The History of
Raglan Church
St Cadoc
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Thank you.
Preface
We are very grateful to
Mrs Horatia Durant for
writing this guide-book to
Raglan Church. It is an
enlarged account of her
original booklet. No one
is better fitted to
undertake a task of this
kind - for she is an
accomplished historian
and has written other
books about Raglan Castle
and the illustrious
families who have been
connected with it over
the past 5 centuries.
We are fortunate too
that she has consented to
write a short history of
Raglan Castle at the end
of this booklet.
A.V. Blake (Vicar of Raglan 1958-75,
and Canon of Monmouth)
Raglan Church
History
The first building in Raglan erected to the glory of God
belonged to the 6th century, The Age of the Saints.
It would have been a log hut with a thatched roof, or
made of sods and wattle and mud. Professor E.G.
Bowen suggests the spot as an ideal “church point”
with a “church village” close by. Four ancient tracks
would have met at Raglan just as four roads meet
outside the churchyard wall today. A brook would have
been useful for baptisms and there was possibly a
hermit’s cell beside it. The foundation has been
attributed to St. Dewi but Canon E.T. Davies, calling St.
Cadoc the Patron Saint of Monmouthshire, includes
Raglan in a list of nine churches dedicated to him, while
stressing that he might only have had a fleeting
connection with the site. In 1236 we know a church at
Raglan paid tithes to Usk Priory. Most of the Church
we see today was built by William Herbert, Earl of
Pembroke and his son, another William. Herbert
inherited Raglan Castle from his father, Sir William ap
Thomas, and on July 16th, 1469 he made a will just
before he was taken prisoner at the battle of Edgecote
and beheaded. “I bequeath” says the will “all the Salt
that I have outsept as much as will make the Body and
Iles of the Church at Raglan as it (is) purposed now by
me. The Chauncell to be at the pleasure of God.” His
son, the 1st Earl of Huntingdon, made a further bequest
for the building in his will dated 1483, and he lived until
1491. The loss of all records must be due to the
wanton destruction of the magnificent Castle Library
by the Roundheads during the Civil War. The same
vandalism worked it’s wicked will on the church and we
cannot tell what damage was done to the fabric as well
as the interior.
A stone plaque has only lately been discovered on the
north wall by Canon Blake and Mr Jeremy Knight. The
writing can just be deciphered; “God ye church will
mend” and the date 1698, with initials of the possible
churchwardens. It must be remembered that this was
the year in which the Duke of Beaufort’s heir the
Marquess of Worcester, was fatally injured in a coach
accident between Monmouth and Raglan. He was the
fourth of the Beaufort’s children to be buried in the
vault so that the Duke would readily have done his part
in God’s “mending of the church.”
Entrance
A battered Holy Water Stoup is in its correct place on
the right of the original stone doorway.
Nave
A freestone font is on the left of the entrance and
close to it an important relic of the 15th century.
About 1928 the Vicar of Raglan, the Rev. Thomas
Wright, thought he had found a large portion of a 15th
century font in his garden. There were heraldic
shields and angels with very large wings and very small
crosses on their foreheads. But in 1959 Mr A.W.F.
Caroe visited Raglan and gave a detailed report on the
stone. Certainly it was 15th century work and the
design on it compared with that on the base of the
Preaching Cross in the churchyard. In spite of angels’
heads and crosses, certain factors precluded it being
any part of a font. Mr Caroe suggested it may have
been a well-head or the finial on a small ornamental
turret, a finial being Gothic carved work representing
foliage. Mr, Knight agreed it might be ecclesiastical
but of uncertain purpose. So a cherished belief of
some thirty years had to be abandoned.
The long nave and barrel roof are typical of the period.
It will be noticed that the chancel is not in line with the
nave but leans towards the south, a fact seen with
startling clearness from a window in the tower. This is
supposed to remind us of the drooping head of Christ on
the Cross, the nave representing the Body, the
transepts the Arms and the chancel the Head of Christ.
Along the north wall is a leaning ledge on which the poor
and infirm could sit in the days when there were no
pews and richer people brought their stools. The
lowering of the floor of the nave now makes it difficult
to picture the ledge’s original purpose. By 1861 the
population of Raglan parish had increased to nine
hundred, and this must have prompted the 8th Duke of
Beaufort to build the North aisle. He also restored
the chancel, the east window being dated 1868. The
old piscine is behind the credence table.
The Pulpit
Mr. Jeremy Knight reported it to be of Victorian
construction but incorporated are four carved panels of
a much earlier date, probably 15th century. The entry
is through an archway and the staircase once led to the
rood-loft.
