The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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St Dial's Chapel

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00111g
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Cwmbran Central
Unitary authority : Torfaen
NGR : ST28419526
Site Type (preferred type first) : Medieval Church

Summary :
St Dials Chapel was identified in the 19th century as the St Tylull of the Llandaff Charters (LL16b), and subsequently of a medieval chapel. There is no firm evidence for either interpretation.

Description :
St Dials is now the site of a ruined post-medieval house (PRN 4516g), but it was suggested by Bradney (1923, 243) that it had once been the site of a chapel extant in c877, connected with Llantarnam Abbey, of which no record has been found. The site was identified in the 19th century as the St Tylull of LL216b (Arch Camb 1875, 96), but the modern interpretation of this charter is as relating to Saint-y-Nyll in S Glamorgan (Evans 1893, 376; Davies 1979, 119). No evidence of a former ecclesiastical building was seen in the present ruins when surveyed in 1959 (OS card ST 29 NE 14).
Williams (1976, 81) notes the foundations of a building 10ft x 8ft with walls walls 4 ft thick, and the remnants of an arch formerly visible on the N side; but says that there is no documentary evidence for a grange of Llantarnam here; he notes some connection with the abbey (Williams 2001, 304 no.70).
Brook (1988, 79) notes the existence of the chapel, but gives no documentary references.
Evans 2003: GGAT 73 Early-Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project database.

Little documented chapel on pilgrimage route from Llantarnam Abbey to Penrhys (on an old lane called St. Dial's Road). Perhaps on the site of an early medieval church mentioned in the Llandaff Charter. It could be an unidentified grange, or sub-unit of one of the surrounding granges (tithes for some of the Saint Dials farmstead were paid to the owner of Llanderfel
may indicate a sub-unit of that grange), occupying the centre ground of Magna Porta manor. Medieval barn remains and field systems with boundary banks still extant within Cwmbran urban development (Procter 2018).



Sources :
Bradney, J A , 1923 , A history of Monmouthshire. Vol III pt ii; The Hundred of Usk (part2)
Brook, D , 1988 , The early Christian church in Gwent , Monmouthshire Antiquary : 5 : 67-84
Davies, W , 1978 , An early Welsh microcosm
Davies, W , 1979 , The Llandaff charters
Evans, J G , 1893 , The text of the Book of Llandaff
Procter, E. , 2018 , The topographical legacy of the medieval monastery: evolving perceptions and realities of monastic landscapes in the southern Welsh Marches
Williams, D H , 1976 , White monks in Gwent and the borders
Williams, D H , 2001 , The Welsh Cistercians
Evans EM, 2003-04, GGAT 73 Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project
01/MM Record Card/OS//1957/ST 29 NE 14/
03/PH Desc Text//Rees WJ/1840/The Liber Landavensis/pp467,471-4
02/PH Desc Text///1875/Arch Camb/14th ser.V6.p96

Events :
E007994 : Former Police Training College, Greenmeadow Way, Cwmbran (year : 2016)
E008459 : Land at St Dials, Cwmbran, Torfaen (year : 2021)
E008475 : Former British Ironworks, Talywain, Aberyschan, Torfaen (year : 2022)

Related records
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 4516g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00624g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 12213g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00578m

Compiled date : 12-03-2004


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