St Mary's Church, Swansea, United Kingdom

There was a church on the site of St Mary's since circa 1328, erected by Henry de Gower, Bishop of Saint David's. One Sunday morning, in 1739, the roof of the nave collapsed into the church while the congregation was waiting to enter the building. The whole structure was re-built apart from the tower. 1822 saw the church being lit by gas for the first time with thirty six lamps. The church underwent complete renovation between 1879 and 1882 by Vicar Dr Morgan. In 1896, the church was flattened and rebuilt again under the designs of Arthur Blomfield by Dean Allan Smith, though some parts of the old church survived the re-development. In February 1941 the church was extensively damaged by Bombing during the Blitz. It was not rebuilt until the 1950s.

From the 1890s the Swansea Devil stood on a set of buildings facing the west side of the church, constructed by a disgruntled rival of Blomfield's, angry at the commissioning of Blomfield's designs over his own.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in United Kingdom

User Reviews

Tony Jones (2 years ago)
Lovely church. Attended many services and concerts here.

Peter Marosan (3 years ago)
An old church in the middle of the town, with full of live when we visited. As I see choirs and musicians give concerts here and the acoustic sounds pretty good. The roof inside is not covered by stone, so it gives a special taste for it. It is rebuilt after the WW2, so it is not precisely authentic, but works very well.

Rosemarie Ellis (3 years ago)
Beautiful considering it was completely rebuilt, you would never know

Camilla von Massenbach (3 years ago)
Good accoustic for singing. Unusual and amazing stained glass.

St Thomas Way (4 years ago)
Swansea is the starting point of St Thomas Way - the medieval heritage trail linking 13 special places between Swansea and Hereford that launched in July 2018. St Mary's Church in the centre of Swansea is part of the Swansea trail and it also hosts the St Thomas Way launch exhibition in October 2018 'Re-Making Maps of the Mind: Medieval and Modern Journeys'. Here's the St Thomas Way prayer which reflects the Swansea part of the journey: "Open our eyes, Lord, to your presence in the ordinary and the unloved. May the beginning of the St Thomas Way be also the beginning of a new way of seeing you at work in the world. May we journey each day with eyes open to find you where we least expect it."

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright CucombreLibre

Historic Site of the week

Gruyères Castle

The Castle of Gruyères is one of the most famous in Switzerland. It was built between 1270 and 1282, following the typical square plan of the fortifications in Savoy. It was the property of the Counts of Gruyères until the bankruptcy of the Count Michel in 1554. His creditors the cantons of Fribourg and Bern shared his earldom. From 1555 to 1798 the castle became residence to the bailiffs and then to the prefects sent by Fribourg.

In 1849 the castle was sold to the Bovy and Balland families, who used the castle as their summer residency and restored it. The castle was then bought back by the canton of Fribourg in 1938, made into a museum and opened to the public. Since 1993, a foundation ensures the conservation as well as the highlighting of the building and the art collection.

The castle is the home of three capes of the Order of the Golden Fleece. They were part of the war booty captured by the Swiss Confederates (which included troops from Gruyères) at the Battle of Morat against Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy in 1476. As Charles the Bold was celebrating the anniversary of his father's death, one of the capes is a black velvet sacerdotal vestment with Philip the Good's emblem sewn into it.

A collection of landscapes by 19th century artists Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Barthélemy Menn and others are on display in the castle.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

St Mary's Church

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Great Spa Towns of Europe

Historic Site of the week

Gruyères Castle

Looks like you are a history fan!