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A 13th century Knight's Templar church

St Mary the Virgin is a beautiful 13th century church with a rich history and fascinating historical features.

The nave, chancel and tower were built during the 13th century and the porch and dormer window were added during the 14th century. Until 1312 the church belonged to the Knights Templar, a Roman Catholic military order founded in 1119 and closely linked with the Crusades. You can find another Templar church close by in Garway. When the Knights Templar were suppressed the church passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller (another Catholic military order formed to support the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem which cared for sick, poor or injured pilgrims to Jerusalem). The Knights Hospitaller were deprived of their possessions at the dissolution of the monasteries in about 1540.

Various Knight Templar/Hospitaller graves can be seen both in the church and churchyard.

Scroll down to find out about some of the historical features you'll find in the church.

Rood screen

One of the most unusual features in the church is the rood screen - the stone arches dividing the nave and the chancel. Built in about 1320, there are very few stone rood screens of this age surviving today. Look out for the ball flower decoration which is typical of that period (and reflected in the detail at the end of each pew and on the altar). Historians believe that there would originally have been a gallery above the rood screen with stairs leading up to it. Part of the mass would have taken place in the gallery.

Seat of sanctuary

On the north side of the chancel you will see a stone seat dating from about 1250 (apart from the tiling which is modern). It may have served as a "fridstool" or seat of sanctuary, providing protection to anyone seeking sanctuary during troubled times.

Roof

The present roof dates from the early 16th century, although portions of the original roof remain.

Piscina

Look out for the 13th century piscina - a stone basin set into the wall near the altar, in which communion vessels would originally have been washed.

Font

The font is actually the oldest part of the church and predates any of the structures. It is Norman, dating back to the 12th century or possibly even earlier, and is a particularly fine example of its kind. It is still used for baptisms.

Fish symbol

See if you can find the fish symbol carved into the wall on the outside of the porch. The fish symbol has been used by Christians since the days of the early church, possibly as early as the first century, and was used as a secret symbol by Christians being persecuted in Roman times.

Grave of St John Kemble

The Roman Catholic martyr, St John Kemble, is buried in the churchyard - you can find his grave just at the foot of the preaching cross. He was hanged on 22nd August 1679 for alleged complicity in the Popish Plot (see below for more about St John Kemble). An annual pilgrimage takes place once a year from Monmouth to St Mary the Virgin on the Sunday closest to the date of his death.

Preaching cross

The preaching cross can be found in the churchyard. It has medieval steps and socket stone with a modern shaft and head.

Who is St John Kemble?

ST JOHN KEMBLE

(Reproduced from The Catholic Herald, August 2010)

John Kemble (1599-1679) was a much-loved Catholic priest martyred during the madness of the “Popish Plot”.

In normal times, despite harsh anti-Catholic laws, the extent of persecution depended upon the sympathies of local landowners and JPs. Around Hereford and Monmouth, for example, where the Catholic Earls (from 1642 Marquesses) of Worcester held sway at Raglan Castle, the old religion was for long periods practised with impunity. From 1622 there was even a Jesuit College at Cwm, near Welsh Newton. At nearby Dingestow 20-odd worshippers at the parish church would see some 60 Catholics trooping past on their way to Mass.

In 1678 the farrago of lies concocted by Titus Oates, that there was a Jesuit conspiracy to murder the King, gave disgruntled Protestants and ambitious chancers their opportunity. A Monmouthshire rogue called William Bedloe laid false information against the leading Catholics of the area.

One of those who suffered in the prevailing hysteria was John Kemble. Born into a Catholic family at St Weonards, some five miles north of Welsh Newton, he had studied for the priesthood at the English College in Douai.

Ordained in 1625, he returned to Monmouthshire and served more than 50 years as an itinerant priest, winning admirers even among Protestants. Based at Pembridge Castle, which his brother had leased in 1630, he had seemed immune from prosecution.

Moreover in 1651 his nephew Richard Kemble saved Charles II’s life at the battle of Worcester. The King, however, was not a man to remember past services when his own preservation was at stake.

As the anti-Catholic furore boiled over in 1678 John Kemble rejected all warnings, declaring that he could do no better than to die for Christ.

In 1679 he was sentenced to be hanged under an Elizabethan statute which defined being ordained a Catholic priest overseas as treason.

First, though, the 80-year-old was strapped on to a horse like a pack, facing backwards, and taken to Newgate in London for interrogation. Kemble disdained to win his freedom by disclosing a non-existent plot. The old man was then obliged to walk back to Hereford.

Informed on August 22 that he would be executed that day, he asked to be allowed to finish his prayers and smoke his pipe.

After being dragged on a hurdle to Widemarsh Common, Kemble declared on the scaffold that he died for the religion that had made this country Christian, and that he forgave all his enemies. He was then obliged to encourage the executioner, who had no stomach for his task.

The hanging was horribly botched, so that Kemble took half an hour to die. Subsequently he was beheaded, and his left hand cut off: this may still be seen at the church of St Francis Xavier in Hereford.

ST MARY THE VIRGIN
WELSH NEWTON