St Mary's Church (Kidwelly)

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View from the north

The St Mary's Church is a parish church in Kidwelly in South Wales Carmarthenshire . The former priory church , protected as a Grade I cultural monument, is the largest parish church in South West Wales.

history

Even before the Norman conquest, there was a church dedicated to the Welsh Bishop Cadog on the site of the current church. Between 1107 and 1115, Bishop Roger of Salisbury founded a Benedectine priory as a subsidiary of Sherborne Abbey . The priory, the building of which was presumably on the west side of the church, remained a small and relatively poor monastery, in which only one monk lived in 1377. After several destruction by wars and sieges, the current church was built around the middle of the 14th century. The church was rebuilt several times, after 1481 the western end of the nave was shortened. During the Reformation the priory was dissolved in 1539, at which time two monks lived in the monastery in addition to the prior. The church patronage passed to the English crown, since then the church has been used as an Anglican parish church. In 1854, George Gilbert Scott examined the structure of the church. After it was damaged again by a lightning strike, the church was thoroughly restored from 1885 to 1889. Today the parish belongs to the Church in Wales and is subordinate to the Diocese of Saint David's .

Building description

The church is in a large walled churchyard in the center of Kidwelly. The three-story tower is to the north of the ship and has a pointed stone spire, which is unusual for Welsh churches. The top of the church tower was damaged by lightning strikes in 1481, 1681, 1854 and 1884. The church is built of quarry stone with frames made of oolite and old red sandstone in the decorated style and covered with a slate roof. There is a gabled vestibule on the south side. The single-nave , four-bay nave and the three-bay choir were originally plastered, today the masonry is visible. The church has a wooden barrel vault from the late 19th century. The northern part of the low transept is used as the Lady Chapel, the southern part as the sacristy. The furnishings include several grave monuments and slabs as well as a font made in 1658. Originally from St Mary's Church in Swansea , the organ, built in 1762, was brought to Kidwelly in 1907.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cadw Listed Building Database Record: Church of Saint Mary. Retrieved April 10, 2014 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 44 ′ 11 "  N , 4 ° 18 ′ 18.7"  W.