History

Anglican parish church, essentially Romanesque, as shown by the long thin plan, though the roofs, tower and most of the windows are C15, C14 chancel windows. Romanesque single slab tympanum to S door and tiny N window discovered in 1901. First mentioned in a charter of Usk Priory dated 1330, though Bradney suggests the first church being built during the C9. Restored for £700 in 1860-5 by Pritchard & Seddon, further work, including the restoration of the tower by G.E. Halliday of Cardiff, 1900-1, as a memorial to the 2nd Lord Raglan, d 1884.

Exterior

Parish church, rubble stone with stone-tiled roofs, coped gables and cross-finials. Tower, nave, S porch, chancel and N vestry. Tower with heavy plinth and slightly battered walls in three stages marked by 4 dripcourses, embattled parapet and NE stair turret. Stone rainwater spouts to W and S. Small square-headed 2-light louvred bell-openings. W front has flat-headed 2-light red stone C17 window over chamfered segmental pointed W door with 3-sided stops. S side has C19 flat-headed 2-light window below and tiny chamfered lights to second and third stages.
Nave S has C15 2-light flat-headed window with cinquefoil heads to the left of the porch, and C15 3-light flat-headed window with ogee heads and deep hollow surround to the right of porch. Large stone C14 to C15 porch with deep chamfer to arched doorway with pyramid stops. Single-light window to each side wall. Two-bay porch roof with 2 arch-braced collar-trusses and one much heavier, and presumably earlier, tie-beam truss with arch braces to collar against S gable. C15 oak plank door with studs and strap hinges in altered C12 surround. Chamfered purple stone jambs and monolith C12 typanum, with lunette panel, eroded of detail. Rood loft stair to nave right is expressed externally and lit by tiny red sandstone C15 light with ogee head. To the chancel S a single renewed cusped lancet, a triangular-headed door and a pair of C14 cusped lancets. E end has battered base and C14 2-light E window, a pair of lancets. No chancel N windows but C19 vestry with tall square chimney and octagonal ashlar cap. Roll-moulded trefoil-headed door and cusped window to N. Nave N has 2 C19 buttresses one cut back to reveal tiny Romanesque narrow single light. Small rectangular cusped pulpit light to left and big C19 2-light Bath stone Perpendicular style window with flat head to right. Nave E gable shows signs of roof being raised.

Interior

Interior of exposed stone throughout, long and narrow with low chancel arch. Nave has C19 barrel-vaulted roof of 8x4 panels. Off-centre chamfered tower arch, the arch dying into chamfered and stopped side piers. Door to tower stair to right with segmental-pointed head. N side Romanesque window has deep splayed reveal. A square-headed 2-bay recess in the N wall by the pulpit may be an aumbry. On the S wall the rood loft stair to a a loft door set diagonally in the angle. Broad low chamfered medieval chancel arch, possibly C14. Chancel has 4 large tie-beam trusses with cambered tie-beams and angle struts, possibly C17 as ovolo-moulded. Chamfered arched S door, possibly C14. Trefoil-headed C19 N door to vestry.
Font dated 1661 with Jacobean-type ornament to octagonal bowl, incised inscription and roses to rim, incised roses to octagonal shaft. Red stone base with malt-shovel panels may be retooled medieval. Pulpit of 1901, in memory of Queen Victoria, timber Gothic on stone base. Ornate and much-carved wood Arts and Crafts Gothic rails across chancel arch, of 1904. Iron C19 Gothic standards to altar rails. Plain C19 pews, carved reading desk and stalls, c1901. Early C20 panelled dado to chancel.
Monuments: N wall of the nave, erected c1740 by Benjamin Jenkins to his family, and made by Michael Sidnell of Bristol: tablet under a veined marble curved pediment with plumed coat-of-arms above and marble pilasters. Adjoining, to Roger Otes d1706, and his son Roger d1710, an exceptional Baroque oval memorial with putti, foliage, urn, and a cartouche with skull beneath. On the S wall more vernacular painted memorials to Ann Hall d1790, Rachel Powell d1783 and Arnold Powell d1785. In the chancel a series of neo-Gothic carved wood memorials, perhaps by an amateur, c1920.
Stained glass: signed by Daniell & Fricker of London c1910, the small N light by the pulpit and the S 3-light window. Unsigned 2-light to nave N, c1890, Faith and Hope. E window of 1881 to 1st Lord Raglan, 'Thy brother shall rise again', good quality possibly by Hardman.

Reasons for Listing

Graded I as a substantially late medieval church with Romanesque plan and some surviving detail.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• St John's Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5117437

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
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  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
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  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House