England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Michaelston y Fedw St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Michaelston y Fedw is a geographical anomaly in not only having parts within 2 adjacent counties but given the status of Monmouthshire as an English county at one time it also had parts within 2 countries, today all is within Wales. Thus Michaelston y Fedw is either the southwesternmost parish in Monmouthshire or alternatively the easternmost parish in Glamorgan. To add further confusion the village name often is rendered as Michaelstone, of course the Welsh Llanfihangel y Fedw should be acknowledged too. Michaelston y Fedw is located roughly 5 miles west of the port of Newport and sits about 2 miles north of the A48 road which links Newport with Cardiff. The village which grants its name to the parish is a small and compact settlement gathered around its church and inn at a crossroads of lanes, the wider parish both within Monmouthshire and Glamorgan has farmsteads and cottages scattered either side of the course of the Afon Rhymni. Early gazetteers estimate that the farming here favoured pastoral methods by 2:1 with arable with also 400 acres of managed woodland in what is a relatively arboreous landscape. Modern developments are towards the south of the parish where the twin modern motorways of A48M and M4 split to enter Cardiff or bypass it to the north respectively, all within a half mile of peaceful Michaelston y Fedw. The Afon Rhymni drains the parish southwards reaching the nearby outer Bristol Channel to the east of Cardiff. Michaelston y Fedw is sited on a sloping site rising from 70 metres at the church to 90 at its eastern end, away from the Rhymni's valley land rises northwestwards to reach 182 metres on motte-topped Coed Craig Ruperra swathed in forestry. Michaelston y Fedw was an extensive parish covering close to 3,600 acres and would have supported around 550 parishioners with only 200 in the village of that name. Like most of Wales Michaelston y Fedw is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Michael's church sits towards the west of the village accessed by a roughly-surfaced track north of the Cefn Mably Arms inn. The church owes its origins to the 13th century with much of the medieval remaining despite a thorough restoration in Victorian times. However Pevsner even speculates that two blocked former doorways of the chancel might even be of the 12th century. Of a more certain date is the main body of the church with both nave and chancel show lancet windows characteristic of the early English Gothic style. Pevsner lavishes praise in particular for the preservation of these features in the chancel which he terms "the most impressive show". Whilst the western tower, a rather plain and simple affair, has masonry of the 13th century it undoubtedly received attention in the 15th century as shown by its western doorway. To the medieval core is attached a southern transept of uncertain date but clearly post-Reformation. The typical Victorian restoration came here between 1894 & 1896 and was a thorough exercise using Triassic stone of a yellow hue in contrast with the local red sandstone of the medieval forms. Whilst the restoration did largely retain the styling of the original fabric a few windows in the 14th century Decorated style were added to jar slightly. Whilst the large car park of the inn is notionally for patrons only, a polite request should surely not be refused given the size. The church presents a few difficulties for the photographer as it sits close to the tree-lined southern edge of the churchyard removing the favoured aspects but all other angles are available.