St.Cadoc's Church - Llangattock Lingoed
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Llangattock Lingoed is a superb example of a pre-Norman settlement. The site is a secluded hilltop overlooking a fertile valley all the traditional features of a Celtic monastic outpost. In the 6th to 8th centuries, it lay across routes to Dyfrig's monasteries at Erging / Archenfield and Henllan (Herefordshire) and another monastic house at Welsh Bicknor. The first church on this site may have been of timber, wattle and daub and thatch. The cell would have been very small and exclusively for the use of the resident monk's monastic duties. Services would have been in the open and Baptisms in the nearby stream. Later, the building may have been stone. The church is dedicated to St. Cadoc, from whom the parish derives its name. The early medieval church By the year 1100, the Normans had conquered this part of Wales and Llangattock Lingoed was under Marcher lordship. Between 1150 and 1200 the boom in church building started and a new style of architecture began to evolve. We know from ancient documents that the rents from the "vicarage" (vicar's acres) and the manor of Llangattock Lingoed were given to the Priory at Abergavenny when it was founded in 1090 and a "modern" church was here by 1254. The locally quarried stonework was originally rendered and lime-washed to preserve it. This had fallen into disrepair when the Victorians removed the last vestiges in 1878. Restoring the exterior finish in 2003 means that the church you see today is as it was for possibly 600 years. Our present nave may originally have been a pre-Norman single-cell church. Some of the masonry is undateable, but the ancient Piscina for washing vessels at Mass (situated to the right of the chancel arch) indicates that the chancel may have been added later. The internal arches (13th or 14th century) also suggest that the chancel and tower were later. When the chancel was added, an altar for saying Masses for the dead (a chantry) may have stood to the right of the arch with another altar on the left of the arch. This has a squint (hagioscope) for the chantry priest to see the movements of the priest at the High Altar. The Normans also introduced the parish system and a reformed monasticism, under which St. Cadoc's Church became affiliated to the Benedictine Priory at Abergavenny. By the 12th century it was close to the route between Abbey Dore (Cistercian) and its daughter house at Llantarnam. Llanfair Chantry, which was attached to Abbey Dore, stood a mile away. The church from the 1200s to the 1500s was decorated throughout in strong colours depicting Biblical and moralistic scenes. A fragment of the decoration, which would have covered the walls, can be seen to the right of the main door. The red and yellow ochre colours are typical of early medieval wall painting. The overlife-size figure of St. George on a horse, killing the dragon, can be dated to the mid 1400s by the style of armour. Traces of red paint can be seen on the stonework of the Chancel arch and elsewhere. In the 1600s some windows were enlarged and new windows inserted. |
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