The Beaufort Chapel
The Beaufort Chapel is situated on the north of the
chancel, and was largely restored by the 8th Duke of
Beaufort about 1868. Of the two windows one is a
memorial of the 1st Lord Raglan who died in the Crimea
in 1855, and the other commemorates the marriage of
Lord Henry Somerset, the Duke’s son, and Lady Isabel
Somers-Cocks. Their great-grandson, David, is now the
10th Duke of Beaufort.
In the vault lie the remains of three of the most
illustrious noble-men in their generations; William
Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester; Edward Somerset, 4th
Earl of Worcester; and Edward Somerset, 2nd
Marquess of Worcester. William Herbert, Earl of
Huntingdon, left his vast possessions to his only child,
Elizabeth, who married Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of
Worcester. We know the immense importance of
funeral arrangements in Tudor times, and the
Worcesters’ tomb is among the finest at St. George’s
Chapel, Windsor. Their son, Henry and his wife were
buried at Chepstow and it was that splendid Elizabethan
courtier, the 3rd Earl, who chose the little church at
Raglan for his resting-place. He had been steadily,
enriching the castle for thirty years and from his
enormous chamber in the Great Tower he could see the
church very clearly. We should understand however
that though the Worcesters might choose to be buried
in the Reformed parish church, they belonged heart
and soul to the old Persuasion, and would have
worshipped in their private chapel at the Castle. The
3rd Earl directed in his will that he should lie alone and
have a tomb of marble over him, which supports a belief
that his marriage was unhappy. His son, the 4th Earl
and his wife were both buried at Raglan and these are
the three battered effigies in the Beaufort Chapel.
We know already that the Roundheads despoiled the
church. The effigy of the 4th Earl could not have been
long completed and we can just distinguish his Garter
Chain and Belt for the Privy Purse, and the Collar of St.
George on the 3rd Earl’s effigy, and remnants of the
marble canopy above them. In April, 1667, an
important funeral procession made its way from London,
bringing the body of the 2nd Marquess of Worcester to
be laid beside that of his first wife who had been dead
for thirty years. A tribute to this unfortunate but
remarkable nobleman was paid by the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers in 1946. “He gave to the world
the first practical steam engine to be used in the
service of man.” The Marquess had fondly hoped that
a model of it would be buried with him. But sad to say
it was evidently left behind in London. In June, 1795,
the Monmouthshire historian, Charles Heath, visited
Raglan church. The pavement of the Beaufort Chapel
had fallen in and by the light of a candle he descended
six feet to a vault four yards square, with a further
recess containing two figures enclosed in lead. The
wood had mouldered away from seven coffins and the
plates were lying on the floor in confusion. The names
of those buried in the vault are recorded on a brass
plate.
The Organ
The present organ was built in 1908 by Sweetland of
Bristol in the same place as the previous one and some
of the same pipes were used. The vault was then
opened and Mr Herbert Morris saw lead coffins in
niches in the walls. In 1962 the organ was completely
restored and improved.
The Tower
A typical battlemented tower of the period. The
pinnacles were added in the last century. About 1860
Miss Anna Maria Bosanquet gave a peal of bells to the
parish but all that remains of them are the six holes
for the ropes and the Vicar’s bell which told the ringers
in the belfry when the service was about to begin.
There was no Parochial Church Council in those days.
Miss Bosanquet considered the bells noisy so she sent
them over to Llandenny, then served by the Vicar of
Raglan. She also presented a church clock in 1863 but
the railway, opened three years earlier, had incurred
her displeasure so she decreed the station should be
punished by having no clock face in that direction. In
1963 the church clock, which had been giving trouble
for some years, was changed to an electrical mechanism.
This coincided with its centenary and certainly spared
the clock winder from climbing the tower whenever it
needed winding or attention, though power cuts are still
rather a nuisance. In 1968 major work of restoration
and pointing was carried out on the church tower.
The Preaching Cross
Mr Jeremy Knight examined it on April 2nd 1974. The
date is early 15th century but the design has faded due
to weathering. There is an unusual receptacle for
relics.
On the left of the path to the church there is a little
tombstone of considerable interest. Eighteen inches
high and eighteen wide, it has small floral decorations in
surprisingly good condition. The dedication is “In
memory of Harriet May who died February 6th, 1856 at
35 and George May of Raglan Castle who died June 3rd
1857 at 48 years.” Here is direct proof that the
Castle was inhabited at that date, and the Mays’ greatgrandson, Mr Robinson, of New Zealand, has visited
Raglan.
1953. A Momentous year for St. Cadoc’s
Church.
Just in time to ring for the Coronation, Mrs. Daniel
Thomas presented a peal of electronic bells. This
invention was perfected during the war by a Frenchman,
Constant Martin, while he was a prisoner in a slave
labour camp. The Miller Organ Company of Norwich
manufacture these bells and those at Raglan are stated
to be the first installed in any English or Welsh church.
