St Catherine's Church, Canton is a listed Anglican church which serves the areas of Canton and Riverside in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. Originally a small hamlet in the parish of Llandaff, separate from Cardiff, Canton had seen drastic urbanisation and expansion as Cardiff industrialised during the 19th Century. The church of

St John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on h ...

had already been established in the 1850s, but as the area continued to grow, further places of worship were needed, even after St Johns had been enlarged in 1870. The first rector of St John's, the Reverend Vincent Saulez, founded St Catherine's in the early 1880s and later also founded

St Paul's St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in Grangetown. The founding stone of St Catherine's was laid by Catherine Vaughan, the wife of the Dean of Llandaff. She also contributed £1000 towards the building. It has been speculated that the church's name was influenced by this generosity. The plans of diocesan architect John Prichard had intended a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

design, but this proved overambitious, and Prichard built only three bays of the nave. The church opened in 1885 before Prichard had finished the project, and his death in 1886 caused the work to pause. It was later completed in two stages: first by Kempson & Fowler in 1892–3, who added the chancel, south chapel and north vestry. In 1897, G.E. Halliday added two bays at the west end. The church has a marble

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

and stained glass windows by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

. St Catherine's became a separate parish in 1895, but in the 20th Century, this was merged with St John's. It is now in the Rectorial Benefice of Canton, together with St John's and St Luke's. The church has been listed since 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Catherine's Church, Canton Churches completed in 1897 Grade II listed churches in Cardiff

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...