England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Rogiet St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Rogiet (historically spelt Roggiett) lies in the extreme southeast of Monmouthshire forming s short stretch of the county's coastline with the outer Bristol Channel. Rogiet is located roughly 6 miles southwest of the town & port of Chepstow and stands immediately south of the B4245 road which loops out and back from the A48 (Chepstow to Newport) road forming a coastal route. Rogiet has grown significantly since the time of this transcript, at that time early maps show a tiny place, little more than a hamlet with a short run of properties running northeast from the parish church. Today Rogiet extends to the B4245 and along it for a half mile and has become contiguous with Llanfihangel near Rogiet to its west. Rogiet sits on the coastal plain of the county, a low lying area characterised by grazing marshes lying inland of the levee which holds back the Bristol Channel. Modern developments have created Rogiet's growth, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway from London to Cardiff passes through and grants the Severn Tunnel Junction station adjacent to the village, in addition, to its north, runs the modern M48 and to the south the M4 with Rogiet sited between the two. Local drainage ditches or "reens" drain the parish to the nearby coast arriving at West Pill. Rogiet is sited at around 10 metres above the sea, land rises steadily inland reaching 80 metres within a couple of miles in nearby Slade Wood. This coastal strip is made up of many small parishes and Rogiet was typical in covering just under 1,200 acres, that acreage would have supported fewer than 50 parishioners. Like most of Wales Rogiet is not mentioned in Domesday Book, a few entries are found a little further east but none here.

The Church

St Mary's church stands amongst farm buildings to the southwest of the village, it is accessed from the modern development of Churchmead by a track. The church has a short nave and a long chancel all set off by a rather tall western tower, it is largely a product of the 13th and 14th centuries. The chancel is the older fabric being 13th century and Early English Gothic in style, it shows lancet styled windows with ogee heads on both northern and southern faces. The western tower is less easy to date with no great details pointing to any style era, Pevsner hesitantly assigns it to the 14th century and as it carries typical battlementation and pinnacles that are charactersitic of early Perpendicular style probably from the middle of that century. The short nave is a later Perpendicular rebuild of an early nave and probably either late 14th or even early 15th centuries. The chancel arch which separates nave and chancel is 14th century but the doorway to the rood-loft stairs is of the 15th. Restoration came late to St Mary, it was 1903 before work was done to add the lean-to northern aisle and vestry, the aisle's arcade being a rather decorative piece. There is ample on-street parking in Churchmead from where a short walk takes one to the churchyard, adjacent farm building limit the views of the western tower but all other angles are readily available for the photographer.