St David's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Castle (Castell), Cardiff

Entry Name: St David's Roman Catholic Cathedral

Listing Date: 19 May 1975

Last Amended: 30 April 1999

Grade: II

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 13671

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: Cardiff Cathedral
St David's Cathedral, Cardiff
Eglwys Gadeiriol Caerdydd

ID on this website: 300013671

Location: Opposite Ebeneser Chapel.

County: Cardiff

Community: Castle (Castell)

Community: Castle

Built-Up Area: Cardiff

Traditional County: Glamorgan

Tagged with: Cathedral Gothic Revival

History

1884-1887 by Pugin and Pugin, architects. Built as RC parish church and raised to cathedral status 1920; gutted after incendiary bomb attack, 1941. Restoration in 1950s by F R Bates, Son, and Price; reopened 1959.

Exterior

Gothic building of serious, severe Early English design. Normal alignment reversed, with entrance to E gable end. Coursed rock-faced Pennant stone with red sandstone ashlar dressings; slate roofs. 8-bay nave; windows of 2 lights with cinquefoils over. On ground floor, stepped buttresses break forward; doorway to L, then 3 confessionals, and then 3 gabled chapels; taller gable to R end bay. East front has low 2-centred doorway with flat head to doors and Gothic traceried tympanum; flanked by side-lights and then by tall buttresses; tall 5-light window with geometric tracery; statue in niche over. Four stage tower to L has low spire (originally belcote), angle buttresses, 2 louvred lancets to bell stage, canopied statue of saint in niche between 2 windows; polygonal stair turret to S. In R (north) angle between front and nave has polygonal bay enclosing stair; lancets, slate roof; 2-light window to nave, above. Sanctuary of 2 bays (tall windows with quatrefoil heads); west end (ritual E end) has round window with honeycomb tracery, and projecting stair bay below.

Interior

Spidery arch-braced and hammer-beam roof of timber and steel has tall wall posts on stone corbels. Front entrance to lobby with baptistery to S, stair to N; above lobby, stone gallery with 3 segmental arches to nave; arcaded parapet, organ chamber to S. In aisleless nave of 7 bays, square piers form superarches over clerestorey windows; side chapels and confessionals . Tall sanctuary arch, diapered reredos below round window with honeycomb tracery, marble floor to sanctuary. Late C19 stained glass in every other side window: W window has Visions of the Immaculate Conception witnessed by popes.

Reasons for Listing

Included despite consequences of war damage as rare example of large-scale Roman Catholic church by important C19 Catholic architect.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.