Garway

{{Infobox UK place

|static_image_name= St Michael, Garway - geograph.org.uk - 905986.jpg

|static_image_caption= The Church of St Michael at Garway

|official_name= Garway

|country= England

|region= West Midlands

|os_grid_reference = SO454224

|coordinates = {{coord|51.89746|-2.79491|display=inline,title}}

|population = 430

|population_ref =

|civil_parish = Garway

|unitary_england = Herefordshire

|lieutenancy_england = Herefordshire

|constituency_westminster = Hereford and South Herefordshire

|post_town = HEREFORD

|postcode_district = HR2

|postcode_area = HR

|dial_code = 01981

}}

Garway is a civil parish in south-west Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 430 at the 2011 census.{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11123678&c=Garway&d=16&e=62&g=6386094&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1446217191964&enc=1|title=Civil Parish population 2011|access-date=30 October 2015}} It is set on a hillside above the River Monnow about 6 1/4 miles (10 km) northwest of Monmouth. It is a sparsely populated area, mainly agricultural in nature. There are several small centres of population including Garway itself, Broad Oak, The Turning and Garway Hill.

Garway church

The church is on the western edge of the parish and is dedicated to Saint Michael.{{NHLE|num=1099751|desc=Church of St Michael|grade=I|access-date=26 March 2022}} The earliest record of a monastery on the site is in the seventh century, but it is with the arrival of the Knights Templar in 1180 that the history of the church at Garway becomes clearer. The Knights Templar built a hut in honour of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Brooks and Pevsner, in the 2012 revision to the Herefordshire volume of the Buildings of England, describe St Michael's as "uncommonly interesting".{{sfn|Brooks|Pevsner|2012|pp=243-246}}

The excavated foundations of part of the round church (unearthed in 1927) can be seen clearly on the north side of the present church, and the original carved chancel arch, heavily decorated and in the Norman style, survives. Most of the current church, which is no longer round, is probably 13th century including the massive defensible tower which was once separate from the main church building. There are numerous carvings both inside and outside the building including a green man, a sword believed to be Templar, a fish and a snake.

=Garway Dovecote=

Garway Dovecote, on private land near Garway Church, has an inscription dating it to 1326.{{NHLE|num=1348781|desc=Dovecot 80 yards southeast of the Church of St Michael|grade=I|access-date=26 March 2022}} Both the dovecote{{NHLE|num=1348781|desc=Dovecot 80 yards southeast of the Church of St Michael|grade=I|access-date=26 March 2022}} and the church are Grade I listed buildings.{{NHLE|num=1099751|desc=Church of St Michael|grade=I|access-date=26 March 2022}}

Media

The dovecote featured in the BBC1 series Bonekickers on 8 July 2008. Garway is referenced in The Fabric of Sin, a novel by Phil Rickman, and in Bernard Knight's chapter in King Arthur's Bones by The Medieval Murderers.

Gallery

Garway Dovecote (Geograph 1184164 by Pauline Eccles .jpg|Garway Dovecote

Garway Church - Green Man.jpg|Garway Church Green Man carved In sandstone

Garway Church - geograph.org.uk - 46182.jpg|St Michael's Church with its castle-like tower

Great Demesne, Garway - geograph.org.uk - 3254219.jpg|Great Demesne, Garway

References

Sources

{{Cite book

|last1 = Brooks|first1 = Alan

|last2 = Pevsner|first2 = Nikolaus

|authorlink2 = Nikolaus Pevsner

|series=The Buildings of England

|title=Herefordshire

|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/759174126

|year=2012

|location=New Haven, US and London

|publisher=Yale University Press

|isbn=978-0-300-12575-7

|oclc = 759174126

}}

External links

[http://www.stw.org.uk/ Church and community site including Garway Church], includes location map
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060525225050/http://www.britannia.com/history/herefords/churches/garway.html Britannia], shows plan of church
[http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/Resources/Herefs4.jpg Photograph of Garway Church]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184457/http://www.britannia.com/history/herefords/churches/images/garway.gif Floorplan of the Garway Complex]
[http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/education/The_Knights_Templars_and_Hospitallers.htm Historic Herefordshire Online]

Category:Villages in Herefordshire