Location Monmouthshire Denomination Church in Wales Phone +44 1873 880378 | Country Wales Vicar(s) Rev. Dr. Jean Prosser Diocese Diocese of Monmouth | |
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Address The Rectory, Abergavenny NP7 9DW, United Kingdom Similar Kilpeck Church, St Michael's Church, St Mary & St Thomas a Becket, Belmont Abbey, The Diocese | ||
The Church of St Nicholas in the village of Grosmont, Monmouthshire, Wales, is a 13th-century parish church rescued from dereliction in the nineteenth century. It is a Grade I listed building as of 1 September 1956.
History and architecture
The church is a "noble Early English building crowned by an octagonal Decorated tower and spire". It is built of Old Red Sandstone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. In the late 19th century the church was close to collapse and was saved through an extensive reconstruction in 1869–79 by J. P. Seddon. The work was largely funded by John Etherington Welch Rolls of The Hendre, a local landowner and benefactor.
The church has an "ambitious cruciform plan" indicative of its status as the church for Grosmont Castle, with which it is broadly contemporaneous, and for the new borough of Grosmont.
The interior is "a shock to the modern visitor who encounters an uncluttered medieval interior dominated by the arcades and roof". The unfurnished nave demonstrates the "strong early thirteenth century arcades to the full". Tree-ring dating of the timbers which form the roof show that they were felled in the period 1214–1244, which confirms the exceptionally early date of the roof's construction. It is considered "the only surviving pre-1400 church roof in Wales".
A stained-glass window in the chancel commemorates John Etherington Welch Rolls. In the transept is an unfinished memorial to a knight, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century – "a rare survival of great technical interest".
Morning prayers at held at the church each Tuesday, as are Sunday services.