Stained glass in St Mary’s Church, Tenby.
This is probably the last post from the August holiday in Pembrokeshire and it features my pictures of two churches – St Mary’s in Tenby and St Nicholas & St Teilo in Penally.
But since it is Remembrance Day this weekend, first here is the war memorial in Penally. It’s impossible to focus on remembering everyone in the world who has lost their life in war, so I am going to spare a moment to think of these 12 men of one small parish in West Wales…
The war memorial in Penally…
And for those who think their ancestors may be named on the memorial, here is a closer view of the dozen names…
The dozen Penally men who lost their lives in World War I and World War II…
Then this is Penally Church, nestled in the centre of the seaside village…
This picture of Penally Church is taken from a farmyard through which a path leads to the beach…
The Church of St Nicholas & St Teilo, Penally…
Entrance to the churchyard…
Graves at Penally Church…
Stained glass looks dull from outside the church…
But the stained glass comes to life within…
And another one…
Then there was the much bigger Tenby Church…
The steeple on Tenby Church (towards the left) can be seen from miles around, even from Penally…
Tenby Church towers over the busy shopping streets…
Church of St Mary, Tenby…
Entrance to Tenby Church…
Tenby Church dates mostly from the 15th century, but with some parts dating back to the 13th century. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Penally Church dates from more or less the same period in history.
Inside Tenby Church…
A gruesome reminder of death – this is the 15th century tomb of an unknown cleric…
The brightly-painted tomb of Margaret Mercer…
Although the tomb of Margaret Mercer may look cheerful with its bright colours, the story behind it is sad, but sadly commonplace. She died in childbirth in 1610 at the age of 30, having given birth to 10 children already. The kneeling man is her grieving husband and the seven sons and daughters surviving at the time of her death are lined up below her “sleeping” form.
Beautiful stained glass – and I find it is by Karl Parsons (1917), the same artist who created the stained glass I mentioned in my last-but-two blog post, illustrating Gloria…
Baptismal font…
Ceiling carvings…
And finally…
…a splendid embroidered appliqué banner
The Squirrelbasket 
Superb pictures of both the Churches and stained glass windows. And how nice to remember those who died in the wars. I have already bought my poppy. Thanks for this lovely post Pat.
Thanks for the comments, Rita.
By chance I heard something on the radio yesterday about “Thankful villages” in England & Wales, where they lost no one in the war. Quite an interesting thought…
All the best 🙂
Funnily enough, we are reading this in Tenby where we are for the Blues festival.
Janet thinks that one of the most interesting objects in the church is the plaque to Robert Recorde, the Welsh mathematician, born in Tenby, who invented the equals sign.
Annoyingly, I ALWAYS miss something when I pop into these churches – I need to do my research in advance in future!
I missed that plaque (I can’t believe a Welshman invented the equals sign!).
I also missed a Celtic cross in Penally church and the Ogham stone on Caldey Island.
And I always suspect I won’t pass this way again…
Hope you enjoyed the blues festival.
All the best 🙂
It is good to remember. Our ancestors went through so much, men on the battlefield and women in childbirth. It makes me grateful to live in a time of peace and high medical standards.
I agree with you there.
One of my ancestors from Dorset died of childbed fever, rather than the birth itself, and I am galled by the fact that doctors with infected hands from handling cadavers seem to have been responsible for spreading the fever…
Thank goodness for Ignaz Semmelweis and others like him who identified the cause.
All the best to you and the bees 🙂
It’s so sad how Semmelweis died without any recognition. It seems amazing now that doctors were once so ignorant of the benefits of washing hands.
I think he is starting to get recognition now. I first heard about him (and others) on a TV programme a few years ago. I found it interesting that mothers helped by midwives did better than those helped by doctors, as the midwives didn’t handle cadavers.
Best wishes 🙂
The impact of those men losing their lives must have been huge in a small village. That stained glass is beautiful and the story of Margaret is so sad.
Sarah x
Thanks for your kind comments. And there were so many villages affected in the same way. I must go back to my home village and look at the cenotaph, as it was at the bus stop and I read the inscription every day. I can still remember names like Bartlett and Rassmussen.
It’s a great memorial to Margaret, isn’t it? The husband looks so sad…
All the best 🙂
A lovely collection of photos for those two churches and I do like those pictures of the stained glass windows.
Thank you, Chris. It’s always a gamble photographing stained glass with my compact camera. Sometimes I’m lucky but many times my hand isn’t steady enough and I get a blur. I know I could use tripod etc, but I’m afraid I’m just a snapper, not a professional!
All the best 🙂
The Monument to Margaret Mercer 1580 is my 8th great grandmother and I was able to visit there this past September, 2013…It was a joy to see the splendid church and hear the Tenby Mens Chorus sing.
What a wonderful connection! So you are related also to the grieving husband and all those little children? I wonder which one was your 7th great grandfather or 7th great grandmother?
Feel free to tell us a little bit more about what happened to their descendants…
Best wishes and thanks for commenting 🙂
You are kind to respond….I am, according to my companion the very image of her grieving husband, Thomas ap Rhys/Rice 1570….in my youth dark hair and eyes,and full beard as well….The children who go onto great adventures of their own, Perrott, first born 1600 Captain John ap Rice died ca1650 in the Kings Cavaliers, Edward, William the Ononion, Lettise, Mary, and Elizabeth….Lettise married close to the Tudor/Phillips line in Sampson Lort, and Perrott, the eldest, first born is my 7th GGrandfather….He’s what you would call too clever for his own good.
His son James inherited the estates directly from the grandfather Thomas ap Rice 1570 because Perrott had gone off to America for his own purposes…and was declaired Dead by family next visitation of the Hearaldry….His Cousin, and Sheriff Wm. Barlow must have helped to file such papers in the chancery court of Equity? Anyway Perrott’s long suffering wife had to sue to get her WIDOWS portion of the estates….she did. Alas the Estates passed from the ap Rice’s to a MERCHANT named RICKSON about 1710,
The rest will come as no suprise….there is a book in the works no final name or publication date….But you may know that Margaret Mercer was a very important personage or there would be no monument to her and the grieving family in the Marvelous Church of the Virgin Mary in Tenby. Be alert for “The Lost Tudor PRINCE” possible to be out later 2014-15. And I can tell you it was a very, very Emotional Visit to TENBY and CAREW CASTLE Kind Regards Dale C. RICE 8th ggrandson