Eglwys Dewi Sant (''St David's Church'', though originally dedicated to

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

) is a Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

building in the centre of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is the only church in the

Diocese of Llandaff The Diocese of Llandaff is an Anglican (Church in Wales) diocese that traces its roots to pre-Reformation times as heir of a Catholic bishopric. It is headed by the Bishop of Llandaff, whose seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Pet ...

to conduct its services exclusively in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

Location

The church is situated in the centre of a tree-lined oval green and is the focus of St Andrew's Crescent, just north of the city centre.

History

St Andrew's Crescent was laid out as a formal space in the 1850s by the trustees of the Bute Estate, with the intention of having a church at its centre. In 1859, architects John Prichard and

John Pollard Seddon John Pollard Seddon FRIBA (19 September 1827 – 1 February 1906) was a British architect, working largely on churches. His father was a cabinetmaker, and his brother Thomas Seddon (1821–1856) a landscape painter. Born in London, he was educa ...

(working as Prichard & Seddon) came up with a design with a wide

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 ...

and a crossing steeple. John Newman describes the resulting church, dedicated to Saint Andrew, as a "rather unimpressive building". It was completed and consecrated in 1863 but had been reduced in ambition and cost.

Alexander Roos Alexander Roos ( – 30 June 1881) was an Italian-born British architect and urban planner. He was the architect to the Bute Estates in South Wales, for which he designed many buildings and laid out several areas of Cardiff. Early life Alexand ...

, the Bute architect, had taken over in 1862. Transepts and vestries by

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

, as well as porches on either side, were added in 1884–1886. In 1856 the Marchioness of Bute also built a Welsh-language church in Tyndall Street, close to the new

Cardiff Docks Cardiff Docks ( cy, Dociau Caerdydd) is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost . Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal, the Port ...

, but because of the changing demographics by 1870 the church was providing services exclusively in English. Though other churches provided some Welsh services, in 1889 a new Welsh-language church hall, Capel Dewi Sant, was constructed at Howard Gardens to the east of the town centre. A new church, Eglwys Dewi Sant, was opened next door in 1891. The church provided services to the Welsh-speaking community for 50 years, until it was severely damaged in the

Cardiff Blitz The Cardiff Blitz ( cy, Blitz Caerdydd); refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II. Between 1940 and the final raid on the city in March 1944 approximately 2,100 bombs fell, killing 355 people. Cardiff Docks became a strate ...

. By 1954, St Andrew's Church in St Andrew's Crescent was suffering from a dwindling congregation as local houses were being converted into offices. It closed and its congregation moved to St Teilo's Church,

Cathays Cathays ( ; Welsh: officially ''Cathays'' but also , 'the constant meadow') is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contain ...

. The congregation of Eglwys Dewi Sant took the opportunity to move to St Andrew's, which was reconsecrated as Eglwys Dewi Sant on 1 November 1956. Eglwys Dewi Sant church was designated in 1975 as a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The church received a £100,000 grant from the

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in 2009, to replace the failing roof.

Services and events

To mark the church's 60th anniversary, in June 2017 Eglwys Dewi Sant held a flower festival, with more than half (£3600) of the proceeds being donated to

Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie is a registered charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides care and support to people living with a terminal illness and those close to them, and campaigns for better support for dying people. It was established in 19 ...

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.eglwysdewisant.org.uk/ Cardiff, Dewi Sant Cardiff, Dewi Sant Dewi Sant Welsh language Welsh churches dedicated to St David