"WHEREVER A SAINT HAS DWELT"

“For wherever a saint has dwelt, wherever a martyr has given his blood for the blood of Christ, there is holy ground, and the sanctity shall not depart from it though armies trample over it, though sightseers come with guide-books looking over it.”

So wrote T S Eliot in "Murder in the Cathedral", his play about the murder of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.

The Gunter Mansion, Cross St, Abergavenny

St Philip Evans

St David Lewis

If Eliot is right, then the Gunter Mansion on Cross St, Abergavenny, is indeed "holy ground" for here, not one but two, martyrs dwelt! Thomas Gunter, who had built a secret chapel in the attic of his Cross St mansion, kept two Jesuits at his home at a time when being a Catholic could mean death. His uncle, Fr David Lewis, and Fr Philip Evans, both stayed at Gunter's where they said Mass and tended to the spiritual needs of the Catholics of Abergavenny and surrounding area. Falsely accused in the fictitious Popish Plot, the two priests were martyred in 1679.  In 1970, Fr David Lewis and Fr Philip Evans were canonised by Pope Paul VI.

The Friends of Gunter Mansion are attempting to restore this important historic property.  To this end, they have opened a Pop-Up Exhibition in part of the old mansion.  It is open from 10:30 - 4:00, every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.  Entry is free (although donations wouldn't be refused).  Come in and meet the volunteers and, keeping Eliot's words in mind, learn about the courageous Gunters and the Saints who have dwelt in this venerable old building.

The Pop-Up Exhibition in part of the historic Gunter Mansion