Church Heritage Cymru 638

The remains of the medieval church are to be found to the northeast of the present church.  In1875-82 the Diocesan Architect John Pritchard designed the church, it was his most ambitious project but the day-to-day work was overseen by the local architect John Jones.  According to the Western mail of 8 March 1882 the church cost £17,000 and established Pritchard as the foremost ecclesiastical architect in south east Wales.  The scale of the work was financed by John Pritchard’s cousin Griffin Llewellyn if Baglan Hall.  It took seven years to complete the work as no stone was dressed on site (in imitation of the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.  The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Madelina Llewellyn on 26 June 1875 and the dedication St Catharine is the name of Griffin Llewellyn’s mother.

Reference
Buildings of Wales – Glamorgan 2001
Cadw Listing Notice 14171
Church Building and Restoration in Victorian Glamorgan Geoffrey R Orrin 2004

This church is an example of the outstanding style of Geometrical Gothic or Decorated style church of cruciform pattern with a tall crossing tower and spire, chancel, nave and transepts and a south porch.  It was built with alternating layers of thick and thin coursed local sandstone with red Forest of Dean stone dressings and a steep slate roof behind coped gables.  There are cross finials on the gables   In the angle between the chancel and south transept is a polygonal stair turret which has a pyramidal stone roof below the bell stage.  The tower is well proportioned and with the spire provides a strong focus to the building on its western face is a clock.  The upper stages of the tower and spire are built of ashlar.  The upper stage of the tower turns octagonal with 2-light belfry windows in the cardinal directions and above the sills there are quatrefoils carved with central four-leaf flowers.  At the angles of the tower are large pinnacles which begin square and rise above the gables as clustered filleted shafts the recesses of which sprout foliage beneath a moulded cornice with conical caps.  The spire is steep with, in the cardinal directions above the belfry windows, 2-light lucarnes.  It is topped by a weather cock.

Reference

Buildings of Wales – Glamorgan 2001
Cadw Listing notice 14171
Church Building and Restoration in Victorian Glamorgan Geoffrey R Orrin 2004
Stained Glass in Wales

Interior

The quality of the building starts with the double iron gates in the porch which open on to a mosaic floor – a style found throughout the church save when it is replaced by marble. The south doorway to the nave is chamfered and pointed without capitals while the head stops are portraits of Griffin Llewellyn and Bishop Ollivant of Llandaff who consecrated the church on 7th March 1882.  The porch has a pointed arch-braced roof with castellated wall plates and shield at the foot of the principals.  The interior walls, piers and arches are sumptuously banded with pale grey-green Quarella stone, red Forest of Dean stone and pinkish-amber Penarth alabaster and the window have finely moulded rere arches. The nave, which has no clerestory, has a 3-bay north arcade with round piers, moulded capitals and 2-centred arches which have a continuous hood mould with foliage and head stops.  Above is a 4-bay arched-braced roof with open arcading above the wall plates and is boarded with windbraces behind the principals. On either side of the crossing are two corbelled heads representing life and death.  There is a step up to the crossing and the mosaic floor is now much richer.  Above the roof is rib-vaulted and has moulded 2-centre arches with two orders of chamfer.  There are stiff-leaf capitals to the imposts that stand on short shafts above corbels of the 4 Evangelists looking to the nave and chancel while looking to the transepts are king, queen, knight and bishop.  The chancel which is up to more pink marble steps is walled in banded marble.  Here the roof is arched-braced and boarded over the altar.  The wall plates at the foot of the principals have angels bearing the symbols of the Passion.  The sanctuary is up four steps and is laid with Devonshire marble and a rich Italian mosaic.  The east window is flanked by panels set with decorative Italian tiles while the rere arch is cusped with an outer order consisting of a rich vine trail and has shafts with ring shafts and stiff-leaf capitals

The fittings form a complete set by Pritchard, the wood and stone carved by Wormleighton of Cardiff.  The pulpit and font are in white alabaster with marble panels.  The richly decorated octagonal font is mounted on a mosaic plinth, the stem has fillets shafts and stiff-leaf capitals.  Around the bowl are marble panels which have stone quatrefoils in relief and framing sculpted crosses and heads.  In a similar manner the pulpit is octagonal and has marble panels with Gothic stone arches in relief and an alabaster carving of Christ with his disciples to the front while above is a foliage cornice.  The pulpit stands on a stem with cusped arches below nodding crocketed gablets with finials and foliage friezes.  There brass balusters to the steps similar to the altar rails which have thin scrolled rails intersected by horizontal bands.

The reredos spans the full width of the chancel showing the Resurrection in black and white marble, designed by H H Armstead in an early-English style, it has detached shafts with shaft rings and cusped arches with crocketed gables and finials in alternately alabaster and polished Quarella stone.  The front row of the stalls have richly moulded ends including  figures of St Catherine added in 1888.  The stained glass: ‘The Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John’, designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones for Morris & Co, 1880; ‘St Cecilia with Musical Angels’, designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones for Morris & Co, 1880; ‘St Catherine’, Celtic Studios, 1972.  The ring of six bells was cast in 1899 by John Taylor & Co.

Reference

Buildings of Wales – Glamorgan 2001
Stained Glass in Wales
Cadw Listing notice 14171
Church Building and Restoration in Victorian Glamorgan Geoffrey R Orrin 2004
A National Bell Register - George Dawson's Website - Homestead