Service Times
Sunday
8:30am – Holy Eucharist (Every 1st Sunday)
Our church is open daily for visitors – we look forward to welcoming you.
Accessibility
| Parking | Parking available adjacent to church. |
| Churchyard Paths | Level path from carpark to porch. No handrails. |
| Door Access | Several steps down into the porch. |
| Inside Church | Steps into the nave. One step up to the chancel. Floor may be uneven in places. |
| Accessible Toilet | Unfortunately, there is no on-site toilers, but accessible facilities are available in the adjacent carpark. |
| Induction Loop | There is no induction loop at this church. |
History
This medieval building was originally part of Wales’ first Augustinian priory, consecrated in 1108. It may originally have been the priory’s infirmary. It was retained as a parish church after the priory was dissolved in 1538. The spectacular remains of other priory buildings still stand to the north.
There was an earlier Christian site in the vicinity, reputedly where Dewi Sant (St David) once stayed. Llanthony’s Welsh name is Llanddewi Nant Hodni, reflecting the site’s dedication to Dewi. Nant means valley or stream, and Hodni is a variant of Hoddni, the name of the river in this valley. An even shorter version, Lanthoni, was written as early as 1125-27.
Gerald of Wales and the Archbishop of Canterbury bypassed Llanthony on their tour of Wales to recruit for the third crusade in 1188. They followed a narrow track through Grwyne Wood, passing west of the priory, when travelling from Llanddew to Abergavenny. Gerald noted that Llanthony had founded a daughter house in Gloucester (in 1136) and started acquiring great wealth, the begetter of vice. He thought the monks of Llanthony, enclosed by mountains, should live more like hermits, in contemplation and moderation.
The present church was dedicated to St David on 1 March (St David’s Day) 1890. Parts of the church, including some of the exterior walls, were altered during the building’s restoration in the 1890s. Many earlier structural features are visible. Unusually, there’s a fireplace inside (there were two). Fires would have been needed to keep patients warm, if the building was once an infirmary.
The most interesting historic features inside the church are a very plain octagonal font, decorated only by two thin incised lines around the base of the bowl. At the west end is a very low brick arch that looks rather like a blocked chimney. There are low, rounded blocked archways on both north and south walls of the nave, and a deeply splayed lancet window over the pulpit. The bell, clearly visible from outside, dates from 1792.
There are several interesting 18th and 19th-century wall monuments in the chancel, and one other interesting feature is that the church altar is aligned so that it points towards the rising sun on 1 March, St David’s Day.
In the early 20th century there were reports of frequent sightings of a “phantom monk” at the church, sometimes carrying an old lamp and always with his hood drawn close over his head. An apparition of the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared in the priory area in 1880.