Kemeys Commander
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Kemeys Commander (Welsh: Cemais Comawndwr) is a village in Monmouthshire, in south east Wales.
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[edit] Location
Kemeys Commander, 3 miles north-west of Usk, comprises a few farms, cottages, and a church [1] slightly off the main road leading to Abergavenny within a graceful bend of the River Usk.
[edit] The Name
Its unusual name is derived from the fact that the patronage of the church was at one time held by the Knights Templars and was a commandery or preceptory, as their houses were termed. In the 17th century their successors, the Knights Hospitallers, drew £2 13s. 4d. per annum from demesne lands in this parish. There may have been a hermitage here in early days. It is, however, doubtful whether the Kemeys family ever held it and they probably took their name from another Kemeys, Kemeys Inferior, nine miles further down the river Usk. Both of these names are from the Welsh word cemais meaning 'bend in a river', and this is an apt description of the site of this village, which stands at the centre of a long bend of consistent radius.
Despite the fact that the family did not actually take their surname from here, it was "farmed" by Edward Kemeys, perhaps as chaplain of the chantry of St. Nicholas in the parish church of Usk; in 1603 it belonged to an Edward Morgan. In 1801 Archdeacon William Coxe came here during his Historical Tour in Monmouthshire and wrote "We here mounted our horses and rode through thickets across the fields to Kemeys Commander, a small village".
[edit] Chain Bridge
To the north is Kemeys Bridge, also known locally as Chain Bridge, the present bridge built 1905 to 1906, which takes the main Usk to Abergavenny road [2] over the River Usk; a bridge has been here as far back as the 16th century but was washed away in winter floods in 1690, replaced eventually in 1730 in solid oak and known locally as Pont Kemeys. This bridge in turn was replaced in 1829 by one built by Brown-Lennox of Pontypridd - supported by sturdy chains, hence the name for all bridges on the site since. The next bridge, built by George Palmer of Neath was an iron arch with green painted girders, but still referred to as Chain Bridge [3].
[edit] The Church
The church of All Saints is held with Betws newydd nearby and has some interesting features. A small low screen divides the nave from the presbytery, taking the place of the usual chancel arch as the whole building is contained under one roof; the screen is plain and not of good workmanship, the only ornamentation being slight columns with crocketed pinnacles on each side of the entry. The altar slab, apparently not pre-Reformation, is severely mounted on plain stone squares and in keeping with the austere lines of the building. There are also a modern terfoiled aumbry and a piscina in the south wall. The east window is Perpendicular and high, and on the south side of the nave is an exceedingly small window which lighted the former rood-loft. The beams of the slightly flattened barrel roof and the wall-plate are of some age. The font is octagonal. The small south door has been built-in and entrace to the building is through the timbered west porch above which is a turret containing two bells, one of which is of 13th century date but slightly smaller than those at Gwernesney. Only the steps and base remain of the churchyard cross. In the middle of the 16th century the provision of a light in the church, probably that before the high altar, was charged upon three aces of land in the parish. The church house in the hamlet retains many features of the Renaissance period.
Monmouthshire, Its History and Topography, C.J.O. Evans, ~1950
