Priory Church of St Mary, Usk

Priory Church of St Mary, Usk
Priory Church of St Mary, Usk
Priory Church of St Mary
51°42′08″N 2°53′56″W / 51.7021°N 2.8988°W / 51.7021; -2.8988Coordinates: 51°42′08″N 2°53′56″W / 51.7021°N 2.8988°W / 51.7021; -2.8988
Country	Wales
Denomination	Church in Wales
History
Dedication	St Mary the Virgin
Architecture
Status	Active
Functional status	Parish church
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	000000001974-04-01-00001 April 1974
Style	Perpendicular
Administration
Parish	Benefice of Usk
Diocese	Monmouth
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Rev'd Kevin Hasler

The Priory Church of St Mary is the parish church of Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales. Its origin was as the church of Usk Priory, a Benedictine nunnery founded by Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke in the twelfth century.^[1] After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the church became the parish church of the town. Extended and restored in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was again restored in 1899–1900. The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1974.^[2]

Usk Church and the old priory, 1860

History and architecture

The site of the church shows no evidence of a pre-Conquest church, and the earliest religious building there may have been a Norman church associated with Usk Castle on the site of the present West nave.^[2] In the years before his death in 1176, Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke founded a Benedictine nunnery on the site.^[1] In the thirteenth century the North aisle was added as a place of worship for the people of the town, separated with a screen from the parts of the priory used exclusively by the nuns.^[2] In the fifteenth century, two "splendid two-storyed Perpendicular porches"^[1] were added to the North and West aisles, the probable builder being Sir William Herbert, who was also building on a grand scale at nearby Raglan Castle.^[2]

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s, the priory church became the parish church of the town. Extensive restoration and new building occurred in 1884 when Thomas Henry Wyatt created a sanctuary by roofing over the crossing space next to the tower and added a further bay to the nave.^[2] A further restoration was undertaken in 1899–1900, when G E Halliday inserted new windows and re-roofed the nave and aisle.^[1]

Organ

The church houses a fine Gray and Davison organ of 1861- but more than that, it was built to a scheme devised by Sir Frederick Gore Ousely for Llandaff Cathedral. This is a showpiece instrument by a great firm at their best period: its extraordinary horizontal Trumpet is only one indication of the miracle of its survival.

The total cost of the organ when erected was £1094, and for thirty-seven years it gave good service at Llandaff, with no more than normal tuning and maintenance. C. Lee Williams was organist from 1876 to 1882, and on his preferment to Gloucester Cathedral drew unfavourable comparisons between the condition of the Renatus Harris organ there and that of the larger and more resourceful one he was leaving at the much smaller cathedral of Llandaff. Towards the end of the century, however, the Llandaff organ was felt to be inadequate for the cathedral. The Gray and Davison instrument was advertised for sale at £375 "or near offers", and in 1900 it was re-erected at Usk in memory of Hely Bennet Rickards, at the expense of his parents.^[3]

Apart from tuning, and the addition of the swell tremulant in the 1940s, no alterations were made until 1966, when Messrs. Rushworth and Dreaper did a little first-aid work. This included refacing the manual keys, putting new plastic labels on the stop handles, replacing the old straight pedalboard with a radiating and concave one, and converting the trigger swell pedal to a balanced one, with the pedal still at the right hand side. Unfortunately funds were not available for the sympathetic complete overhaul the instrument deserved; on the other hand, there was consequently no attempt to alter its tonal character. It can therefore be regarded as a fine example of the kind of work Gray and Davison were doing a century and more ago.

Specification

Priory Gatehouse

The gatehouse to the original Benedictine nunnery stands at the entrance to the churchyard.^[4]

Notes

References

Newman, John (2002). Gwent/Monmouthshire. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-300-09630-9.