England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Rowlestone St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Rowlestone, sometimes rendered Rowlstone, lies in the extreme southwest of Herefordshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Monmouthshire and hence also the England/Wales border. Rowlestone is located roughly 11 miles northeast of the Monmouthshire market town of Abergavenny and sits about 2 miles north of the A465 road which links Abergavenny with Hereford. Rowlestone is a small village built around a triangular junction of narrow lanes which sits on the slopes of a side valley of the River Monnow, which forms the county border. A small historical footnote is the presence of the remains of a Motte and Bailey castle site within the village, no masonry showing but the ground plan has been established by archaeologists. Like most Herefordshire parishes its economy was largely farming based, here the usual beef cattle was enhanced by orcharding of apples for cider production, the local underlying limestone was also exploited mainly for improving the soils. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line between Hereford & Abergavenny briefly passing through the south of the parish following the Monnow. Rowlestone is drained southeastwards by the tributary Cwm Brook which soon meets the Monnow where water now turns east and back to southeast to eventually meet the Wye at Monmouth, the Wye's convoluted course takes it southwards to the outer Bristol Channel arriving through the port of Chepstow. Rowlestone is an upland settlement sitting at 150 metres above the sea, land rises dramatically northwestwards, however, reaching 323 metres at the summit of Mynydd Merddin. For an upland parish Rowlestone was rather small covering only a little below 1,700 acres which would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Rowlestone is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Peter's church sits enclosed within a right-angled bend of the lane running into the village from Pontrilas. The church has much ancient fabric which is estimated to have been built around the middle of the 12th century, probably contemporaneous with the motte and bailey. Both nave and chancel are 12th century Norman Romanesque in style and relatively untouched from their origins. The church is most noted for the craftsmanship shown on its 12th century south doorway and chancel arch both richly decorative stone-work with many depictions of birds. Some work from the Perpendicular period was required on the chancel resulting in the rebuilding of its eastern wall and insertion of a 15th century window to date the effort. The western tower is a late medieval/early-modern addition of uncertain dating, Pevsner indicates either 16th or 17th century for its construction, plain and unbuttressed it come with a short pyramidal roof. A modest Victorian restoration of 1865 rebuilt the southern porch and added windows into the tower and the nave matching the east window's Perpendicular styling. A further window was added in later work of 1900. The lane passing the church is rather narrow with no safe parking until The Wigga to the northwest of the church where a few spots may be found. The entrance to the churchyard sits at the southeastern corner of a compact churchyard reasonably free of obstacles for the photographer.