St Mary’s Church

Abergavenny Local History Society Street Survey

St Mary’s Priory Church and its Records

Monk Street, Abergavenny, NP7 5ND tel. 01873 858787

St Mary’s Priory Church is the parish church for the town of Abergavenny and is one of the largest and finest parish churches in Wales. It was originally the church of the Benedictine Priory, established under Hamelin de Ballon (Balun/ Baeluns) in 1087. The church is renowned for the Jesse carving which once formed the base of an intricate and elaborate tree depicting the lineage of Jesus Christ. It also has a collection of tombs dating from the 13th to 17th centuries in alabaster and marble. A more recent addition is a stained-glass window designed by Helen Whittaker in memory of the late Very Reverend Jeremy Winston which was installed in 2016.

The church is usually open between 10am and 2pm Monday to Saturday but visitors are advised to ring the church in advance if making a special visit. The Churchwatch group needs more volunteers and if you can help please contact the administrator Maggie Pratt at the Priory Centre.

Abergavenny Local History Society has held links with St Mary’s Church since soon after the formation of the Society. In 1979 the Society formed the St Mary’s Research Group to research the history of the priory and church. Our President Ken Key has made the original research notes available to the current Research Group. Members of the group identified and transcribed those parts of the notes which are not readily available from other sources. You may download these notes here: St Mary’s Research Documents

The Research Group transcribed the Abergavenny Parish Vestry Meeting Minute Book, 1711-1804 from scans kindly provided by Gwent Archives. The original document is held by Gwent Archives – D874/92 and the transcription may be downloaded here: Vestry Book

The Research Group has also undertaken the transcription of the St Mary’s Parish records, which included translation from the Latin for the earliest records. The data has been put on to Excel files to enable searching by street and occupation (where given) and not just by name and date. You can download those available below.

Priory Church of St Mary