AN oak tree was planted in St Peter’s churchyard in Goytre to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III by the Lord-Lieutenant of Gwent, Brigadier Robert Aitken CBE.

A good crowd was present to witness the February 28 event, and a commemoration plaque will be placed there in the near future.

The Lord Lieutenant of Gwent Brigadier Robert Aitken CBE and The Reverend Sally Ingle-Gillis were joined by parishioners for the planting.

There has been a church on the site since the early 1500s.

early Gothic church was dismantled in the mid 1800’s and rebuilt in the Early English style, with the medieval chancel roof surviving.

There is also a Norman font and an ancient oak chest.

The first written record of a church at Goytre comes from 1348, though very little of this medieval building remains.

Only in the south porch can you see any medieval stonework, though even this seems to have been moved from elsewhere.

The entrance arch to the porch appears to be medieval, and there may be more old stonework in the chancel, while the chancel roof may be medieval, replaced on top of rebuilt walls.

In 1846 the medieval building was replaced by a new church designed by TH Wyatt and D Brandon, under the direction of the rector, Thomas Evans.

The church has hardly been altered at all since this early Victorian rebuilding, making it an excellent example of Victorian Gothic style.

At the west end of the nave is a gallery supported on a pair of slender cast iron columns. Atop the gallery sits an 1886 organ that blocks the west window.

The interior furnishings are Victorian, with one notable exception, a Norman font set upon a 19th century base. The font is decorated with semi-circles and rope-moulding.

During the 1846 rebuilding the medieval vestry was moved to the south side of the nave, but the Victorians left behind the vestry’s carved mouldings and dressed stone on the west wall. In the churchyard is an ancient yew roughly 40 feet across.

A pair of alms dishes (not usually on display) are thought to come from a yew tree over 1,000 years old.