ST Mary's Church in Tintern, a Grade II-listed fire-hit ruin which is now being returned to safety, has been officially declared Monmouthshire's 363rd scheduled ancient monument.

There are only 50,000 scheduled monuments compared to 2.5m Grade II-listed buildings across the UK.

A spokesman for the Lower Wye Valley Buildings Preservation Trust which is raising funds to aid in the consolidation of the former church, said: ”It should help with our fundraising when it comes to grants, as it makes it a bit more 'special', and is also an acknowledgment that it's a bit too far gone to put an entire roof on without knocking it down and starting again”.

The village website (www.tinternvillage.co.uk) says the ivy-clad ruin boasts beautiful views over Tintern, the abbey and across to the Forest of Dean, and are romantically indicative of how the abbey would have looked to 18th century artist William Gilpin when describing ‘the picturesque’, a term coined in and for the Wye Valley.

It adds that originally built for the lay tenants of Tintern Abbey, medieval stonework can still be seen, particularly 14-15th century.

Victorian additions are by noted architect John Prichard, who from 1866, re-modelled and extended the porch into a bell-tower and re-built the south side to include a vestry.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, St Mary’s became the place of worship for the Angidy wireworkers, who were at the forefront of industrial development from the 1500s on.

It was annexed to Tintern Parva in 1902, but became redundant in 1972, with the communion plate, chalice, altar cross, cloth, reredos, processional cross, candlesticks, a memorial and its benefaction board transferred to St Michael’s.

Five years after being closed down, the building was the scene of a fatal blaze in 1977, when two men sleeping inside died after a camping fire got out of control.

The freehold of the building, which is currently closed to the public, has recently passed to the Crown in Escheat.

Within the churchyard there are three unusual Grade II listed tombs reflecting the prosperity of the Angidy ironworkers – a pyramid, a baroque sarcophagus and a neo-classical altar.

The earliest surviving monumental inscription is dated 1657 and is in memory of Francis Bradford, who founded the Bradford Charity that still provides educational grants.

The graveyard, which is open to the public, contains three War Commission graves including Private BB Hall, a US citizen who enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Another interesting grave is to Peter Carr who died in the Senghenydd Pit disaster.

Donations to the St Mary’s campaign can be made at www.justgiving.com/campaign/savestmarystintern

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