England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Llangibby St Cuby

The Parish

The parish of Llangibby (Welsh spelling Llangybi) lies in the southern portion of central Monmouthshire roughly 3 miles south of the market town of Usk and on the western edge of the valley of Afon Wsyg, the River Usk. Llangibby sits a little over a mile west of the A449 road linking Newport with Raglan and the A40. Llangibby is a mid-sized village sitting at the edge of the Usk's flood plain with most properties lining either the north to south running lane paralleling the river or along twin lanes headed westwards. To the north of the village by a half mile sits the 12th century motte-site part of the castle network protecting the border between England and Wales, no castle survives merely the motte. Llangibby parish was extensive and covered both riverside flood plain providing rich grazing for cattle but it also included extensive tracts of more hilly land west of the valley wherein arable and sheep intermingled, early gazetteers have 50% of the acreage as pasture in one or other form with the rest largely arable but with 10% as woodland. Afon Wsyg drains the parish southwards reaching the outer Bristol Channel through the port of Newport. Llangibby is sited on a climbing site with lower properties at 20 metres whilst the modern western reaches top out at 50, land rises in rolling hills westwards where local heights reach 184 metres within a couple of miles. As already mentioned Llangibby parish was extensive as are many in this county, covering over 4,400 acres it would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. In Domesday the course of Afon Wsyg proves to be quite a frontier with few if any manors west thereof, in consequence Llangibby is not mentioned in the book along with most of Wales.

The Church

St Cuby's church sits east of the main part of the village on a dead-end lane which peters out as a lane feeding pastures towards the river. The church is almost entirely a product of the Perpendicular era with Pevsner placing the church's fabric firmly into the 15th century. Medieval wall-paintings on internal walls have been confidently dated to that same century confirming the age. Later work has masked much of the dating detail on both nave and chancel what survives is 15th century overlain with 17th & 18th century work internally, the product of zeal from a more puritanical congregation. Similarly 15th century is thr western tower of 2-stages and lacking buttresses. Work to restore the church came later than is customary with the major restoration in the first decade of the 20th century, besides restoring the main fabric the work also added a vestry to the south and rebuilt much of the southern wall. Thankfully the restoration left intact the medieval wall-paintings that make the interior well worth a visit. The lane leading to the church is narrow so parking should be sought in the main village, where the lane performs a sharp right turn a path leads to the metal gates leading straight-on into the churchyard. As the churchyard is compact with little room about the church to both north & south some ingenuity is required by the photographer to find the better views.