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Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny

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Coordinates: 51°49′32″N 3°01′13″W / 51.8256°N 3.0204°W / 51.8256; -3.0204
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Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Our Lady and St Michael
Map
51°49′32″N 3°01′13″W / 51.8256°N 3.0204°W / 51.8256; -3.0204
LocationAbergavenny, Monmouthshire
CountryWales
DenominationRoman Catholic
Website[1]
History
StatusParish church
Founded1858
Founder(s)John Baker Gabb
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designationGrade II*
Designated27 September 2001
Architect(s)Benjamin Bucknall
StyleDecorated Gothic
Groundbreaking1858
Completed1860
Administration
DioceseCardiff
ParishAbegavenny

The Church of Our Lady and St Michael in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, is a Roman Catholic parish church. A Grade II* listed building, it was built between 1858 and 1860 to a design by Benjamin Bucknall.

History and architecture

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Abergavenny remained a Catholic stronghold in the years after the Reformation, and its first Catholic church built after the Reformation was on Frogmore Street.[1] This was replaced as the town's main Catholic church by Our Lady and St Michael's in 1860.[1] The construction of the church was funded by a local solicitor, John Baker Gabb, and the architect was Benjamin Bucknall.[2] Bucknall was engaged on the building of Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire, for another Catholic client, William Leigh, and, aged only 25, was seen as a coming man in Catholic architectural circles. Bucknall's intellectual and architectural influences were the work and ideas of Augustus Pugin – he converted to Catholicism in the year of Pugin's death – and the French Gothic Revival architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, with whom Bucknall was in regular correspondence.[3]

The church is constructed in Decorated Gothic style, with an accompanying Tudor Gothic presbytery.[2] Built of Old Red Sandstone, with Bath Stone dressings and slate roofs,[1] the church comprises a nave, North and South aisles and a chancel.[4] An intended "grand tower and spire" were never built.[2]

Internal features

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Simon Jenkins describes the church as "a bold composition of church and presbytery."[5] The interior of the church is largely unchanged since its construction with all its original Victorian furniture and furnishings intact.[1] The presbytery is similarly unspoilt.[1] The church also has "an exceptionally fine collection of medieval and later vestments".[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Cadw. "Church of Our Lady and St Michael R C, including attached Presbytery (No. 10), Abergavenny (Grade II*) (2467)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Newman 2000, p. 98-9.
  3. ^ "Benjamin Bucknall". 18 September 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Our Lady and St Michael's Catholic Church, Pen-y-Pound Road, Abergavenny (12866)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. ^ Jenkins 2008, p. 182.

References

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