23800

 

II  

Designated  

27/07/2000  

27/07/2000  

Group of Six Memorials in centre of old Churchyard at Llanelly Church  

 

Monmouthshire  

Llanelly  

 

Llanelly  

323226  

214824  

 

Group of six tombs loosely grouped to centre of churchyard, on south side of church.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Erected at various dates between c. 1860 and 1876. Unusual memorials consisting of stone slabs with fluted iron legs, probably cast at the local Clydach Ironworks, which closed in 1877. This type of memorial, a simplification of the sarcophagus type is often found in the area (several at Llangattock, Brecs), the feet usually of stone rather than cast-iron as at Llanelly.  

Memorials with large sandstone slabs, each carried on four cast-iron legs. The legs are ribbed and taper from fluted feet to caps. Slabs are facetted to central ridge, most with lettering on the four faces. Some inscriptions are lichen-covered. Approximately central to churchyard is memorial: to Elias Thomas of Clydach d. February 1st 1861 (41); his wife Jane d. October 10th 1867 (39), and their daughters Mary Jane Prichard d. 1862 and Anne Andrew d. July 22nd 1861. Six metres E , W of lawned pathway is a similar pair. Southernmost memorial to Sarah Emily, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Jones d. 28th January 1857 (1) and Elizabeth her mother, b. 20th December 1834, d. 31st July 1861. Adjacent memorial is lower and has squat moulded convex iron feet on small plinth-blocks. Eroded top with inscriptions in Welsh to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Jane Davies of Brynmawr d. 22nd September 1858, and her father John, d. 1875. On the E side of the lawned path, immediately SE of the above pair is memorial to Mary Aubrey +1891, with earlier 1850s dates under holly tree. Some six metres to the N of the pair is memorial to: Rachel Jones d. 18th July 1874 (69); her husband, John Jones d. 24 July 1879 (78), and their son John. Iron feet stand on a cast-iron base-plate. Some six metres NE, on E side of lawned path is memorial to John Reynallt of Llanelly, pattern-maker at the Clydach Ironworks d. 1876 aged 72; also inscription to son, Joshua. Base as above.  

 

Listed as unusually well-designed late C19 memorials, utilising locally-produced cast-iron; a detail rarely encountered elsewhere in the area. Group value with Church and Cross.