The Swansea Devil, also called Old Nick, is a wood carving of the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

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

. It was carved by an architect whose designs for St. Mary's Church had been rejected by a committee. Some years later when designing an office building across the road, he placed a carving of Satan facing the church and prophesied "When your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground my devil will remain laughing". This prophecy later came true when the church was bombed during the Second World War.

History

In the 1890s it was decided that St. Mary's Church in the centre of

would be rebuilt. The task of designing the new church was put to tender. Among those who applied were a local architect and Sir

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

. The committee accepted Blomfield's designs and the church was built. The local man took his rejection as a slight against his talent. After several years a row of cottages adjacent to the church became available for purchase. The offended architect bought these houses, and tore them down. In their place he erected a red brick building to house the brewery offices, on which he placed a carving of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, facing the church. The local man is reputed to have prophesied: ''"When your church is destroyed and burnt to the ground my devil will remain laughing."''

Blitz

, being a major strategic target in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, was bombed heavily during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. One of the buildings destroyed during the three night blitz in February 1941 was St. Mary's Church. The building on which Old Nick was mounted was not hit and remained standing through the war thus allowing Old Nick to continue laughing over the burnt remains of the church.

Post war

In 1962 the brewery offices were torn down, while St. Mary's was rebuilt to the original designs. The devil was left to rot in a garage in HerefordGhost and folklore in Wales Podcast Episode 2
,until a local historian returned him to

during the 1980s.

Present day

Occupying the land of the brewery offices is now the

Quadrant Shopping Centre The Quadrant Shopping Centre is the principal under-cover shopping centre in Swansea, Wales. The centre opened in 1979. From the 1980s to 2019 it was home to the Swansea Devil, a controversial carved wooden statue of the Devil. The centre and ...

, opened in 1979. Once returned to Swansea the devil was placed as close to his original location inside the shopping centre as possible without directly offending the church goers. There was notable religious objection to its reinstallation, and when the Quadrant was refurbished the carving was placed in storage. After public outcry aided by the local newspaper the ''

South Wales Evening Post The ''South Wales Evening Post'' is a tabloid daily newspaper distributed in the South West region of Wales. The paper has three daily editions – Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire – and is published by Media Wales, part ...

'', the Devil was placed back once more to watch over St. Mary's. In 2019, the carving was donated to the Swansea museum by the owners of the Quadrant.

References

{{coord, 51.617, -3.938, display=title Mass media and culture in Swansea Welsh art Welsh sculpture The Devil in legend Grotesques Curses