St Mary, Carew

St Mary is a Grade I Church in Wales parish church in Carew Cheriton, Pembrokeshire, about 300 m south of the A477. Cadw lists it as an exceptionally fine and well-preserved medieval church. An alternative dedication to St John is also recorded.

Overview

The oldest fabric is the fourteenth-century chancel and transept arches, with four-leaved flowers in the hollows, in or after the style of Bishop Gower (d. 1347). A Decorated rood, removed in the eighteenth century, was reached by a stairs turret south of the chancel. The nave, aisles and porch were added in the mid-fifteenth century in a different stone. The west tower of about 1500, possibly associated with Sir Rhys ap Thomas, is of Somerset type with angle buttresses; it lost pinnacles in the nineteenth century and a turret spire in the twentieth.

Masonry is generally random rubble in local sandstone; the tower is better coursed. David Brandon of London directed the main restoration of 1856. In 1908 W. D. Caroe cut plaster back at the east window. The chancel retains a piscina, sedilia and medieval encaustic tiles said to have come from Carew Castle. Monuments include the tomb of Sir Nicholas de Carew (d. 1311). The churchyard holds the separately listed Old Mortuary Chapel.

Further Information

• Cadw listed building 6007
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Mary, Carew
• St Mary's Church Carew