All Saints' Church, Oystermouth
All Saints' Church, Oystermouth (officially "All Saints, Oystermouth")[1] is an Anglican church in the diocese of Swansea and Brecon, south Wales. It is located in Mumbles and is a Grade II listed building (listed 23 April 1952 as "a large church with substantial medieval fabric and good interior detail including early medieval piscina and font and C20 glass")[2] The church stands on a hillside, not far from Oystermouth Castle.[3]
The building is estimated to have been built in the mid-12th century, having first been mentioned in writing in 1141. It originally consisted of a tower on its western side, a nave and a lower chancel; the former nave are now the south aisle. A porch was constructed on the northern side in the 19th century, and in 1873 an organ chamber and vestry were built, to the design of Richard Kyrke Penson.[2] The church was substantially reconstructed in 1915, adding a new nave and chancel and a north aisle. The formerchancel became the Lady Chapel.[2] Oak panels for the altar in the Lady Chapel were carved in 1937 by the Revd J. D. Davies.[4]
The stained glass in the church includes a memorial window, commemorating the Mumbles lifeboat disaster of 1947; it shows lifeboatmen at work and was designed by Glantawe Studios and installed in 1977.[5] There are memorials in the churchyard to the eight members of the Mumbles lifeboat crew who were killed in the incident.[6]
The most notable grave in the churchyard is that of the English doctor and editor Thomas Bowdler, who died in Swansea in 1825.[7]
A former archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, attended the church as a boy, and was mentored by Eddie Hughes, vicar from 1946 to 1976.[8]
Further reading
- A History of All Saints’ Church Oystermouth by Geoffrey R. Orrin and Dr. F. G. Cowley, 1990 (ISBN 0 86383 705 0)
References
- ^ "All Saints, Oystermouth". The Church in Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ a b c "Church of All Saints, Oystermouth". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales (1976). An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: pt. 1. pt. a. The early castles from the Norman Conquest to 1217. H.M.S.D. ISBN 978-1-871184-22-8.
- ^ Morgannwg: Transactions of the Glamorgan History Society. 1994.
- ^ "Lifeboat Window". Stained Glass in Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Robin Turner (9 May 2014). "Mumbles lifeboat disaster of 1947: Memorials to lifeboatmen repaired free of charge". WalesOnline. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Phil Carradice (13 June 2013). "To boldly bowdlerize – Thomas Bowdler and the Swansea connection". BBC Wales. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ Rupert Shortt (1 September 2003). Rowan Williams: An Introduction. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 1961. ISBN 978-0-8192-2584-9.
