Church of All Saints, Newbridge-on-Wye, Powys

History

Built in 1883 by S.W. Williams, architect of Rhayader, at a cost of over £4600. The contractor was Bowers and Mansfield of Hereford. The patrons were the Venables family of Llysdinam, on the Breconshire side of the River Wye near Newbridge. Interior carvings, and the pulpit and font are by Clarke of Hereford. Bench ends in the choir stalls were carved by Agnes Minna Venables.

Exterior

A Geometrical style parish church comprising nave with lower chancel, N porch tower and shallow transepts housing N vestry and S organ chamber, of coursed rubble with lighter freestone dressings, hood moulds and cornices, and tile roof. The N porch tower is 3 stages, with angle buttresses and string courses to the lower 2 stages. The pointed N doorway has 2 orders of red sandstone nook shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, and double Gothic-panelled doors. The E wall has paired cusped lights under a single hood. The second stage has cusped N and E windows. On the SW side is a polygonal stair turret. The upper stage is narrower, has shallow angle buttresses with trefoiled gablets over quatrefoil panels. Pairs of 2-light bell openings are below a freestone arcaded frieze. The freestone broach spire has string courses, and lucarnes in the main directions.

The nave has corbelled rainwater goods. In the N wall, L of the porch, are two 2-light windows with foliage stops. The W end of the nave has angle buttresses, and a 3-light window with head stops. On the S side are three 2-light windows, with head stops to the central window, foliage stops to the outer windows. The lower S transept has diagonal buttresses and a sill band, a 3-light S window with head stops and single-light E window with foliage stops. The E end is a polygonal apse with diagonal buttresses, cornice with ballflower frieze, sill band and 3-light windows. The N transept (vestry) has a pointed E door with red-sandstone nook shafts and stiff-leaf capitals, and boarded door with strap hinges. The 3-light N window is similar to the S transept S window. A tall SW stack has freestone octagonal shaft and pyramidal cap with arched openings to emit the smoke.

Interior

The porch has a heavy ribbed ceiling with deep square panels. The pointed nave doorway has continuous roll and keeled roll mouldings, and a hood mould with head stops. The boarded door has strap hinges. The similar boarded door to the stair tower has a shouldered lintel.

Nave and chancel have ashlar walls with red-sandstone banding. The 7-bay nave roof has arched-brace trusses on corbelled wall shafts, and a band of trefoils above the wall plate. The 2-centred chancel arch has an inner order on corbelled shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, hood mould and head stops. The chancel has a wooden rib vault on foliage corbels carried on ringed shafts rising from a sill band. The sill band is carried as a hood mould over a S doorway and a pointed S transept arch. On the N side the sill band is carried over a pointed vestry door. In the sanctuary, rere arches have ringed marble shafts, moulded capitals and keeled and roll mouldings to the arches. The SE and NE bays have cusped arcading below the sills, and the E bay has a reredos comprising a painted foliage band over a stone ledge. In the S bay is a recess below the window for a priest's seat. A N aumbry has 2 cusped arches and foliage spandrels. The intarsia pavement is an addition of 1909.

The ornate font has a square bowl, each face having 3 panels with foliage and quatrefoils in relief. The octagonal stem has 4 detached shafts, with stiff-leaf capitals around the underside of the bowl. The square base has an inscription to J. Henry Venables (d 1866). The wooden font cover has a scrolled pyramidal ironwork canopy. The polygonal freestone pulpit has cusped niches with marble shafts, figures of SS Llyre, Paul, John the Baptist, Peter and Afan, and a ballflower frieze below the cornice. Pews are plain, but the choir stalls have ends with poppy heads and foliage carving, and open cusped arcading to the fronts. The communion rails are brass.

In the N wall is a large wooden war-memorial plaque, with flanking attached pinnacles and brattishing, by W.D. Caroe. Other monuments are relatively simple. At the E end of the S wall are 4 brass plaques by Hart, Son, Peard & Co of London, to Richard Venables (d 1894), George Venables (d 1888), Joseph Venables (d 1866) and Richard Venables (d 1858). In the nave E wall, S of the chancel arch, are war-memorial brass plaques to John Lister Dillwyn Venables Llewellyn (killed 1917) and George William Dillwyn Venables Llewellyn (killed 1940). A brass plaque at the E end of the N wall commemorates the first vicar of the church, John Lloyd (vicar 1883-1902) by C. Hay of Brecon. Above it is a brass plaque to Thomas Rawstone (killed Ypres 1917). In the N respond of the chancel arch is a brass plaque to Ronald Hunter (d 1905) and Edward Williams (d 1915). Members of the Dillwyn-Venables-Llewellyn family (d 1951-76) are commemorated in a plaque in the S respond.

Most windows have stained glass by C.E. Kempe. Glass in the sanctuary forms a complete iconographic scheme from Biblical Patriarchs to Celtic saints. In the N window are figures of Noah, Abraham and Moses; in the NE window Isaiah, King David and John the Baptist; in the E window Christ and SS Mary and John; in the SE window SS Mary Magdalene, Peter and Stephen; and in the S window SS Llyre, David and Afan. Nave windows mostly depict New Testament scenes. In the S wall the 3 windows depict 'Fear not Zacharius' and 'Behold the Lamb of God', Annunciation and Nativity, and 'Blessed are the Poor in Heart' and St Ceclia. In the N wall the 2 windows depict the Crucifixion and the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus. The W window, by Heaton & Butler of London, has figures of Aaron, Moses and Joshua. In the porch E window are figures of St Cecilia and St Timothy with St Eunice, post 1908.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its special architectural interest as an accomplished and rich high-Victorian Gothic church, and one of the best works by a prolific regional architect.

External Links

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