The Silverthorne family gave a fine Processional Cross
and Mrs. Hamer Lewis a new Altar, panelling, curtains
and chancel furniture, replacing priests’ stalls which
greatly dwarfed the appearance of the chancel.
Also in 1953 came a significant return to the past.
The parish of Llandenny, after a separation of sixty
years, was reunited to Raglan under the charge of one
Vicar, the Rev. W.J. Price.
During recent years it has been found impossible to
provide incumbents for all country parishes and
grouping of parishes has increased accordingly. In
December, 1972, the Parish of Llansoy, in the rural
deanery of Usk was added to the existing group of
Raglan and Llandenny.
It has now been attached elsewhere and Bryngwyn is
now attached to Raglan and Llandenny.
Also in December of that year the Vicar of Raglan was
made a Canon of the diocese of Monmouth and was
installed to his seat in St. Woolos Cathedral in January
1973. Canon A.V. Blake was the first Vicar of Raglan to
be made a Canon whilst Vicar of the Parish.
The Vicars of Raglan since 1560
1560, John Gallin (Gwillim).
1635, William Rogers.
1640, William Davies.
1661, John Davies.
1678, Rice Morris.
1682, William Hopkins.
1709, Richard Tyler, B.A.
1715, David Price.
1746, John Leach. B.A.
1781, Thomas Leach.
1796, Charles Phillips, B.A.
1818, William Powell, M.A.
1866, Arthur Montague Wyatt.
1874, Henry Plantagenet Somerset, M.A.
1893, Charles Mathew Perkins, M.A.
1903, Robert Shelley Plant.
1924, David James Sproule, B.A.
1928, Thomas Wright, B.A.
1939, Charles Duck, L. Div.
1952, William Joseph Price.
1958, Arthur Vernon Blake, B.A.
1975, Peter Charles Gwynne Gower.
1991, Simon Llewellyn Guest
2005, Joan Wakeling
Raglan Castle
On the little hill overlooking Raglan village are the
remains of a 15th century Castle. For many years public
bodies under varying titles have been at work on its
towers and walls and staircases, greatly to its benefit
and without destroying its curious fascination, left
perhaps by Bardic culture in its heyday.
The oldest parts of the Castle, the South Gate and the
Great Tower, were built by the Agincourt Captain of
Archers, William ap Thomas, about 1430. His son,
William Herbert, created Lord Herbert of Raglan by
Edward IV in 1462, made Raglan an important Bardic
Centre. There were no more Welsh Princes but the
Bards attached themselves to powerful families and
none offered them a warmer welcome than Lord
Herbert. The Gorsedds at Raglan became famous.
Gorsedd means Throne and the supreme Bard was
enthroned for a year as a kind of Archbishop. The
Raglan motto was “Deffro! Mae dydd.” “Awake! It is
day!” and indeed ceremonies had to be observed in
daylight and the carrying of arms forbidden, so fierce
were Welsh family feuds. Lord Herbert collected
priceless records and manuscripts and their loss after
the Castle’s capture by Fairfax in 1646 is incalculable.
To Herbert, later Earl of Pembroke, is given the credit
for most of the important additions to William ap
Thomas’s Castle, while his descendant, the 3rd Earl of
Worcester beautified it in the grand Elizabethan
manner, Henry Somerset 1st Marquess of Worcester,
was therefore owner of a magnificent heritage, but it is
apparent that its glory lasted only some two hundred
years.
After its fall, Parliament ordered its immediate
“slighting.” But who was to do it? With the departure
of the Roundhead army to Oxford, organized
destruction ceased and the surrounding country people
were summoned with pick and shovel and such
consequences are fully recorded in the guidebooks. For
a century the Castle provided free building materials
for the whole neighbourhood.
In 1756 the 5th Duke of Beaufort effected a complete
change and a warden was appointed who occupied rooms
in the Entrance and Closet Towers. By 1850 the
railway was naturally the main approach for visitors and
the station was even known as Raglan Footpath because
a pathway ran straight to the Castle gate. The 10th
Duke of Beaufort K.G. constituted the Office of Works
Guardians of the Castle under the ancient Monuments
Acts in 1938 but he remains its Hereditary Keeper.
The most illustrious occupant of Raglan was of course
the famous inventor, the 2nd Marquess of Worcester.
He carried on his experiments in the Great Tower until
the death of his first wife when he removed to London
and the congenial atmosphere of Vauxhall, destined by
Charles 1 for the benefit of pioneers in science and
mechanics. But like his father the moment the King
needed him all private interests were forgotten and his
services and money wholly devoted to the Royal cause.
Raglan was the last English Castle to hold out for
Charles. The Somerset motto is “I scorn to change or
to fear.” If the Marquess could for once have
forsworn it, there would still be a sight of surpassing
beauty on that little hill. But the Duchess of Beaufort
sadly admits that Badminton is an easier house to run!
Finis