England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Trelleck Grange Parish Church

The Parish

The chapelry of Trelleck Grange, its mother parish being Trelleck, lies in eastern Monmouthshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Gloucestershire and. of course, England. Trelleck Grange is located roughly 6 miles northwest of the port of Chepstow and lies a mile east of the B4293 road which links Chepstow to Monmouth, to the west of the Wye. There is not much to Trelleck Grange and it would appear to have always been little more than a hamlet, a few farms and cottages gathered in a cruck formed by a narrow lane headed out-and-back from the B4293. A "grange" is an outlying farm reporting to an abbey, in this case it was that of nearby Tintern, the economy of the settlement would have, therefore, been dictated by the needs of the monks. In this area pastoral farming has sway and raising of cattle for both dairy and beef would have been the mainstay. Trelleck Grange sits a little under 3 miles west of the Wye and small streams drain it to that river and through Chepstow to the Bristol Channel. Trelleck Grange is sited at around 150 metres above the sea in strongly undulating countryside where local high spots rise to 230 metres to Trelleck Grange's east. The chapelry was of a size typical of a rural farming parish in the south, covering just over 1,800 acres it would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. There are a few settlements in Monmouthshire in Domesday Book but Trelleck Grange is not one of them.

The Church

The parish church, it has no known dedication, sits to the northwest of most properties in the tiny hamlet and south of the lane leading in from Llanishen Cross. Whilst the site is ancient and probably pre-Conquest in its origins, the church is of an uncertain date. Experts indicate that the very thorough restoration of 1861 has masked, if not obliterated, all traces of design detailing that would enable an accurate estimate to be made. The best guess is that the church, as it currently stands, was erected around the 13th century. A single dating feature remains documented, that being the southern door which is of the 17th century. The basic structure is of a single-celled combined nave and chancel all topped off by a neat western bellcote. As already mentioned the building received a major restoration between 1860 & 1861 which besides changing all dating detail was responsible for adding that bellcote. An unmarked farm-track, roughly surfaced, heads west to church and accompanying farms, it has open grassy areas to its north allowing parking safely. The churchyard is small and the church sits uncomfortably close to farm buildings to its west, a large tree dominates the eastern end too making for something of a challenge for the photographer.