Angle – St Mary’s Church

History

   The present church of St. Mary comes from the late 13th or early 14th century. It is known that at the beginning of the thirteenth century, Angle’s parson was Gerald of Wales, monk, chronicler, linguist and writer. He had to intervene in the dispute because some parishioners refused to pay tithing. At that time, most of the village’s population was Flemish, brought by William the Conqueror. The Flemings on the north side of the port were exempt from giving wool as tithing, but those who were not dismissed refused to pay and were subsequently excommunicated. In the nineteenth century, the church underwent a thorough Victorian renovation. In the course of it, due to the deplorable condition, the southern transept was dismantled.
 

Architecture

   The church from the fourteenth century was built on a Latin cross plan. It had an aisleless nave measuring 15.2 x 6.1 meters, a chancel on the eastern side of 9.1 x 4.5 meters, the northern and southern arms of the transept and a porch. The four-sided tower on the west side was built at the end of the 15th century or around 1500. In its south-west part there is a staircase, and the whole is topped with a parapet and battlement on protruding corbels. The ground floor of the tower, covered with a barrel vault, opened onto the nave with a pointed arcade, and also the chancel was separated from the nave by an arcade. 

Current state

   The southern wall of the nave, the chancel and the porch of today’s church are the result of a thorough reconstruction and renovation from the Victorian period. Originally, the no longer existing southern arm of the transept adjoined the church. Only the Romanesque baptismal font has survived from the medieval furnishings of the church.

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bibliography:
Salter M., The old parish churches of South-West Wales, Malvern 2003.
The Royal Commission on The Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire. An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, VII County of Pembroke, London 1925.
Website monktonrectorialbenefice.org.uk, St Mary the Virgin, Angle.