Church of St James, Devauden

Heritage listing

Reason for designation: Included for its special interest as a school built by its master in 1814 and then converted into a church in 1827 (but see History above). History: Devauden church has an interesting history, but the current church has been altered from its original appearance. It began as Devauden school built by James Davies at the expense of the Duke of Beaufort in 1814 and it was the first National School in Monmouthshire. The school was converted to a church in 1827 at Davies expense ( 45) because the parish church at Newchurch (qv) was so far away and the forest dwellers were consequently godless . He built a new schoolroom and a house for himself in 1837, these survive next to the church, but have been converted to modern dwellings. A drawing of 1839 shows these buildings when new. It shows the church with a hipped roof and four smaller windows with a continuous dripmould, a Gothick rather than its current C17 type appearance. This may only mean an inacccurate drawing. Davies in 1839 recorded that the exterior and interior of the chapel exhibited the taste and judgement of Mr Wyatt , T.H.Wyatt perhaps? The current appearance of the church could also be T.H.Wyatt who was Diocesan architect. This could date from c1845-50, but it only exhibits minor changes from the drawing. The evidence is contradictory and several different dates for the changes are suggested by various authorities, see References below. It remained a chapel-of-ease of St Peter, Newchurch until 1958. The parish of Devauden was combined with those of St Arvans which included Penterry, Itton and Kilgwrrwg in 1981. Exterior: The church is built of random sandstone rubble with Welsh slate roofs. Single cell building aligned north west/south east with the entrance on the east and altar on the w

From Cadw under OGL v3.