Here's a pic of Abergavenny's St. Mary's that you don't see every day!

Described as the Welsh version of Westminster Abbey, the Priory Church of St. Mary in Abergavenny is an Aladdin’s Cave of religious and medieval treasures.

Inside its doors, you’ll find ten alabaster chest tombs, which are described as the most magnificent of Wales. One of the 15th and 16th-century tombs houses the remains of Richard Herbert, who grew up in the splendid confines of nearby Raglan Castle alongside the future King Henry VII.

It was this link that spared the church from the Dissolution of the Monasteries act which was ushered in during the reign of the portly monarch.

Perhaps the most remarkable of St. Mary’s sacred objects is the 15th-century wooden sculpture called the Tree of Jesse. The Jesse was carved from a single piece of oak and depicts the lineage of Christ. It is thought to be the only one in existence in the world.

When on display at the Tate Britain in London in the early 2000s, it was hailed as “one of the finest medieval sculptures in existence.”

Originally founded in 1087 as the church of a Benedictine priory, archaeological studies have since raised the possibility St. Mary’s was once a site of Romano-British and possibly Celtic worship.

Today, the parish of St. Mary’s runs from the ancient Llanellen bridge to the peaks of the Sugar Loaf.

The church has a somewhat brooding and unquantifiable presence, which is often best appreciated from the sprawling and refreshing gardens of rest to its left.

Its bulky symmetry and slightly guarded air are unusual in a place of worship, but nevertheless, it has a certain something which puts it in a league of its own when it comes to the houses of the holy.