St Patrico’s Church, Partrishow

This quaintest of churches lies waiting for pilgrims in the Black Mountains

Highlights

• Shrine and holy well of St Issui

Partrishow is in the foothills of the Black Mountains, a tiny and remote settlement that seems to have escaped the past millennium. Its appealing little stone church houses the intact shrine of St Issui, a hermit who was murdered here by a robber. Neither mass pilgrimage nor angry reformers appear to have disturbed the holy man’s peace since, though the village is now on both the Ewyas, Olchon & Monnow Valleys Way and St Thomas Way.

St Issui’s grave is in a little side chapel at the western end of the main church, the first door on your left as you approach this lopsided, early medieval building. He is thought to be buried beneath the altar, which has six crosses engraved on its surface rather than the usual five – an indication of something special. This secluded chapel, with its whitewashed walls, feels almost homely, a shrine that has never been disturbed. A metal statue of the saint is just about the only decoration. The simplicity of St Issui’s shrine is perfectly balanced by the main church next door, a treasure trove of early art and artefacts. It has an intact oak rood screen, carved with vines and dragons in the 16th century, a wall painting of an admonitory skeleton, and two ancient side altars.

For good measure, the church also houses one of the oldest fonts in Wales, with an inscription dating it to around 1055. This may be when the first stone church was built, dedicated to ‘Merthyr Ishaw’ (St Issui the Martyr) according to other records. The current structure is perhaps Norman and later, sensitively restored in the early 20th century. A few steps downhill, a tiny wellhouse trickles with water, the scene of many miracles during the saint’s lifetime and since. The church perches on the side of a steep valley. Its churchyard cross marks the site where Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, preached the Third Crusade, a recruitment drive for King Richard I’s army. It is hard to imagine that many people turned up: even after 800 years of relentless population growth, this is still one of the least inhabited parts of Britain.

When I entered the churchyard, an elderly man was selectively mowing the graves of people he had liked. He told me he met a lady here who had been miraculously cured at the holy well two years previously, saving her foot from near-certain amputation. After such an impressive introduction, it was a disappointment to find the stone well chamber almost dry, its bottom a layer of thick mud with a tiny puddle of water. It is about 100m downhill from the church by the side of the road. A niche at the back of the wellhouse was full of flowers and other offerings.

In times gone by, a French pilgrim once left a purse of gold after this water cured him of leprosy – funds that allowed the church to be built, according to colorful local legend. The village is variously called Patricio or Patrishow, and the saint an even wider variety of names (Ishow, Ishaw, Isho, and even Patrico). He scarcely appears in reference works under any of them. Almost nothing survives beyond the shrine, well, and church here. He is undated, a timeless saint.

Directions

St Issui’s Church, Partrishow, Abergavenny NP7 7LP

W3W: skim.export.gilding

GPS: 51.8957N 3.0495W

Partrishow is 6 miles north of Abergavenny, hard to find without a map or satnav. Head north from Abergavenny on Old Hereford Road. After 1½ miles, turn left at the sign for ‘Forest Coal Pit’. Follow this narrow lane for 2½ miles, and where it ends, turn left then immediately left again – following the signs for a further 2 miles to Partrishow’s church.

There is a hairpin bend to the right 100m before you reach the church. The holy well is tucked inside this bend, about 5m down from the road. The church was unlocked when I visited.