Service Times
Sunday
11:00am- Holy Eucharist (Every 4th Sunday)
St Cadoc’s is open daily to visitors – we look forward to welcoming you soon.
St Cadoc’s Church is found on the Offa’s Dyke footpath which passes through the churchyard.
Walkers are welcome to use the tea/coffee and milk provided.
There is also a portaloo in the glebe-land, not far from the church.
Contact
St Cadoc’s Church is currently without a vicar. For all queries, please contact the Grosmont PA:
History
Llangattock Lingoed is an 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. 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 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. 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.
As well as highly coloured walls, the church had brilliantly coloured glass throughout. The oldest window is on the north side of the nave. The windows in the east and south walls have evidence of five glazing schemes in different patterns of leading and coloured glass. The window by the font is Victorian (1878).
The great Rood Screen and loft ran across the church separating the chancel from the nave and separating the clergy from the people. Until Protestantism replaced the Roman Catholic faith, lay people did not go beyond this division. They would receive Holy Communion at Christmas. Easter and Whitsun through the screen standing in strict social order, starting with the gentry. The great bressumer beam (late 1400s) that supported the Rood loft with its Crucifix and figures of St. Mary and St. John on either side is still in place. The doorway and stairwell leading to the Rood loft can be seen by the organ.
The Reformation ordered by Henry VIII and consolidated by Queen Elizabeth I dramatically changed the liturgy and services of the Old Church. Church buildings also changed to reflect the new theology. The Rood screen and loft were removed and over the next 100 years the wall paintings were covered and much of the stained glass destroyed.
By the 17th century, Edward Morgan, Gent. of Ty Mawr (Great House) was the most important man in the parish his family pew can been seen near the organ. When he died without issue the estate passed to James Tudor, on condition that he took the name Morgan. His signature appears on the church accounts throughout the early 1700s. The other box pew dated 1634 near the altar probably belonged to the Prichard family of Gelli-uchaf (Upper Kellye). Up to this time the church had no pews apart perhaps from a few benches against the walls for the elderly and infirm everyone would stand or kneel. In 1820, 16 pews seating 4 people each were installed.
During the 1800s the interior of the church again changed. A new set of three bells was installed in 1829, although the Church had bells from 1400. The bells were cast by N.R.WESTCOTT OF BRISTOL, who is not known for any other bells so these may be unique. Each bell was fitted with iron peg stays and latchet sliders, which are no longer used. The bells were repaired and re-hung in 2003 and the historical fittings preserved in the tower.
A vicarage was built in 1829 and endowed with 16 acres of Glebe land from which the parson derived his income. A new church school was built in 1848 with funds raised by James Davies, the Monmouthshire schoolmaster. A plaque honouring the achievements of this remarkable man is to the left of the altar.
By 1874 the church was again in need of major repair. The work soon evolved into a major re-ordering of the church. It was to be light and modern. The window by the font was installed and old pews taken out. 21 new pews made from red deal donated by the biggest Llangattock Lingoed landowner, Mr. Rolls of Monmouth, were installed with a grant from the Incorporated Church Building Society. A screen from Llangattock-vibon-Avel was acquired and used to make an altar rail, pulpit and desk. The accounts show the cost of renovation and re-ordering to be £162.13s.3d. The old harmonium was sold for £4.15s.0d and replaced with the pipe organ. New lights, carpet and other fittings completed the transformation. The church re-opened in April 1878 with a special service and great rejoicing in the village.
The designation “llan” and the circular churchyard indicate a sacred burial site existing long before the present church. Unusually, the skeleton of a man thought to be from the Middle Ages, was found in the exterior south wall during the 2003 restoration. He may have been a monk or holy man. Recent excavations found many burials under the floor of the chancel, including two young children and a woman buried in coffin dated 1738. There are memorials dating from 1660 and an unusual strap cross on a flagstone near the altar steps.
The impressive base of the medieval Cross to the south of the church is listed as an Ancient Monument. It probably lost its shaft in the Reformation of the 16th century. The Cross sanctified the churchyard and provided a memorial to those buried here in unmarked graves. It was a focal point for festivals, especially Palm Sunday and Corpus Christi when a large wooden Cross would have been carried from the church and around the building to the Churchyard Cross, while the clergy and people sang psalms.
St Cadoc’s Church’s recent restoration was the starting point for the Village Alive Trust, a ‘building preservation society. they are curretnly working on the preservation of St Teilo’s Church in Llanarth. Find out more about the Village Alive Trust here: