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Cemetery Chapel (Church of England), Abergavenny

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NPRN12861
Map ReferenceSO21NE
Grid ReferenceSO2991015150
Unitary (Local) AuthorityMonmouthshire
Old CountyMonmouthshire
CommunityAbergavenny
Type Of SiteCHURCH
PeriodPost Medieval
Description
One of a pair of similar cemetery chapels, which appear to be identical except in details. Built of snecked stone in the gothic style and dating from the mid-19th Century. This chapel is described on historic Ordnance Survey (1880) mapping as 'Church of England'. The main difference between it and the other (Nonconformist) chapel is the provision of a trinity window in the east wall. The building has suffered considerably from fire damage.

The building is gothic in style, with walls of snecked sandstone blocks. There are buttresses of similar construction at the main corners (except those on the annex) and intermediately on the long sides. The building consists of a combined nave and chancel of three bays, with an entrance porch attached on the west and a small annex on the west end of the north side. The roofs are of slate. There is a plinth all around the building at ground level, except on the north side. The gable ends on the main body. The porch and the annex are raised above the roof lines and are capped with slabs, with carved, four-faced gabled stones at the corners and at the ridges: that at the west ridge end is surmounted by a stone cross. Cast-iron trough gutters are carried on a continuous stone corbel at eaves level.

The south elevation of the nave/chancel is of three bays, separated by buttresses. The interior reveals that there was formerly a pointed arched doorway through the first bay from the west corner but there is no trace of any blocking on the exterior wall. In each of the second and third bays is a pair of pointed windows with stone dressings. The east elevation has a pointed arched Trinity window with similar stone dressings, the windows being of similar width but taller than those at the side. Part of the north wall has collapsed but the first and second bays from the east corner originally had paired windows identical to those on the south elevation. The third bay is taken up by the annex. The east and west walls of the annex each have a small, pointed arched window with stone dressings. The north wall is plain but has a stone chimney built flush with it.
The bays either side the porch in the west wall are plain, that to the north being continuous with west wall of the annex. The north wall of the porch has collapsed but was originally similar to the south, which has a small, rectangular window with stone dressings. The west elevation has a pointed arched doorway with stone dressings, chamfered above a plain, broached stop just above plinth level.
Above the doorway is a moulded stone drip strip, parallelling the shape of the arch and terminating at the shoulders, in small, carved stones. An example on the neighbouring chapel suggests that these may have been heads.

Inside, each group of side windows is set in a splayed, flat-pointed arched recess with a sloping sill. The Trinity window in the east wall is set in a similar recess but with a better proportioned pointed arch. There is a wooden floor. A pointed arched doorway, slightly wider than the outer doorway, leads into the porch, where the small, rectangular windows are set in splayed recesses with sloping sills. The former doorway in the south wall has already been noted. In the west bay of the north wall, a pointed arched doorway leads into the annex. The windows here are in splayed arched openings and have sloping sills. There is a fireplace with a straight stone lintel in a projecting chimney breast in the north wall. All window frames and doors have been destroyed by fire. The roof, which is lined with planking, is supported by two timber trusses carried on plain stone corbels set into the side walls. The trusses are plain but are cusped, the two halves creating a pointed arch in the centre of the roof. There is no collar beam.
The site was visited by RCAHMW staff in 2004. D J Percival, RCAHMW, 20 February 2004

The chapel was demolished in 2011 after persistent vandalism despite preservation efforts by the local council. Reference: information from Abergavenny Local History Society Research Group 2016.