Kerry
Kerry or Ceri was a Welsh vill which was intermittently
overrun by the Mortimers
of Wigmore until 1278 when it was granted, with the entire
commote as well as neighbouring Cedewain, to Roger Mortimer (d.1282).
From that time on it remained in Moritmer hands until 1425.
An early clas community probably existed at Kery under the patronage of the princes of Maelienydd. In 1176 the church was within the lands of Cadwallon ap Madog (d.1179) when it was the subject of an infamous dispute between the dioceses of St Asaph and St Davids, which Archdeacon Giraldus Cambrensis of Brecon eventually won for St Davids.
The present church consists of an early nave with acarde and attached later chancel. To this another nave and chancel were added later, possibly contemporaneously with the heavy west tower. It has been suggested that the newer north nave began as an aisle and that there was also a south aisle which has now been destroyed. The tower contains an allegedly fifteenth century bell with the inscription Sante Egevire.
Copyright©2013 Paul Martin Remfry