St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff
| St John the Baptist Church | |
|---|---|
 View from the south | |
  Location within Cardiff | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Perpendicular Gothic |
| Town or city | Cardiff |
| Country | Wales |
| Coordinates | 51°28′50.59″N 3°10′42.13″W / 51.4807194°N 3.1783694°W |
| Construction started | c. 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.
History
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 an Oolitic freestone sourced from Dundry.[1]
St John's was sacked during a rebellion of Owain Glyndwr in 1404.[2] The church was rebuilt in the second half of the 15th Century[2] 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 when the similar Jasper Tower of Llandaff Cathedral was also built.[3]
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.[4] 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 Devon sandstones from the Forest of Dean.[1]
In 1952 St John's became a Grade I listed building,[5] of exceptional architectural and historical interest.
Gallery
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The 14th century tower
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Church tower
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Entrance
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Side entrance
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Interior of the church
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Interior
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Baptismal font
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Cardiff city and Bay circular walk". BBC Wales. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Historical Roots of Cardiff City Parish". CardiffStJohnCityParish.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
- ↑ Newman, John (1995). The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan. Penguin Group. p. 43. ISBN 0-14-071056-6.
- ↑ "Bute". peterfinch.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
- ↑ "Church of St John The Baptist.". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
External links
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