St Stephen and St Tathan’s Church, Caerwent

The oldest site of Christian material culture in Wales, Caerwent’s Roman-era remains are a memorable stopping point on the 758-mile Celtic Way

Highlights

• Grave of St Tathan
• Early monastic school
• Roman and Celtic artefacts

Caerwent has the earliest evidence of Christianity in Wales. A pewter bowl excavated here in 1906 was found to have a faint Chi-Rho Christian monogram scratched on its base. Dating from around 375, when Christianity was widespread throughout the empire, it is the first definite evidence of the faith in Wales. The bowl is now at Newport Museum.

Caerwent was an important Roman-era town, its treasures still being explored by archaeologists today. When their work is finished, the next step would be to explore the town’s Celtic-era Christian artefacts too. There is certainly plenty to investigate: Caerwent might well have the grave of an early saint. The body of St Tathan is said to lie under a dark-grey stone slab in the south aisle of Caerwent’s church. His bones were rediscovered in the vicar’s garden in the early 20th century and reburied inside the church, according to an inscription on the slab, dated 1912.

St Tathan ran a monastic school here some time around 560. Exactly how they concluded that the bones were from the saint’s holy body is not explained. The monastery was thought to be located where the vicar’s garden once lay, now covered by modern housing. The inscription also mentions his coffin, which presumably looks like a carved shrine. It too was reburied under the same slab. This could therefore be a rare, intact early shrine, but it would need examination to know for sure. The inscription is written in Latin, with a translation provided in the guide.

Three other saints’ names are linked to this town. The first is St Cadoc, who perhaps studied here under St Tathan. The second is St Malo, said to be a native of Caerwent who built the first church in the French port named after him. The final saint made it even bigger overseas – St Patrick of Ireland himself. Some medieval documents claim he was born here, though other British places vie for that honour.

Caerwent is one of the best-preserved Roman towns in Britain. It remained in use throughout the dying decades of the Roman empire, and its extensive ruins are popular with tourists. The town’s huge defensive wall is easy to spot from the churchyard, running along the field below its southern boundary.

The church itself was built in the 13th century near the site of St Tathan’s school. In addition to the possible grave of St Tathan, it has several other artefacts and relics from throughout the town’s long history. Most of these are displayed in the south aisle, where the saint’s grave slab is located. On the windowsills are fragments of a Celtic and a later medieval cross and some Roman stonework.

There is a cinerary urn – a container for cremated human remains – displayed in a niche in the back wall. It is, however, a non-Christian artefact, because early Christians did not practise cremation. Other fragments of carved Roman stone are set in the wall around it – the lintel of a door and leaf carvings.

Further Roman finds are displayed in the porch, including the Paulinus Stone, which is said to be among the most important surviving monuments in the whole of Britain. It looks at first glance like any other statue plinth, but the inscription says it was set up by a tribal council in honour of a governor called Tiberius Claudius Paulinus, who served here in around 220. It proves that local British tribes were allowed to organise themselves as a self-governing community, and have their own councils, which shows an unexpected level of independence and self-determination.

Directions

St Stephen and St Tathan’s Church, Caerwent NP26 5AY

www.wentwood.church

W3W: afflict.lighters.inhaled

GPS: 51.6108N 2.7687W

The church is on the south-west side of town, and is usually unlocked in the daytime. Newport Museum is on John Frost Square, Newport NP20 1PA; website: www.newport.gov.uk (search for Newport Museum). It is open Tues–Sat 9:30am–5pm, 4pm on Saturday, admission is free.