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

The Parish

The parish of Tregare lies in northeastern Monmouthshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Herefordshire. Tregare is located about 6 miles north of the small market town of Usk and a similar distance west of the county town of Monmouth. There is little to modern day Tregare, just a hamlet lying in lanes 2 miles north of the busy A40 road connecting Monmouth with Abergavenny. The area's soil is stiff clay restricting arable work until recent times hence pastoral farming dominates the local economy. Tregare is drained southwards by numerous small becks all merging to form the Olway Brook beyond Raglan, the River Usk is joined at that market town and makes its way to the Bristol Channel through the port of Newport. Tregare is sited at around 90 metres above the sea and sits on something of a hill within this gently rolling countryside, local heights reaching a further 20 metres higher within a mile or so. Parishes in this area of Monmouthshire are rather small on average, Tregare being slightly larger than most, it covered almost 2,400 acres and would have supported a population of close to 300 parishioners. Like most of the country west of Wye Valley Tregare is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the southern side of Tregare's main east to west running lane with a small farmstead for company and with fine views over rolling fields to the north. The church has its origins in the 14th century and shows many details from the Decorated Gothic period of that century. The northern window of the nave is cited as a good example of that dating detail by Pevsner. Other windows date from the 17th century when the chancel fenestration was refreshed. The church received a major restoration at the end of the 19th century masking further evidence. Internally Pevsner is rather taken with the stone mason's work, praising the keeled shafting to that northern nave window as well as the super-arch above the main chancel arch. The church sits behind a mid height local stone wall, roughly topped with roughhewn sandstone blocks, a gated entrance grants access to a fairly cramped site with trees clustered around the western tower, in particular, somewhat restricting photographic angles.