Monument to Bishop Brown in the burial ground of the church of St David

Location

In the burial ground of the Catholic Church of St David, immediately to the S of the church.

History

The church of St David at Pantasph was built under the patronage of Viscount and Lady Fielding: Louisa Pennant was heiress of Downing Hall, and an estate which included Pantasaph. She and her husband decided to build a church there in celebration of their marriage in 1846: Anglicans when building commenced, they converted to Catholicism before it was finished, and after a legal struggle, the building opened as a Catholic church in 1852. In the same year, a friary was established at the site and the church was entrusted to the Capuchin Franciscans.

Dr James Brown (1811-1881) was the first Bishop of Shrewsbury: the Diocese of Shrewsbury was created in 1851 as part of the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in the mid C19. It included the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire until 1895. Brown served as Bishop until his death in 1881. Under him there was a marked increase in the number of priests, churches, monasteries, convents and schools for the poor within his diocese. The monument may have been designed by Edmund Kirby. Kirby, an architect and pupil of E W Pugin and assistant to John Douglas in Chester, was a member of the committee established to commemorate the bishop’s life and achievements.

Exterior

High gothic memorial. A small chest tomb on moulded and tapered plinth, with a roof-like top slab gabled in the form of a cross, with fish-scale slates and rolled and reeded cross. Inscribed to the sides. Ornate foliate cross at head, enriched on all sides with various emblems and images in both high and low relief. The cross is flanked by angels supported on composite piers with clustered shafts and traceried gablets.

Reason for designation

Included for its special architectural interest as a particularly fine late C19 monument in the Gothic style, and for its special historic interest for its connection to a prominent figure of the Catholic Church in Wales in the mid-late C19. Part of a group of good monuments in the burial ground at the church, this being the best example.