History
Church of St. Mary in Monmouth was founded together with the monastery in 1075, by Gwethenoc, Lord of Monmouth. From the twelfth century, it began to perform the functions of the parish church, although the monastery was dissolved only in 1540. Since then, the building began to fall into ruin, which forced the total reconstruction of the nave in 1736-1737 and the erection of the high spire of the tower in 1743. At the end of the 19th century, the church was completely rebuilt by George Edmund Street.
Architecture
At present, the only medieval element of the church is the tower from the 14th century. It is a four-sided building, reinforced with multi-stepped, corner buttresses reaching the top. It is crowned with an eighteenth-century, but stylistically fitting to the tower, spire and four pinnacles. A small communication turret with a staircase protrudes from the south-east side. The west side is decorated with a large ogival window with a tracery, an entrance portal, and smaller window openings topped with trefoils.
bibliography:
Wooding J., Yates N., A Guide to the churches and chapels of Wales, Cardiff 2011.
Website wikipedia.org, St Mary’s Priory Church, Monmouth.