Welsh Journals

MONTGOMERY CHURCH J. D. K. LLOYD, O.B.E., M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., The parish church of Montgomery, the building of which was started between 1223 and 1227,1 is dedicated to St. Nicholas.2 It is situated on the crest of the low hill which comprises the east side of the town. The building is of rubblestone with dressings of pink or white Grinshill sandstone to windows and doorways and is a cruciform structure the only one, incidentally, in the county presenting the appearance of a church with nave, chancel and transepts. This appearance, however, is somewhat deceptive and a cursory glance at the interior will show that the north and south transepts are not truly integrated with the building, but chapels or chancels added to it. It is evident that there is no structural connection between the roofs of the transepts and the main body of the church: this is particularly clear in the south, or Lymore, transept, where there is additional evidence in the massive moulded beam which supports the upper part of the north wall above the arches leading into the nave; the north transept has had a plaster ceiling inserted below the roof timbers, but the wall division is similar to that of the south transept. It is also interesting to note that a drawing of the exterior of the church, taken from the south-west, by John Ingleby in 1793 (in the National Library of Wales)3 shows that the roof of the north transept was at that time appreciably higher than those of the nave and south transept a clear indication that it was not part of the original structure. 1 In the Calendar of Charter Rolls (I. 53) is a reference to a Chantry in the "newly-built Church of New Mungumeri" in an Inspeximus of 23rd July 1227. (The term "chantry" applies to an office, or benefice, maintained to sing, or say, mass for the soul of a deceased person, and does not necessarily imply a chapel.) 2 St. Nicholas of Myra, or of Bari, was a favourite saint of the Normans. Some 400 churches are dedicated to him in England, but few in Wales. 8 A photograph of the drawing is in the church vestry.