Catholic Church of St. Mary

Part of a group in the important residential street leading south-east from the parish church.

Catholic Church originally built 1792-3, extended in 1838 and 1870-1. One of the earliest catholic churches to be built in Britain after such buildings were first legally permitted following the Catholic Relief Act of 1778, and the oldest church in the Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff.

Prior to that, mass was being said in an upper room of The Robin Hood Inn (qv Monnow Street), and the landlord, Michael Watkins, was one of the petitioners for the building of a public chapel. Permission was granted by local magistrates, on the conditions imposed by the Act – that the building should not have a tower or spire and should not be prominent in public views. A small church (the existing central 3 bays) was built, hidden behind cottages on St Mary’s Street in 1792-3. The architect is said to have been Mr Millward of Gloucester, and the builder was Michael Watkins. This church was extended in 1838 by the Rev. Thomas Burgess, later the second Bishop of Clifton, by the addition of 2 bays at the east end forming a sacristy with burial vault, and a staircase to an upper room and galleries to either side of the chancel. It was altered again 1870-1 under the next priest, the Rev. Thomas Burgess Abbot, nephew of the earlier Burgess. He oversaw the demolition of the street front cottages, extension of the nave by 2 bays towards the street and the construction of the red sandstone tower. These later alterations were carried out to the designs of Benjamin Bucknall and the builders were Messrs Levick and Sketch. A school was also constructed to the rear but this does not survive.

A number of internal changes were made in the later C19, including the addition of a confessional donated by the Royal Monmouthshire Militia (1875), who also donated a brass sanctuary lamp (1885), and retiling of the baptistry (1888). The present font was probably installed at the same time. The sanctuary was enriched in the 1890s, including embellishment of the reredos by G Willis Pryce (now lost). Major renovations were carried out 1923 at a cost of £2,000 and in 1953 a painting of The Presentation in the Temple by EG Gainsford (1854) above the high altar was replaced by a crucifix. In 1957 a stone altar replaced an earlier wooden altar and reredos. Redecorations were carried out in 1961 with a new timber floor replacing raised pew platforms and tiled alleys. In the late 1960s a new forward altar was installed in the sanctuary, which was carpeted and the tabernacle moved to an alcove. The church retains several relics of St John Kemble and is a place of pilgrimage.