The Point was a music venue in

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay ( cy, Bae Caerdydd; historically Tiger Bay; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it serves as the river mouth of the River Taff and Ely. The body of w ...

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 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 ...

, located in the deconsecrated 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 ...

St Stephen's Church.

Church

The Point was situated in the old merchant's quarter of

Mount Stuart Square Mount Stuart Square is a residential and commercial square in Cardiff, Wales. It is located in the Butetown area of the city. Originally developed in the late 1800s as a residential location for nearby dock workers, it quickly became a centre f ...

. The focal point of the square was St Stephen's church, that would later be turned into The Point. The church was designed by architect E. M. Bruce Vaughan and constructed between 1900-2 to replace a temporary iron frame church and opened as the chapel of

St. Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

's. In 1912, it became a separate parish under the name of

St. Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

. The church was designed in a

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, the interior dominated by a single

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 ...

with six bays of pointed arches and an arch-braced roof. The exterior includes a bell tower at the northeast corner with an octagonal

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

. In May 1975 it became 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 ...

, presently listed as "The Point (Formerly St Stephen's Church)". The parish was deconsecrated in 1992.

Entertainment venue

The church was used as a community centre and theatre until 2001, when it was purchased by its current owners. Renovations in 2003 transformed the church to a venue for live music performance and regular club-nights, including Bogiez. The entire building was restored and much of the original architecture was kept, including all the

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows. The Point is now equipped with a fully functional and permanent stage, lighting system, in-house PA, and projection system. In early 2009 The Point announced its closure, citing reasons such as continued noise complaints from neighbours, which had led to a costly refurbishing and soundproofing bill. Singer

Cerys Matthews Cerys Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s. Matthews programmes and ...

weighed in her support for the venue, saying her 2006 gig there was "one of the most memorable gigs I’ve ever played. The acoustics are brilliant and it’s a very intimate experience with the audience... Singers come to Wales to play places like The Point so we can’t really afford to lose them."

Notes

External links

What's on at The Point Bogiez Rock Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Point, Cardiff, The

Point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

Butetown Former music venues in Cardiff Former churches in Cardiff

Church

Entertainment venue

See also

Notes

External links