St Michael's Church is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the town of

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. St Michael's is the fourth church to stand on the site. The first dated from the 15th century but was in ruins by the mid-18th century. Its replacement only stood for some forty years before itself being replaced in 1829-1833 with a church designed by Edward Haycock Sr. of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

. Nothing of the two earlier buildings remains. The Haycock church was itself superseded by the present church, built by '' Nicholson & Son'' of

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

in 1886-1890. A fragment of the Haycock church remains to the west of the current building. St Michael's is an active parish church in the

Diocese of St Davids The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The ...

. At the end of the 20th century it claimed the largest

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

in Wales. It is designated by

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The town of

developed around the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. Four churches have stood on the site. In the 15th century a church dedicated to

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

was constructed between the castle and the sea. This church, in ruins by 1748, and its short-lived successor, were replaced by a third church constructed in 1829-1833 by Edward Haycock Sr. Haycock was commissioned by William Edward Powell. a local landowner and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

from 1816 until shortly before he died in 1854. Powell was made High Sheriff in 1810 and Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire in 1817. He lived at Nanteos and developed much of Aberystwyth in the 1820s; including Laura Place which fronts the present church. By the later 19th century, the accelerating development of Aberystwyth as a

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

brought calls for a larger, and more impressive church. A later William Powell donated further land at Laura Place for the building of a new church in the 1880s. Powell commissioned designs for the new structure from '' Nicholson & Son'' of

and the present church was built between 1886-1890. The west

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

is all that remains of Haycock's church, This fragment is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. '' The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard'' celebrated the opening of the new church on 3 October 1890, congratulating "all those who desire to see the town beautified, or who think that a building devoted to the highest purpose should be of the best that human beings can devise and reasonably provide". Further work was carried out on the development of the church in the first half of the 20th century. Major repairs were undertaken to the church roof in the 21st century, following storm damage from Cyclone Dirk. St Michael's remains an active parish church in the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

tradition. Services are regularly held. In the late 20th/early 21st centuries, the church claimed the largest Anglican congregation in Wales. The church is administered by the

Archdeaconry of Cardigan An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

within the

Architecture

The "large and prosperous church" is built on a three-

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

plan, with a

and a West tower. A planned spire was never built. The construction materials are York sandstone

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

and Westmoreland slate roofs. The style is

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

, drawing on English Decorated Gothic. Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach and Robert Scourfield, in their ''Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion'' volume in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, consider it "old-fashioned", even at the time of its construction. The interior is faced with Bath limestone and decorated with banding in a contrasting red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. It contains a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

by W. D. Caröe dating from the early 20th century. Carved panels in a memorial chapel at the front of the church commemorate the dead of Aberystwyth from the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

s. The chapel was constructed in 1992 and involved the moving of the rood screen. The

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

is mainly by Alfred Hemming, although the East window is the work of

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne was a British firm that produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–1882) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...

. St Michael's is a

Gallery

St. Michael's Church - Aberystwyth.jpeg, A print c.1850 showing Haycock's early-19th century church in a Strawberry Hill Gothick style Former vestry, St Michaels Church (geograph 4126226).jpg, The vestry, the only remnant of Haycock's church St Michael's Church Aberystwyth - geograph.org.uk - 2104244.jpg, The church, with Laura Place behind St Michael's Church - geograph.org.uk - 520927.jpg, A spire, intended to cap the tower, was never built

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Parochial records held at the Ceredigion County Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aberystwyth, Church of Saint Michael and All Angels Grade II listed churches in Ceredigion Church of Saint Michael and All Angels Churches completed in 1890 Aberystwyth, St Michael