St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff

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St John the Baptist Church
Cardiff, Church Street, St. John the Baptist.jpg
View from Church Street
St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff is located in Cardiff
St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff
Location within Cardiff
General information
Architectural stylePerpendicular Gothic
Town or cityCardiff
CountryWales
Coordinates51°28′50.59″N 3°10′42.13″W / 51.4807194°N 3.1783694°W / 51.4807194; -3.1783694
Construction startedc. 1460s

St John the Baptist Church is a Grade I listed parish church in Cardiff, Wales, the only church dating to pre-Medieval times in Cardiff city centre and the only medieval building other than Cardiff Castle.

Description[]

Black's Picturesque Guide through Wales (1851) described St John's as "an ancient and finely proportioned edifice, with a noble quadrangular tower, surmounted by pierced battlements and four open gothic pinnacles... It is justly admired, and forms a conspicuous feature in every view of the town."[1] The same remains true today, with good views of the church from Church Street, Trinity Street and Working Street in the city centre.

Newman describes the pinnacled west tower as a "magnificent marker".[2] At a height of over 40 metres[3] the tower is in four stages, faced in grey limestone ashlar with details in buff coloured Dundry stone.[2]

History[]

View down Church Street towards St John's Church in 1852
Interior of the church

The church was built in 1180 as a chapel of ease for the larger St Mary's Church, itself founded by Benedictine monks from Tewkesbury Abbey. Originally constructed of blue Lias, a Jurassic stone with layers of fossilised shells, it was sourced from Aberthaw. The walls were then originally dressed with freestone - limestone sourced from Dundry.[4]

St John's was sacked during a rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr in 1404.[5] The church was rebuilt in the second half of the 15th Century[5] and given a perpendicular tower with a peal of ten bells. Today it still has a crown of openwork battlements, reminiscent of churches in the West Country of England, and is dated c.1490 because of the similar Jasper Tower of Llandaff Cathedral which was built at this time.[2]

After the foundations of St Mary's were destroyed by the Bristol Channel flood of 1607, the two churches were worked as a dual-location parish until all main services were moved to St John in 1620.

In 1843, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute paid for the construction of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Stephen the Martyr in Bute Street as a permanent replacement for St Mary's.[6] This allowed the reconstruction of St John, with extensions to the church made in 1886–1897 using carboniferous limestone quarried from Culverhouse Cross. The churchyard wall was also rebuilt, using original Lias mixed with red sandstone in the walls, topped with coping stones of Devonian sandstones from the Forest of Dean.[4]

In 1851 the Cardiff firm of Messrs. Thomas & Norris were engaged for repewing of St John's with the work to be completed by Christmas that year. [7]

St John's stained glass windows date from circa 1855, in the north chapel, with references to the Bute family. Those in the north inner aisle date to 1869, by Morris & Co, with a top row of apostles designed by William Morris himself.[2]

The church was increased in width with outer aisles added to St John's in 1889 and 1891. The old aisle windows were re-set and all the new building was re-surfaced with Sweldon limestone.[2]

The graveyard, already full, was divided by a new public pathway in the 1890s connecting Working Street with Cardiff Central Market. As part of the agreement for the new path, Cardiff Corporation agreed to take responsibility for the graveyard south of the path. This later became St John's Gardens.[8] The path is still owned by the church and is closed every Good Friday. Brass numbers on the path mark the location of graves and family tombs.[8]

In 1952 St John's became a Grade I listed building,[9] of exceptional architectural and historical interest.

Gallery[]

  • View from the east

  • The 14th century tower

  • Church tower from the west

  • Entrance

  • Side entrance

  • Interior

  • Baptismal font

  • Stained glass window

  • Stained glass window

  • Altar and reredos done as a memorial to Lord Kitchener

References[]

  1. ^ Black's Picturesque Guide through North and South Wales and Monmouthshire, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1851, p. 341
  2. ^ a b c d e Newman, John (1995). The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan. Penguin Group. pp. 187, 190–1. ISBN 0-14-071056-6.
  3. ^ "Church of St. John the Baptist". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  4. ^ a b "Cardiff city and Bay circular walk". BBC Wales. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  5. ^ a b "The Historical Roots of Cardiff City Parish". CardiffStJohnCityParish.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  6. ^ "Bute". peterfinch.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  7. ^ "ST JOHN'S CHURCH", The Cardiff and Methyr Guardian, p. 2, Jun 28, 1851, We hear with great satisfaction that the tender of Messrs Thomas and Norris for repewing this church has been taken. The committee of the management met on Wednesday last, and out of three tenders that were sent in accepted that of the above respectable firm, as it was £95 less than one of the two, and £101 4s. 4d. less than the other. The whole of the work is to be completed and the church reopened for Divine Service before Christmas under heavy forfeitures.
  8. ^ a b "The macabre reason for the numbers on these paving slabs in Cardiff city centre". Wales Online. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  9. ^ "Church of St John The Baptist". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2013-03-22.

External links[]

Coordinates: 51°28′51″N 3°10′42″W / 51.48072°N 3.17837°W / 51.48072; -3.17837

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