18213

 

II  

Designated  

06/02/1997  

06/02/1997  

Redberth Parish Church  

 

Pembrokeshire  

Carew  

Tenby  

Redberth  

208237  

204177  

 

At E side of the village of Redberth, in a small churchyard surrounded by rubblestone walls with ashlar gatepiers. A fragment of a cross with chamfered limbs stands near to the Church door.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The Church of Redberth is of unknown dedication. The present building was built in 1841 to replace one described as 'very dilapidated'. It was designed by George Brown of Craig y Borion, Amroth. The campaign to have the Church rebuilt was led by Ann Pitney Thomas, the youngest daughter of the Rev. T S J Thomas of Begelly. Miss Thomas (1802-1885) also founded the school at Redberth and was the schoolmistress. The Incorporated Church Building Society contributed £20. In 1912 the same Society granted £50 for reseating and repairs.  

A church of simple rectangular plan with a small combined porch, belfry and tower at the W end. It is an economical design but has been given a crenellated tower as a mark of its Anglican status. The chancel roof is slightly lower than that of the nave. The roofs of both nave and chancel are of slate. Local rubble masonry with dressed quoins and window surrounds. Dressed limestone is used also in the porch and the string courses and crenallations of the tower, with a pecked finish and chisel-draughted margins. The churchyard gatepiers are in a similar finish. The stonework framing the windows is of oolitic limestone. All the windows are of the lancet type. The belfry lights have slate louvres. The tombstone of Miss Thomas is in the SW corner of the churchyard.  

Nave and a short chancel of similar width, separated by a low chancel arch. The form of the arch is in the local tradition, springing from a low level without imposts, and undecorated. The E window is a broad single lancet depicting the Good Shepherd, in memory of William Edwards, churchwarden. The S window of the chancel has a piscina built into its side. The pews and pulpit are in a uniform simplified Gothic style of joinery. The pulpit is at the S side. There is an unusually wide central space between the two ranges of pews, and in it the font is given a prominent position near to the entrance porch. The font is said to be Norman, retained from the original church, but it has been re-tooled and its decoration is in C19 Gothic style.  

Listed for the tower and for the unspoilt early C19 interior, an interesting example of pre-Ecclesiological Movement Gothic.