The Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust
Historic Environment Record
 

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St Mary's Church, Caldicot

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 00509g
Trust : Glamorgan Gwent
Community : Caldicot
Unitary authority : Monmouthshire
NGR : ST4831688629
Site Type (preferred type first) : Medieval Church
Status : listed building I

Summary :
Caldicot is a pre-Norman foundation first recorded in c 895 (Brook, 1988, 77). There are however no surviving indications of this; the churchyard is irregular and the dedication is to the Virgin Mary.

Description :
Caldicot is a pre-Norman foundation first recorded in c 895 (Brook, 1988, 77). There are however no surviving indications of this; the churchyard is irregular and the dedication is to the Virgin Mary. The church consists of nave; chancel; N aisle, central tower situated between the nave and chancel, with the ground floor used as the choir; two-storey S porch with external stair turret; and a vestry which has been extended twice. It appears originally to have had a rood loft, since the doorway at the E end of the N wall of the nave, now used as an entrance to the vestry, is medieval and apparently in its original position; there is also a deep horizontal socket on the E jamb of the medieval SE nave window, possibly with some function involved with the support of the loft.
The church is constructed from squared or angular blocks set in fairly regular courses. The materials used are mainly local fine-grained limestones (dark grey and shelly; pale grey), with conglomerate and coarse red sandstone. Coarse yellow sandstone was used for quoins, and a fairly soft fawn conglomerate and coarse sandy limestone (Bath stone) for the dressings to doors and windows, the latter mainly for the Victorian work. The outer facings of the porch are in conglomerate ashlar and the inner faces of rubble. It is not generally possible to make clear distinctions between the fabric used in different phases, with the exception of the Victorian and later work, which is in the normal squared rockfaced blocks set in rhythmical snecked courses.
The Victorian period saw the complete reconstruction of the N aisle, and the replacement of two of the nave windows and the E window as well as the S and W doors to the nave. It is fortunate therefore that accounts of the church before its reconstruction were published by Coxe, Freeman and Glynne; these constitute the only clear evidence that the N aisle replaces a medieval one rather than being a Victorian addition, as well as suggesting that Victorian windows and doors are probably copies of those they replaced. Coxe (1801, 22) describes the church as consisting of `a nave, a side aisle to the north, with a massive tower in the middle, and a chancel...the nave is separated from the side aisle by five pointed arches on clustered piers; the windows are ornamented gothic'. He also notes in the porch the figure of the Virgin in the niche over the S door and `in a recess in the wall...a headless recumbent figure in stone'. Freeman some fifty years later noted that the tower had `a quadrangular capping and no battlement'; and a W door; the arcade was Perpendicular, the pillars being `channelled pier[s] with four attached shafts, the mouldings being continuous', similar in form to those at Caerleon, Christchurch and Magor (Freeman 1851a, 106, 109). He also describes the W window as being `of a piece with the chancel windows' which consisted of `two cinquefoiled ogee lights...placed together under a label [sic], following the shape of their outer sides but with a square head (Freeman 1851a, 111-2). Glynne's notes (Glynne 1902, 84-6) are undated, but apparently made before the restoration, since he records a trefoiled stoup on the outside of the W wall next to the W doorway, which was `Perpendicular, of plain but good work'. There are however some discrepancies between his account and Freeman's, and with some (apparently unaltered) features which can be observed today. In the chancel, which he describes as being Perpendicular, he noted an E window of three lights and on the S wall a small door between two windows, the `one on the south [having] something of a castellated character, with a kind of flattened trefoil head of two lights. The others are square-headed'. He also notes square-headed belfry windows. He is however the only authority for windows of the aisle and nave and the E window; he describes the aisle windows as being `uniform Perpendicular, of three lights', but in the nave notes only the square-headed window with tracery; the two were divided by `five Pointed arches, springing from light lozenge piers with hollow mouldings and small shafts attached'.

The earliest surviving part of the building appears to be the bottom of the tower. The nave and chancel would appear to be of early 14th century date from the form of the W window of the former and the S windows of the latter which, although entirely replaced, can be deduced from Freeman's account to be accurate copies of the originals. The W window is nearly identical with the E windows at Redwick and Rogiet. All the other windows are Victorian except for the SW window of the nave, which is probably of 15/16th century, but the antiquarian descriptions suggest that the Victorian openings are likely to be reasonably accurate copies of the medieval ones, particularly in the case of the W door, which is identical with the porch door at Redwick and the W door at Undy. The upper part of the tower seems also to have been added in the 15th/16th century, and there were also at least two periods of work in the porch, This was originally shallower than now, and had two storeys, with the staircase partly contained within an external stair turret; the floor was probably supported on the corbels, again like those at Redwick, which are too closely spaced for a vault. The present S facade is an addition, as can be seen from the straight joints in the E and W walls c 1m from the corners; this facade is for a single-storey porch, and is similar in the detail of the doors, to the porches at Usk.

A major campaign of restoration was carried out in 1859. This is probably when the N aisle was rebuilt; the windows may have been replaced at the same time, but the fact that some of them appear to be close copies of the originals may point to some later Victorian restoration work. A photograph in the church shows that the Victorian interior was elaborately painted, but these decorations have been removed apart from limited traces still visible on the dressings of the chancel arch and the adjoining door. However, most of the Victorian internal fittings have now been replaced. The inscriptions noted by Bradney are no longer to be seen with the exception of the first two, which are in the vestry. Wright (1937, 309-10) records a peal of eight bells, one being of mid 15th century date, two 17th century recast in the 19th century and the rest dating to the 19th century. (Evans 2003)


Sources :
Evans, E M , 2003 , Early Medieval Ecclesiastical sites in Southeast Wales: Desk based assessment
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
Wright A. , 1937 , The Church Bells of Monmouthshire. I. , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 92 : 294-310
05/MM Record Card/OS//1957/ST 48 NE 27/
06/PM Desc Text//Crossley & Ridgway FH&MH/1959/Arch Camb/V108 p32
07/MM Photo/GGAT/Lewis W/1980//
04/PM Desc Text//Evans CJO/1953/Monm Hist & Topog/p253-4
03/PH Desc Text///1893/Cliffton Ant Club Proc/V3 p83
02/PM Desc Text//Bradney JA/1929/Hist of Monm/V4 pt1 p121
01/PM Map//Rees W/1932/S.Wales & Border in 14th Cnt/SE Sheet
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)
E006781 : Land to East of Church Road, Caldicot, Monmouthshire (year : 2020)

Related records
Church in Wales Reference No. 4656 https://churchheritagecymru.org.uk/CHR/ChurchDetails.aspx?id=4079
GGAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 16470g

Compiled date : 12-03-2004


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