The Priory Church of St Mary, Usk

A winter day at the Priory Church of St Mary, Usk

On a day when winter was still cold and dank, we visited Usk in Monmouthshire. We sometimes go there for lunch at the Three Salmons Hotel, but we were early, so wandered more than usual. New to me was this little Priory Church of St Mary. New to me, but it has been there for 900 years.

Maybe it was the shade of the low winter sun, or the dark colour of the stones, but to me it looked a bit creepy, the sort of place that might feature in a Gothic vampire horror story. I think it is built of the old red sandstone so common in this area.

Yew tree and gravestones

A Benedictine Priory was founded here by the Norman-Welsh lord Richard “Strongbow” de Clare around 1160. The priory was one of only three founded in Wales for women before the Reformation.

I bought a guide leaflet for 20p but as usual I didn’t have a chance to read it until much later, so I missed several of the notable features of the church! I might have spotted more of them but for the fact that a woman came in, perhaps to pray, perhaps to rearrange the flowers, and went into an area that looked like a lady chapel, so I felt a bit shy all of a sudden.

Now I have read the guide, I understand the church’s design better. The easiest way to explain is to show you the church plan from the leaflet. It seems to have been drawn by Cardiff architect George Eley Halliday (1858-1922).

A plan of the Priory Church of St Mary, Usk – the areas in outline on the right no longer exist

We approached the church from the top left of the plan, to the north-west, so no wonder it seemed shadowy and dour. In the earliest days the priory was just the bottom half of this plan, a nave, going through under the old square tower in the east to the choir. The choir and the transepts to the sides of the tower have been demolished.

The top half of the diagram shows a parallel area added on to the priory to make a parish church for the people of the town of Usk. This is the way I entered the place.

Approaching the Usk church

What a lovely bright notice board!

This was originally the gatehouse to the priory

A closer look at the windows of the gatehouse

I walked through the parish church side of the building but never stood in the priory’s nave and never reached the most interesting part – what I thought was the lady chapel was in fact the chancel containing the altar and beyond that the base of the heavy, square early Norman tower.

Exterior of the early Norman tower from the north-west

This is where the north transept used to be – a schoolroom was built here in the 18th century – is this it, now used as a vestry?

I did take a picture of the richly carved altar screen – but it’s only a glimpse…

Looking from the parish church side, through a row of stone arches into the priory side, with the wooden screen in front of the chancel or altar area

Zooming in on the stained glass beyond the screen

In 1403, during the Welsh uprising led by Owain Glyndwr he burnt the town of Usk to the ground. Two years later he was defeated near here and from then on Owain’s fortunes waned.

The church saw much rebuilding soon after this and the big perpendicular windows and two porches were constructed. I think I have snapped pictures of these features.

Early Norman tower beyond north porch and windows of 15th century construction

A stained glass window depicting “Lazarus come forth” and “Suffer the little children to come unto me”

A closer look

More stained glass – a scene depicting “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them.” On the left is St Barnabas and on the right Nathanael

A closer look

Stained glass – a simpler design with coats of arms, including the Usk coat of arms in the middle of the bottom row, a castle on a river with battle-axes either side. To the left of that, the shield with three red chevrons is the de Clare coat of arms. There is also a blue shield with three overlapping trout or salmon – is there a connection to the Three Salmons Hotel nearby?

A closer look

In the late 15th century the priory became a place of pilgrimage for those wishing to visit the shrine containing the relics of St Radegund, a sixth century Thuringian princess and later Frankish queen,who founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers.

The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. This was when the chancel and transepts were demolished and the monastery buildings and land to the south fell into the hands of Roger Williams of Glascoed. I guess that’s why there is no obvious way to get around to view the south side of the church, which seems to be hemmed in by farms and private property.

One last “interesting thing” I missed…

The west porch – note the stone slab in the grass at the bottom of the picture

Near the west porch is the grave of St David Lewis, who was one of 40 English and Welsh martyrs canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970. David Lewis was born a Protestant in Abergavenny but trained as a Jesuit and was executed in Usk in 1679, just for being a Catholic priest. He had been questioned by Titus Oates, who had invented a story that there was a plot by the Catholics to kill King Charles II.

Before his execution, Lewis was held in a little lock-up that by chance I noted in an earlier blog post in March 2013.

A little old jail in the middle of Usk

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