The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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St Mary's Church, Portskewett

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00506g
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Portskewett
Unitary authority : Monmouthshire
NGR : ST49898810
Site Type (preferred type first) : Medieval Church
Status : listed building I

Summary :
Portskewett is first mentioned in 1254 (Brook, 1988, 83). The church consists of nave with W gallery, separate chancel, W tower with projecting stair turret, and S porch. The earliest datable features are probably of Norman date, including the blocked N door. The nave has an Early English S window and Perpendicular NE nas S windows. The tower is probabaly post-medieval. Victorian restoration work is limited in extent.

Description :
Portskewett is first mentioned in 1254 (Brook, 1988, 83). The churchyard is a curved polygon, the long straight sides being those adjacent to the roads. The church consists of nave with W gallery, separate chancel, W tower with projecting stair turret, and S porch. A thickening of the wall in the NW corner of the chancel suggests that there may have been a rood stair here in the thickness of the wall, but as it is totally obscured by plaster it is impossible to be certain. The building is constructed from local fine-grained grey and red limestone, and coarse sandstone grading into conglomerate, mainly yellow in colour, but with streaks of red. This sandstone/conglomerate is used for some of the dressings.

The earliest datable features are probably of Norman date. The blocked N door has ashlar jambs and a square head, the lintel of which is carved with two concentric semicircles to give the effect of a tympanum. Within these a Maltese cross is carved in low relief, and at the end of the 19th century two superimposed cable mouldings were visible forming the diameters of the semicircles; erosion has now obliterated these, along the consecration crosses on the jambs (Anon 1885, 334-5). The S door, which has a square head with massive lintel and a much taller semicircular rear arch, was alleged to be `of the same period and very similar' but the present dressings appear to be recent. The small window in the N wall of the chancel has a semi-circular head. The chancel arch has a semicircular head rising from projecting impost blocks, but the dressings of this are completely covered in plaster; the chancel also has on the N wall a round-headed lancet with a deeply splayed two-centred rear arch.

The next datable feature is the Y-traceried S window of the nave, of about 1300, unless the tower arch, with a plain 2-centred head, is earlier. The NE and SE windows of the nave are of 15/16th century date; the tower, if all of one date, is probably slightly later, since the lights of the window in the lower stage of the W wall have uncusped segmental heads, and the other openings have four-centred heads, again without cusping. A note in the church notes that the churchwardens' accounts record the construction of the gallery in 1818, but the present front and supports appear to be 20th century. Given its size and position, the NW nave window cannot have been added before the construction of the gallery. Few of the openings have been renewed, the exceptions being the Victorian E window, inserted in a medieval opening, and the 20th century renewal of the two doors of the porch. Given the recorded deterioration in the condition of the N door in the last 110 years, it seems probable that this had been concealed behind limewash of render until the latter part of the 19th century.

The internal fittings are Victorian or later, although there are two mutilated stone bowls loose in the porch, one of which may be from a square font. Wright (1940a, 47) notes a single bell dated 1699.

References:
Anon, 1885, Report of annual meeting at Newport, Mon Archaeol Cambrensis 5 ser 2, 333-41
Bradney, J A, 1929, A history of Monmouthshire. Vol IV pt i, The Hundred of Caldicot (part 1), 100-2
Brook, D, 1988, The early Christian church in Gwent, Monmouthshire Antiq 5, 67-84
Wright, A, 1940a, The church bells of Monmouthshire v, Archaeol Cambrensis, 95, 36-47 (47)
Evans 1997 GGAT 51 Historic Churches Project

Sources :
Connors, O. J. , 2013 , The Effects of Anglo-Norman Lordship upon the Landscape of Post-Conquest Monmouthshire
Dunning, R and Howell, J , 2005 , Waterfronts in southeast Wales: Phase 2, Volume 2, gazetteer ( © GGAT)
Evans, E M , 1997 , Gwent Historic Churches Survey: Churches in the Diocese of Monmouth, Deanery of Netherwent
Pannett, A. & Hadley, A. , 2015 , Oak Grove Farm, Crick, Monmouthshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Geophysical Survey
The Handley Partnership , HAAbase built heritage assessment system: Buildings at Risk database
p178-85
02/PM Desc Text//Bradney JA/1929/Hist of Monm/V4 pt1 p100
06/MM Record Card/OS//1957/ST 48 NE 25/
07/PM Mention///1979/Arch Camb/Report of the Annual Meeting 1978
01/PM Map//Rees W/1932/S.Wales & Border in 14th Cnt/SE Sheet
05/PM Desc Text//Evans CJO/1953/Mon Hist & Topog/p453-4
04/PH Desc Text///1883/Arch/V48 p166
03/PH Desc Text///1885/Arch Camb/ser5 V2 p334-5
Evans EM, 2003-04, GGAT 73 Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Sites Project
EM Evans (1998) GGAT 51/81 Welsh Historic Churches Survey: Glamorgan and Gwent

Events :
E001386 : Early medieval ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales desk based assessment (year : 2003)
E003901 : Church Farm, Caldicot (year : 1993)
E006631 : Old School, Portskewett, Monmouthshire (year : 2021)
E007268 : Land at Southbrook Farm, Sudbrook, Monmouthshire (year : 2015)
E008773 : GGAT52: Monmouthshire Historic Settlements, Caldicot & Raglan (year : 1999)

Related records
Church in Wales Reference No. 5029 https://churchheritagecymru.org.uk/CHR/ChurchDetails.aspx?id=4179
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 08244g
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 00507g

Compiled date : 12-03-2004


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