on E side. Small loops at mid height on S and W sides. W front has also 2-light window with flush Y-tracery over plain chamfered pointed door. Nave roof is lower than the crease on the E face of tower. Porch, much restored, has pointed chamfered entry in pink sandstone and small cross-shaped opening on E wall. Timber gates, plastered walls and ceiling, 2 bench seats and stoup in corner by door. C19 outer door and double doors within. Nave S wall is battered at base W of porch, has moulded late medieval timber eaves, and projects at former rood site to right of porch with big Perp 3-light window, deep-set in hollow-moulded flat-headed surround. Nave N has moulded eaves, battered wall base and large Perp flat-headed 3-light window, deep-set in hollow-moulded surround, ogee heads to lights. At left is projection for rood with roof carried over. Chancel has moulded timber eaves boards on chamfered stone course. S narrow chamfered pointed door, flat-headed Perp style 3-light window, much renewed and single C19 lancet. E wall C19 restored pair of lancets with cinquefoil roundel over. N side has added lean-to vestry and one chamfered lancet to left.  

Plastered walls, W tower arch, single chamfer, with C19 timber infill. Moulded C15 wallplates, panelled segmental pointed roof of 8 x 10 panels with ogee-moulded ribs. S door with C19 ashlar head, S window recessed, splayed to right, straight to left with big corbel. N narrow depressed-arched rood-stair door with stone winding stairs within, the upper door blocked. Single-chamfer chancel arch. Corbel for rood screen each side. Similar chancel roof of 8 x 6 panels, moulded wallplates less deep than those in nave. C19 N vestry door, with triangular-headed recess over, presumably a window head as similar head to lancet to right and also to S lancet and S door. Renewed E window of 2 lancets, pointed recess each side. Fine trefoil headed plastered piscina with double bowl on paired conical supports. Rosette in one bowl, other plain. Bowl font with zigzag frieze, rounded stem with column shafts on round base. Floor slab with foliate cross and initials WL SL TL WL. Timber 8-sided pulpit, possibly C18 altered in C19, the panels framed with rebated moulding. C19 bench pews. Altar rails dated CM Wrdn 1724 with moulded rail and base, four turned posts and turned balusters. By S door plaque to Anne Williams d1780 signed James Jones, with 3 crude flat urns and winged cherub head beneath. Chancel S crude memorial to William Parry, barrister, 1703, with much scroll work, winged cherub head below. Late C17 and early C18 carved floor slabs to William James d1731, J. Powell d 1716, Elizabeth Parry d 1716 and Peter Powell of Cefngwyn d 1696. Painted plaque to John Williams d1767, with winged cherubs upper corners, flowers lower corners. Painted plaque to Thomas Lewis d1769 and Rev. John Lewis d 1787, signed by J. Brule.  

Listed at Grade II* as a well-preserved medieval parish church with fine tower, some original tracery, and good interior detail including roofs, piscina and later pulpit and communion rails.