Risca St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin is a Grade II listed Victorian gothic revival building. It comprises of a nave, south and north aisles, south and north vestries, south porch, chancel with a bell tower and steeple above the south vestry. It is constructed in coursed pennant stone with a slate roof. 

The spire is 140 feet high and the solid copper weathervane on top is 3 feet 6 inches high by 1 foot 6 inches wide. The twentyseven and a half inches diameter bell which was transferred from the previous church of St Michaels which stood on the site before St Mary’s, was cast in 1734 by William Evans, a member of a famous family of bell founders who also re-cast the Tenor 2 1/2 ton bell at Exeter Cathedral. Within the churchyard are Grade ll listed remains of the churchyard cross and Grade ll listed entrance gateway.

The churches on this site witnessed the changeover of Risca from an agricultural community to a strong, vibrant industrial village, which also changed from a Welsh to English speaking population.

St Mary’s retains copies of the original Parish Records including Marriage Registers from 1754 and the Burial and Baptism Registers from 1813. Some indication of the small population was that between 1754 and 1812 there were only 108 marriages, an average of two weddings a year and of the 216 signatures no less than 144 persons were unable to write their names.

The west facing window depicts the history of the Blackvein mining disaster of 1860 where over 140 men and boys lost their lives, some are buried in the churchyard. The pulpit, with it’s alabaster hand rail, commemorates the Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, as does the Brass Communion Rails, presented by EH Watts of London during the Jubilee Year of 1887.

A memorial on the north wall of the chancel to the Phillips Family, includes William Phillips “The Old Squire”, 6 feet 4 inches tall who’s passion of fox hunting took him to Windsor to present six pairs of his famous hounds to King George lll.