Wonky Churches - part II - Cwmyoy

Cwmyoy Church nestles beneath the red sandstone of Hatterrall Hill.  HERE is a link to a page which shows details of the landslip and some far better photos of the church than I took!!  You can see on the left, another ancient preaching cross.

Lovely old carved heads  ("cusped" according to Coflein).  The window is probably 14th C.

Inside the porch was this beautifully-carved memorial to Joan Prosser (the old "ff" was "ss" in those times and there were Prosser memorials inside the church too).  She died on the 25th January (which year?)and was the daughter of Richard Gundy.

Above and below: there were a number of unusual decorated plaques on the walls.  Perhaps they are connected with the Prosser family? as there is the memorial to Joan, which also has beautiful carving?

The stoup, set into the wall in the porch.

The doorway into the tower.

There is debate whether this a "weeping chancel" where the non-alignment of the nave and chancel was deliberate with the nave represented Christ's body in death, and the chancel his head, inclined to the right.  That said, the rest of the leaning angles must surely be down to the landslip.  We felt quite drunken whilst walking around in here!

This probably started life as a wayside or preaching cross before being brought into the church. It dates to the 11th or 12th C.  The representation of Christ on the cross is quite rare but as this was close to Llanthony Priory, it would have been on the Pilgrimage route to St David's (and Offa's Dyke passes close by).

It has had an interesting life, as it was buried (probably during the Reformation) and not discovered until 1861, when it was dug up on a local farm.  It 1935 it was placed inside the tower.

In 1967 this was stolen and turned up for sale in an antiques shop in London. Fortunately it was spotted by the Keeper of Sculpture from the British Museum and rescued.

A sad memorial to a little 3 year old daughter, Joan Williams, and below, her mother and namesake, Joan.

The same family also lost two daughters named Mary, one 8 years old and the other just 14 weeks.  Hard times then.

A tilted window . . .

There were many old memorials in the churchyard, and a lovely memorial walk with words carved into the flagstones.

Looking out of the window today (heavy rain and strong winds), I'm glad we went out when we did!