Llangattock Lingoed church

Link to French translation

The present building, dedicated to St Cadog is thought to date from the 13th century. A church existed here before then. Rents from the vicarage at Llangattock Lingoed were paid to Abergavenny Priory when the priory was founded in 1090.

The nave we see today may originally have been a small church, enlarged when the Normans decided to provide a more modern and spacious building. Some of the church’s medieval stained glass survives.

The interior was colourfully decorated in medieval times, as you can see from the surviving painting of St George slaying the dragon. Some have suggested that this symbolises the English ending the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, at battles in this district, in 1404-1405. The armour depicted supports this theory.

The church needed renovation in Victorian times but the exterior walls escaped major changes, although the last remnants of medieval limewash were removed. The walls were limewashed again in 2003.

In the churchyard you can see the base of a medieval cross, which formed a memorial to the many people buried here in umarked graves. The upper part was probably removed when the Protestant Church was formed in Tudor times.

The name Llangattock is an anglicised form of Llangatwg, meaning “church of Cadog” (or “Catwg” in local dialect). The village was recorded as Lancadok in 1254, Lankaddock Kellenny in 1291 and Lancadock Lyncoyd in 1348. Many spellings suggest it was earlier known as Llangatwg Gelynnig, possibly meaning “church of Cadog in an area of holly-trees”. Celynnig = “having holly”. Gelynnig was gradually displaced by Lingoed, possibly because it lay near a forest recorded as Linchoit in 1146.

Lingoed or Llyngoed was also the name of a medieval park and a monastic grange or farm (belonging to Dore abbey, Herefordshire) and appears to mean “pool near a wood”, but no pool or lake appears on modern maps near the village. The name may ultimately derive from an unrecorded Celyngoed, meaning “holly-tree wood”.

With thanks to the Village Alive Trust, Llangattock Lingoed PCC and Richard Morgan, of the Welsh Place-Name Society

Postcode: NP7 8RR    View Location Map

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