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Church in Monmouthshire, Wales From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church of Our Lady and St Michael in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, is a Roman Catholic parish church. A Grade II* listed building, it was built between 1858 and 1860 to a design by Benjamin Bucknall.
Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire | |
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![]() Our Lady and St Michael | |
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51.8256°N 3.0204°W | |
Location | Abergavenny, Monmouthshire |
Country | Wales |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Website | |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Founded | 1858 |
Founder(s) | John Baker Gabb |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade II* |
Designated | 27 September 2001 |
Architect(s) | Benjamin Bucknall |
Style | Decorated Gothic |
Groundbreaking | 1858 |
Completed | 1860 |
Administration | |
Diocese | Cardiff |
Parish | Abegavenny |
Abergavenny remained a Catholic stronghold in the years after the Reformation, and its first Catholic church built after the Reformation was on Frogmore Street.[1] This was replaced as the town's main Catholic church by Our Lady and St Michael's in 1860.[1] The construction of the church was funded by a local solicitor, John Baker Gabb, and the architect was Benjamin Bucknall.[2] Bucknall was engaged on the building of Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire, for another Catholic client, William Leigh, and, aged only 25, was seen as a coming man in Catholic architectural circles. Bucknall's intellectual and architectural influences were the work and ideas of Augustus Pugin – he converted to Catholicism in the year of Pugin's death – and the French Gothic Revival architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, with whom Bucknall was in regular correspondence.[3]
The church is constructed in Decorated Gothic style, with an accompanying Tudor Gothic presbytery.[2] Built of Old Red Sandstone, with Bath Stone dressings and slate roofs,[1] the church comprises a nave, North and South aisles and a chancel.[4] An intended "grand tower and spire" were never built.[2]
Simon Jenkins describes the church as "a bold composition of church and presbytery."[5] The interior of the church is largely unchanged since its construction with all its original Victorian furniture and furnishings intact.[1] The presbytery is similarly unspoilt.[1] The church also has "an exceptionally fine collection of medieval and later vestments".[4]
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