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Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth
St Thomas' Church, Overmonnow, Monmouth
Location	Monmouth, Monmouthshire
Country	Wales
Denomination	Church in Wales
Website	http://www.monmouthparishes.org/index.php?page=St-Thomas-the-Martyr
Architecture
Completed	circa 1180
Administration
Diocese	Monmouth
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev David McGladdery

The Church of St Thomas the Martyr at Overmonnow, Monmouth, south east Wales, is located beside the medieval Monnow Bridge across the River Monnow. It dates from circa 1180, and has a fine 12th century Norman chancel arch, though the exterior was largely rebuilt in the early 19th century.

History and architecture

The building is constructed of Old Red Sandstone. Dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, it became a chapel-of-ease to St Mary's Priory Church as it did not have its own parish. It is listed in a papal edict by Pope Urban III in 1186. It is thought to have been there in 1170 although Charles Heath in 1800 reported evidence of earlier Saxon design in the shape of the architecture.

St Thomas' was substantially damaged by the same fire that damaged Monnow Bridge during the series of uprisings against Henry III by his barons. This Battle of Monmouth in 1233 required the church to be repaired by using over a dozen oaks supplied by the Constable in St Briavels in Gloucestershire. The wood was delivered by royal command from the Forest of Dean the following year. In the year 1256 anchorites were living in St Thomas's.

John Gilbert, Bishop of Hereford found a leaking vestry roof that was being ignored by the parish in 1397. In 1610 the church was still small with a tower and no one appears to have paid much attention to it as over 400 years after Gilbert's report, in 1829, Bishop Huntingford's inspection recorded the church as "this dilapidated and forsaken church". This latter reference also shows the disproportionately small turret placed above the west gable when, in 1830, St Thomas's ceased to be a chapel of rest and it was given its own parish distinct from St Mary. Major restoration and extention of the church was completed by the London architect Thomas Henry Wyatt, who added box pews with raised galleries. The oak galleries, on both sides above the nave, are still present today. The vestries were constructed in 1887/8.

The impressive dog's tooth Norman chancel arch is still untouched and the piscina in the south wall, and two doorways on the opposite wall also appear to be original. The font on the south wall is decorated with crude images of faces, birds and a serpent in a Garden of Eden theme. It appears to be an unusually well preserved 12th century font, and carries a label that uses the word "early", but is now thought by historians to be a 19th century pastiche. A second plain font may date from the 15th century. Further work by the Welsh architect John Prichard was completed in 1875. The west turret was replaced by a bell arch. The church was last restored in 1989-91. On the east side beside the road there is a garden of rest with a calvary cross. The church sits on land between the road and the river Monnow and a contemporary ceramic mosaic has been installed by Monmouth Town Council. The circular plinth is made of 40 tiles that illustrate and and commemorate the Millennium showing over 2,000 years of local history.

Gallery

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  St.Thomas's Church nave
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  general view
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  general view
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  general view

References

Category:History of Monmouthshire Category:Anglican churches in Wales Category:12th-century church buildings