History
The beginnings of the church of St. John in Llandenny dates back to the 12th century. In the fourteenth century it was expanded with a chancel, and at the end of the fifteenth century, a tower was erected and the roofs were replaced. In the years 1860-1865, John Prichard and John Pollard Seddon carried out a successful renovation of the building. Subsequent repair works were carried out at the beginning of the 20th century.
Architecture
The church was built of Old Red Sandstone and its roofs were covered with stone tiles. Originally, in the 12th / 13th century, it consisted only of a rectangular aisleless nave, to which a narrower and shorter, rectangular chancel was added on the eastern side at the beginning of the 14th century. Then, at the end of the 15th century, a square, squat tower was erected from the west. Its three floors were crowned with battlement, and a communication turret was placed in the north-eastern corner. A porch was also added to the southern wall of the nave in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Initially, the facades were pierced with small late-Romanesque openings, in the Gothic period the church was illuminated by much larger single or grouped in pairs windows topped with prominent trefoils. In the late Gothic period, the facades were additionally pierced with openings topped with the so-called ogee arches. Inside the presbytery, the nave was originally separated by a rood screen, as evidenced by a southern staircase, protruding from the nave on the southern side.
Current state
Today, the church is a mixture of Gothic (presbytery) and late Gothic elements (tower, porch), some of which, such as the two-light window on the south side, are located in the late Romanesque walls of the nave, where one of the oldest windows is visible from the north. Only the sacristy is a fully early modern annex. The nave’s windows come from the 15th century, and the 14th-century openings topped with trefoils are visible in the chancel.
bibliography:
Salter M., The old parish churches of Gwent, Glamorgan & Gower, Malvern 2002.
Website britishlistedbuildings.co.uk, Church of St John. A Grade I Listed Building in Raglan, Monmouthshire.